EDITORIAL

By Jesus Jovan Medrano

Managing Director, Dahil SaYo

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

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First, I want to express how grateful I am to be part of Dahil Sa’Yo. A third of my life has been spent overseas and thinking about it now, that’s a lot! (I didn’t have dreams of working abroad). But I definitely learned a lot from living overseas - from my own personal development to observing how adaptable and resilient Filipinos are when exposed to ever-changing environments.

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So, when I was invited to be part of this project (DSY), this can be an opportunity for me to give back to the Filipino community by showcasing all these wonderful things that we Filipinos have achieved while working overseas and have perhaps inspired others.

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And like what Gandhi said, I want to BE the change that I want to see in this world (well, at least within the Filipino community first).

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In 2010, while I was working in Singapore, I had the privilege of witnessing a transformative experience in the life of one of my dear Filipino friends. Her journey during that time was filled with challenges, particularly in her relationship with a senior Filipino colleague within the company. Given her exceptional intelligence and unwavering work ethic, it was truly astonishing to witness the adversity she faced. Her resilience throughout this difficult period left an indelible mark on me.

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This experience prompted me to reflect deeply. Here we were, a group of Filipinos working abroad, and yet, rather than uplifting one another, some seemed to be facing challenges in their interactions.

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Of course, it's important not to make sweeping generalizations, as my own experience in the company I was part of differed significantly. In my case, my Filipino engineering peers, including those in senior positions, extended remarkable support and camaraderie to me and my colleagues from the Philippines.

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Nevertheless, it remains a thought-provoking issue worth pondering.

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According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in 2021 there are already more than 1.8 million overseas Filipino workers globally. And more than 10% of that are in Singapore.

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When I first started working in Singapore, I wasn’t interested in these kinds of information or projects. I just wanted to work for a couple of years, earn money, save, and then go back to the Philippines and maybe start my own business. And after meeting a number of other OFW’s in Singapore and other countries like Malaysia and Hong Kong, they also had the same plan when they started. And we all ended up staying much, much longer than what we thought. This is due to many different reasons like still not having enough savings, started to enjoy living overseas, and change of plans; just to name a few.

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But here’s the beautiful thing that I realised and going back to the statistics of how many OFW’s are abroad - can you imagine how much resources and how much more we can achieve if we (OFWs) work together to achieve our goals faster? How cool will that be?

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And that’s one of the things we are hoping for here in DSY. We want to bring all of us OFWs together and work together with a common goal of: Inspiring and Supporting each other.

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So, if you’re an OFW and want to contribute, we invite you to get involved and get in touch with us.

 

Jesus Jovan Medrano

Dahil Sa’Yo - Managing Director

Business Coach | Entrepreneur

Email: jovan.medrano@gmail.com

Cellphone: +65 8915 2276

Website: jovanmedrano.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jesus-jovan-medrano