By DANNY O. SAGUN

IF you do not have any idea yet as to what the country’s “brain drain” is, you’ll be surprised to know that more than 2,000 Pinoys are leaving the country daily.
Dagupan City hizzoner Benjie Lim shared this info (rough estimate) to us in a short chit-chat with editor BFH at our PIA office at the Dagupan Astrodome Friday morning before he addressed a school activity at the gym. He knows exactly what’s going on in our airports being a jetsetter himself so we feel he was not exaggerating when he let out this concern, along with other sad developments in this our country.
Multiply 2,000 with 30 days and we get 60,000 leaving for jobs abroad in a month. Multiply that again with 12 and we have 720,000 persons hoping to earn dollars abroad in just one year.

And the effect of this unabated exodus? Well, the more positive result may be the shoring up of the country’s economy by the OFWs’ remittances to their relatives here. Some lucky ones have built their modest houses, acquired properties and sent their children to school. But these appear to be the only positive effect.
There are far many negative consequences.

Take a look at families where the mother or the father or both parents went abroad and left their children to their relatives. We see torn families, wrecked marriages, and immorally-living husbands or wives or even children because their parents are far, far away from home.

Mayor Benjie is more worried of the departure of health professionals particularly doctors. Many of those leaving for greener pastures abroad are doctors who are supposed to treat sick people from the lower sectors of society, yes, doctors from public hospitals.

“Andi bale ray mayaman ta walay gastosen dad saray private hospitals, pero kumusta ray karaklan balet ey ya maniilalod saray doktor ed baley o baryo?,” he noted.

And what has the government been doing to stop this trend?
Unless poverty is alleviated, we think many Filipinos would prefer going abroad to take risks including the loss of limbs and lives just to feed their families. ‘Wadia kan akamulagat anggapo met so napananapan, antoy gawaen mo ey di mipalaran ka lad abroad,’ is the common comment. This shows exactly how serious the employment problem is.

We hope the administration has not lost track of its goal to create six million jobs starting in 2004. And these employment opportunities should be made available here in this country, not overseas, as we do not want to see more and more disintegrated, dislocated, disoriented, and dysfunctional families.