U.S. Imperialism in the Philippines and the Study of Migration
...t of view to get a real perspective on the U.S. occupation and its true nature. Espiritu again continues to discuss about the influence of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines and how it strategically controlled the workforce to serve the United States. She makes her argument to show the level of control the United States had on the Philippines. Espiritu writes that “Filipino migration to the United States- from pensionados to the agricultural laborers to the professionals’ workers- has clearly been the ‘by-product of U.S. policies towards and in the Philippines’” (Reader, 4). The word “by-product” is defined in the dictionary as “something produced in the making of something else; a secondary result; a side effect.” By using this word, Espiritu suggests that the Filipinos were treated as things and not as human beings. They are just “secondary result” as a result of U.S. imperialism. Such control of the workforce can be seen in the Navy. Espiritu explains that “the economic incentive to join the U.S. Navy was high: the salary of a Filipino enlistee often placed him among the top quarter of his country’s wages” (Reader, 5). Even though the enlistees’ pays were high, the daily functions in the Navy were doing menial tasks such as serving foods and walking the dogs. Even with these kinds of work, many Filipinos applied for service. Espiritu also mentions the coincidence that the Philippines became the “major source of foreign-trained nurses” (Reader, 7) at the same time when health institutions in the United States were in short of workers in the medical field. Espiritu makes clear that such coincidence was no accident at all. It was the United States deliberate attempt to fill up the shortages of medical personnel throughout the United States. She describes that during a short span of approximately less than twenty years, nursing schools in the Philippines rose from just seventeen to a hundred and forty. By showing the high level of Filipino applicants in the Navy for doing menial chores and the high level of change in nursing schools, Espiritu confirms that the United State had a strangle hold on the Philippines’ workforce. Another form of control the United States implemented in the Philippines was the act of glorifying the United States. Espiritu claims that by glorifying the United States, they were able to strategically exploit the Philippines’ economy. These acts of glorification can be seen in Filipino school. The United began to change the Filipino public education system to model that of the United States’ and made English as the primary language of instruction. The new educational system began to teach young Filipinos “to regard American culture as superior to any other, and American society as the model par excellence for Philippine society” (Reader, 4). Also, the Philippines media such as television and newspaper were saturated with American culture and materialism that portrayed the United States “appear to be a source of prestige, power, money- a more exciting and expanded world when compared to the Philippines. In the following passage, Espiritu shows how compelling the lure of America was one Filipino: It was my dream to come to the United Sates. I thought I made to heaven…We used to go [to the Navy bases] and eat candy bars and dream about America, just what America looks like, like the houses, the smell of hamburgers, the smell of Downey …and dreaming that someday that I would make it there, and when I finally did, it was the greatest felling that I ever had (Reader, 13). From the above narratives, Espiritu show what many Filipinos felt about America. They saw America as a perfect and ideal place that was like heaven- a place of great and eternal happiness. Everything that was made in America was the best. The passage above also shows another way in which the Filipinos were being glorified- the Navy bases. They bases were located around villages and towns that were usually poor. The Navy bases introduced the surrounding villages and towns with the material richness of America, thus acted a means of glorifying the United States. With the lure of America amidst the grave economic condition of the Philippines, many Filipinos were enticed to pack their bags and left for America. Next, Espiritu explains the United States’ regulations and policies enforced on the Philippines and its people. By discussing the U.S. policies and regulations, she shows how the United States exploited the economy and kept the Philippines unindustrialized and poor, resulting in the migration of many Filipinos to America and exposes that the United States were unjust and unreasonable to the Filipinos. She describes in the “’free trade’ between the two countries, the United States fostered this export-import policy and kept the Philippines an unindustrialized export economy- a condition that depleted the country’s economic resources and propelled the eventual migration of many Filipinos” (Reader, 3). By reading the previous sentence, we, the readers, would notice the inconsistency and confusion in its meaning. By our understanding of the word “free trade”, isn’t the free trade policy supposed to be beneficial to both participating nations (the United States and the Philippines)? In this case, it does not seem like it. The “free trade” policy kept the Philippines’ economy underdeveloped while making the United States rich. The policy was beneficial to the United States but certainly not to the Philippines. But if we approach at the sentence described above in a sarcastic manner and noticing the double quotation marks around the word “free trade”, we can finally understand what Espiritu is trying point out. She uses sarcasm to ridicule the United States unscrupulous policy towards the Philippines and calling it as “free trade” between the two countries. It was more like a policy where the United States exerted their power to take full advantage of the Philippines’ economy and depleting its resources. In this paragraph, Espiritu shows that the Philippines was indeed poor that resulted in the migration of many Filipinos on the basis of economic opportunity. But if week at the root cause of the Philippines’ economic woe, we find that the United States was the guilty party that caused it all. During the U.S. occupation of the Philippines, the United States set up many military base, mostly Navy bases, around the Philippines. Many Filipinos were exposed to the U.S. culture through these bases. These bases also served as recruiting stations. Seeing it as their only ticket to gain U.S citizenship and “the perceived springboard for escaping from poverty” (Reader, 5), many Filipinos applied for services in the Navy. By discussing the recruitment of Filipinos in the Navy, Espiritu exposes the racism and racial ordering that occurred in the Navy bases. Racial ordering can be seen in the following paragraph: The U.S Navy allowed Filipino enlistees to serve in a range of occupational ratings such as petty officers, band masters, musicians, coxswains’ mates, seamen, machinists, firemen, water tenders, commissary stewards, officers’ stewards, and mess attendants…After the war, the Navy issued a new rulings restricting Filipinos, even those with a college education, to the ratings of officers’ stewards and mess attendants. During this period, ‘virtually all stewards were either Black or Filipino.’…Filipinos stewards also have been ordered to perform menial chores such as walking the officers’ dogs and acting as personal servants for the officers’ wives. Even when they passed the relevant qualifying examinations, few Filipinos were allowed to transfer to other ratings (Reader, 6-7). In the paragraph above, one can see where the Filipinos were placed within racial ordering. The Filipino enlistees’ ratings were no where equal to the ratings of their white counterparts. Espiritu emphasizes on the word “even though with a college education” to show that no matter how educated or qualified the Filipinos were, they did not receive the ratings that were dominated by whites. The Filipinos were seen as below the whites within the racial hierarchy. When the Navy accused of racism, an admiral defended the practice as “a continuing of traditional relationship ad compassionate act that provided ambitious Filipinos an opportunity to escape grinding poverty at home” (Reader, 6). Espiritu uses this quote to show the racism within the Navy. As part of the Navy, Filipinos’ enlistees would risk their lives to fight for the United States just like any white enlistees, yet they did not receive the same treatments that they truly had the right to entitle. Espiritu has shown that migration was the resulted of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. As a result of this migration, Espiritu argues, had a devastating impact of the Filipino families. The enlistees that served in the Navy often had to serve far away from home and their families for many years. Many Filipino immigrants that went to the U.S. for better opportunities had to live far away from their families as well. Often, they would not see their families for a quite a long time or not at all. The following sentence shows the shear number of separation among Filipino families before 1965: “The 1965 Immigration Act, which abolished the national-origins quotas and permitted entry based primarily on family reunification or occupational characteristics, dramatically increased the number of Asian immigrants” (Reader, 6). The largest source of immigrants was from the Philippines. Like most Asian countries, Filipino family unity was an integral part in daily life and culture. Espiritu uses individuals’ experiences to put the meanings of Filipino family unity into perspective: “It was an emotionally wrenching period in my life. I was not just leaving my country and family behind, I was also leaving Lucie, my bride of one month, behind too!” (Reader, 8) These were the words of Edgar Gamboa. After a decade stay in the U.S., Edgar and his wife wanted to go back to the Philippines, but their decision whether or not to stay was centered on what was best for their family. The following quotes are from Maria Rafael that shows the sacrifice she made in order to keep her family unified: “My husband is happy here and my children are happy here. But I still have not stopped wanting to go back [to the Philippines]. I’m here because that’s where my family wanted me. I’m here for my family” (Reader, 10). By discussing the importance of family unity, Espiritu gives a feeling of what it was like for those immigrants who had to live away from their love ones before the Immigration Act of 1965, which allowed immigrants to enter the United States on the basis of ...