Treasure Your Relatives and Your Work

(photo from Rick Olivares' Facebook account)

"Always give it your best and bring your own sunshine to the workplace. And do your best to help the poor and needy; hope goes a long way in these difficult times we live in."

THIS quote comes from a friend and former sportswriting colleague back in Manila, Rick Olivares, who recently lost his pet dog and has been very emotional about it.

Rick's suffering is a proof that dogs are like humans in the sense that animals need care the same way we need to care for our relatives especially when they get old.

I am saying this because I can sympathize with Rick in the sense that I am lucky being in the United States now thanks to my mother who worked for many years to have my petition approved by the US Embassy.

My mom and my sister Winnie both left for the US in 1986 and I was left behind to continue my high school and college studies in the Philippines, as well as my career as a sportswriter back there. My mom later admitted to me that the petition process took very long because she was given the wrong petition form by her former immigration attorney.

My petition was finally approved in December 2015 and I was able to leave for California in March 2016 -- just before Presidents Duterte and Trump took office. If I wasn't able to leave for the US, coming here would have been very difficult because of Trump's immigration policies.

Living here in America entails a lot of sacrifice. Right now I am helping my mom clean the house every Friday and fixing up the laundry for my sister to come to our El Sobrante home on Saturdays so she can bring it to her house in Daly City to have the clothes washed. My sister is now living in with her boyfriend so it became imperative for my mom to bring me here so that she can have company at home especially since she is already 71 years old and retired from work.

In my work as a supermarket clerk at FoodMaxx in Pinole, I have learned to deal with a lot of customers, some rude and some polite. I once returned a credit card that belonged to a customer who accidentally dropped it in the produce section. Then in another case, I was able to help a blind man shop although it meant overtime for my five-and-a-half hour shift. These cases prove that as Rick said at the start of this piece, helping the poor and needy is the best reward on the job, aside from the financial benefits you can get from working abroad.

It also helps that there are other Filipino employees in FoodMaxx which makes my job less stressful especially when they speak Tagalog to me at times.

I can proudly say that the $11 hourly monthly wage that I earn here is much bigger than what I used to earn as a tabloid sportswriter back in the Philippines, which was P10 per column inch or at least P1,000 a week, depending on the number of stories that I send. My sister told me that being a journalist in the Philippines isn't a high-paying job. As proof, during my time as a writer, our tabloid's office was located in a flood-prone area so if it rains hard and floods, there would be suspension of work so no paper the next day. No stories, no pay.

I also heard that my cousins back in the Philippines are suffering from the high inflation and prices back there aside from the worsening political and criminal situation under the Duterte administration. One of my uncles died in 2017 and his widow will sell their house in Pasig City where I used to live before I left for California. She will then move to Cebu to be with her daughter who is married and has a job in the call center industry. My other cousin is blind due to diabetes and will most likely stay in Ilocos Norte for the rest of his life.

I still yearn for the day when I can come back to the Philippines and resume my career as a sportswriter especially when the country hosts the FIBA World Cup in 2023. But circumstances now will prevent me from doing so. That's why I thank Rick for writing about his dog because it makes me feel lucky that I am in a better situation now.