Rica Arevalo’s documentary, “The Privileged Migrants,” doesn’t always find the answers it seeks, but it surprisingly enlightens in the unintrusive way it attempts to explain the Filipino diaspora.
With a population of approximately 98.7 million in 2013, the country is now the 12th most populous nation in the world—and, even with a fast-growing economy, our government continues to struggle with its inability to provide sufficient jobs for its people. Tellingly, more than 10 percent of our population has left the country.
It isn’t hard to see how a well-paying job abroad can quickly improve the lifestyle of families that live below the poverty line. Many of them don’t become multimillionaires, really—still, their feat is largely seen as a rags-to-reaches fairy tale that many people aspire to.
Arevalo’s 45-minute docu, which took five years to make, takes a closer look at some members of the so-called “privileged” class who, along with those who “need” to leave, also decided to fly the coop.
While we love traveling and “experiencing” exotic cultures, we don’t really see ourself seeking greener pastures elsewhere anytime soon. Like the filmmaker herself, however, we want to know why people who aren’t without opportunities in their own countries would choose to leave home.
“THE PRIVILEGED MIGRANTS.” Home is where the heart is—or, is it?
Twin sister
Rica found her subjects in five of her high school batchmates from St. Scholastica’s College and followed them around the globe—including her twin sister, Raquel, who seized an opportunity to work in Canada after a popular actor was elected to a top government post.
Amusingly, Raquel didn’t want to take part in the docu, so it was funny to see how she evaded her sister’s attempts to record her. At one point, she yelled in frustration, “Mommy o, si Rica—ang kulit!”
Gretchen Arnaldo gave up teaching music at her alma mater to work in a school in Thailand. But, Chelo Benatto-Toreda had a more pressing problem—she was facing the prospect of losing her job in a posh hotel, following the recent recession in Macau!
For her part, Issa Misa-Guinto decided to work in Singapore because of her increasing frustration over the Philippines’ inability to pay its working class well: “Back home, you work so hard, but you hardly see the fruits of your labor. I became a resident of the city-state after only six months, then bought a house barely a year and a half later!”
Most illuminating
Systems analyst Jane Idquival’s tale was the most illuminating and inspiring: She was the high school student council president who ended up living the American dream in California—until she began to look for more meaning in her life. She soon realized that home was truly where her heart was!
Given the women’s relative affluence and sheltered upbringing, it would be foolhardy to expect tearjerking melodramatic upheavals from Rica’s “privileged” migrants, because that isn’t the way their lives “operate.” (As a result, some sections seemed slower and more random than intended.)
Besides, we believe that a documentarian should be there to record events, not overtly “manipulate” and “manufacture” conflicts that lead to viewer-hooking scenes, as the irrepressible and well-meaning Michael Moore always ends up doing in his polemical films.
Arevalo’s “The Privileged Migrants” will vie for the Best Documentary prize at the 37th Gawad Urian on June 17, along with Adjani Arumpac’s “Nanay Mameng” and “War Is A Tender Thing,” Patrick Alcedo’s “Ati-Atihan Lives” and Baby Ruth Villarama’s “Jazz in Love.”