BOUNTY FRESH CHICKEN

CAMBODIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM POSTER

Print ans Outdoor ad I did for Cambodia Ministry of Tourism.

FINDING MEANING IN CARING FOR THE ELDERLY IN LOS ANGELES

By Roger Pe

March 22, 2015 issue
Philippine Daily Inquirer

A few weeks after she was born in Manila, Evelyn Sta. Ana, her 2-year old sister and mother relocated with his father to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Newly graduated from U.P. College of Medicine then, her father took the offer of a retiring physician to look after the latter’s patients.

Soft-spoken, kind and readily accessible, her father easily earned the community’s respect. To this day, people remember the good doctor and the name still strikes a chord in the heartstrings of old timers of the now booming city.

They would return to Manila when her mother died. She would go to U.P. after graduating from Assumption Convent high school while her older sister would also graduate from U.P. College of Medicine, eventually owning and operating a hospital in Bulacan, together with her doctor-husband.

Though she did not finish medicine, (she graduated with a BSBA degree major in Financial Management), Sta. Ana is proud to be in healthcare now, keeping the long family tradition of caring for people who need help, the elderly particularly, in north Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Before she came to the United States in 2001, Sta. Ana was a researcher at the office of then Department of Local Government Secretary. Her job required travelling mostly to all regions in the Philippines, examining books on activities, projects and programs being implemented by the office. Simultaneously, she also handled financial matters of the office Secretary.

Together with twelve budget officers of other national agencies, she was granted scholarship on government financial management at the International Training Institute of Sydney in 1985. Things would go awry however after the EDSA revolution. She found adjusting to the changes in her work difficult and opted to retire.

When she became a single parent, Sta. Ana continued working as Budget Officer in the Quezon City Vice Mayor Office, Budget officer of the Women’s Legal Bureau and as consultant of the “Site Consultancy Services” of Benpres.

When that was over, her life would change. She migrated to America because she needed to send three children to college. Friends and relatives promised to give her support provided she grab the first opportunity to earn, and not be choosy about finding work.

Her first job was a nanny for an infant in Bedford Hills, New York. There, she lived in a 10-hectare property by a forest where the next neighbor was a hill away and the thick foliage would eat her up, losing the site whenever she went farther.

“It was an old house, creepy outside but surprisingly computerized inside,” she says. On one level was a computer room, which she was allowed to use to communicate to her kids back home. Homesickness and disorientation on her new life made her quit after seven months.

She moved to California when an offer from a financing and real estate company fell on her lap. Her employers promised to sponsor her working visa, and while her work permit was being processed, a good position in the organization awaited her.

A year and a half later, she would take a serious look and assess her life in the land of milk and honey. Reason: 30% of her income went to taxes. Another 30% went to rent, food, transportation, socializing with officemates and other miscellaneous expenses. The most startling thing she found out as a finance person, her net income for baby-sitting was by far significantly higher than her office job.

Sta. Ana went back to baby-sitting. In no time, a recruiting agency assigned her to a 5-day stay-in job to take care of an infant with two older siblings. The family treated her well but as months went by, more responsibilities were imposed on her contract.

Work became tough and her agency did nothing. Mustering enough courage, she pursued help and was able to access the California Labor Code on prescribed overtime, workload and hours for domestic and healthcare employees. With a labor lawyer, she filed a suit and won her case in the L.A. Superior Court.

Healthcare with a Filipino touch

Sta. Ana worked as a caregiver for a cancer patient after, gaining a lot of friends and endearing herself to relatives of the elderly and co-workers. (Caregiver Jobs Clearinghouse, a US-based website says, the U.S. will need 800,000 new caregivers for the next seven years. At present, 100,000 positions are available for Pinoys.)

Sta. Ana is proud of her accomplishments, having worked in three sectors (Philippine government for twenty-seven years, non-government organization for three years and a private company for another three years).

She is even prouder that she is able to extend someone’s life and give healthcare with a Filipino touch, just like what her older sister is doing, and what her father did before he died.

Healthcare provides one of the best job opportunities for newcomer Filipinos in the U.S, Sta Ana says. But they must learn short courses to be good at it.

“Caregiving is challenging. It is applying academics and your whole life experience into one. To perform well, one needs patience and understanding of what healthcare giving is all about,” she says. Sta. Ana concludes that no two patients are the same. “Without any formal training in the medical field, common sense is your best asset,” she says.

Ongoing rate

Income for a Caregiver is $130 to $160 a day (stay-in or 24 hour live-in job). Hourly rates are peg from $10 to $15 per hour. “If you are a dollar earner but a peso spender, this would be a good compensation. Taxes are sometimes taken cared of by the agency, although most caregivers pay taxes as individual contractors,” Sta. Ana explains.

For those who want to try homecare work, the following are available: “One-on-One Care”, one takes care of just one patient or at the most, a couple at home or work in a facility known as the convalescent home. Working in this type of homecare is tough, according to Sta. Ana.

A convalescent home is a house converted into a facility with 3–6 elderly patients. Two or three caregivers would usually shift jobs to cook, do laundry, feed, bathe, give medication, clean the facility, do grocery and attend to different kinds of physical and mental state of patients. Additionally, ‘lifting’ is included in transporting patients from the bed to the wheelchair, then back to bed.

Filipinos without work documents are mostly employed in this kind of caregiving. The operators are most likely Filipinos, too, often taking advantage of the situation of no-taxes and no-regulated work hours as prescribed by the labor code. Hence, the pay is much lower than the ongoing caregiver’s rate.

Asked if Americans prefer Filipinos in this field of work or it's just a myth? Sta. Ana says: “Both. Americans prefer Filipinos only because of our cultural upbringing towards our own parents and older relatives. In general, we are known to be compassionate and respectful to elders than any other nationality. Because of minimal language barrier, too, Americans are inclined to hire English-speaking caregivers.”

Presently, Sta. Ana has two backbreaking jobs in Southern California: Five days with an 85-year old lady in Rosemead and two days with a 102-year old lady in Long Beach. She manages to travel two hours by bus from one workplace to the other.

Sta. Ana says she will not give up her current work with any other high-paying job. Fortunately, both ladies are homebound, very considerate and well behaved. Both also are under palliative care, wherein nurses, physical and occupational therapists take turns over the week to visit and clinically-monitor their health. “I have no housekeeping job since both ladies have housekeepers and laundrywomen,” she says.

She shares her observation on Pinoys in the U.S: “Filipinos are much more complacent than any other nationality primarily due to our “English” background. It is easy to spot a “kababayan” anywhere and start a conversation in Tagalog. In Southern California, there are cities where Filipino’s residents are predominant like in West Long Beach, L.A., Eagle Rock, West Covina and Panorama City. It is likely that you will find Filipino restaurants, groceries and shops in these cities,” she adds.

Sta. Ana misses her other children in the Philippines (her eldest daughter, now married, is also in L.A.) although she chats with them via video-calling as often as she can. She has no support groups that she hangs out with. “I have no time for this kind of activity,” she says. Instead, she spends her free time watching Internet videos and chatting with friends on her gadgets.

She came home last year to bury her son Leo, a nursing graduate, who met a grisly death inside a room in a landmark hotel in Makati. The case remains unsolved up to now. Leo’s immigration papers were approved and he was supposed to join her in the U.S. before he passed away.

What advice would she give to Filipinos who want to be in healthcare work? “For younger ones, I will not advise them to be stuck in this kind of job. They have more opportunities in the business sector. Healthcare is good if they start right by taking up short or career courses related to the field,” she says.

For middle-aged and over, this kind of job will be most fitting, according to Sta. Ana. “As I said before, caregiving is common sense. Aside from the medical condition of each patient, they are old persons whose ways and habits can no longer be changed. To perform well, bear in mind that adjustment is on you and not with the patients,” she stresses.

Organizing one’s activities is also very important to balance and manage time between work and personal activities according to Sta. Ana. “Most patients live alone, therefore they tend to be nasty and rude. Sometimes racial discrimination is unavoidable. The caregiver has to find a way to break these negative attitude, for better relationship between them,” she says.

Lastly, she reminds Filipinos to know their rights and privileges as a domestic employee. Agencies will not give this information to a caregiver. Their role is to find clients at the expense of the caregiver.

RESPECT THE CONSUMER

2004. I did this video when Raul Alvarez of PLDT was elected Chairman of Adboard. This was launched in Manila Garden Hotel with many 4A's member agencies attending. The cast involved my DDB staff: Noah Valdez, Visualizer then, now CD at Bates Manila, Rolly Halagao, talent caster, now owner of a Casting Agency and its Executive Casting Director, Dusko Almosa, Art Director, now CD at Amon and Maneze ad agency, Oden Mateo, DDB Traffic Manager, Manny de Paz, Art Director, Inday, our agency Caterer, Hiedy Tiamzon, our agency HR Assistant, grateful and thankful to Unitel for allowing us to shoot and edit free of charge. Special thanks to Tess Jasareno, producer.

FROM ZERO TO MILLION DOLLAR TORONTO SUCCESS

by Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 1, 2015 issue

Before their shop became one of the most sought-after multi-cultural communications agencies in Toronto, Marvi Yap and Anna Maramba had to work almost 24 hours a day in their first few years.

They were busy marketing the agency during the day and doing small projects during the night. The agency billing was nowhere enough to pay the bills or even buy their meals. They also worked on the graveyard shift in factories, packing frozen bagels every night.

At one time, they delivered Toronto Star, the city’s daily paper to residential homes. They would be at the depot at 1:00 a.m. to get over 200 newspapers and deliver it to a village equivalent to Forbes Park or Dasmarinas Village in Manila. They had to finish the delivery by 6:00 a.m. or the residents would complain.

In that daily grind, Yap and Maramba asked: “We wondered what these people did for a living, their houses were huge! Were they once struggling immigrants like us?”

But after surmounting all kinds of challenges like funding (no bank, big or small, nor credit union was gracious enough to give them a small loan) and no support system (no network of friends or relatives whom they could ask for help on how to set up the business), they are now on a roll, working side by side with known marketing and mainstream ad agencies in Toronto, even winning awards.

How did they end up in Canada?

The two didn’t really intend to go to Canada. Anna’s twin sister was applying for immigration and they just decided to “tag along”. That short-lived adventure became a turning point in their lives.
Yap studied in Maryknoll from grade school to high school and majored in Broadcast Communications at the University of the Philippines. Maramba studied in Assumption from grade school to high school, went to De La Salle University and went further studying at the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) to become a licensed Interior Designer.

The idea of putting up a communication business came while they were both walking around Toronto and they realized that advertising all over was not speaking to the ethnic diversity of the city.
“We were in the subway one morning when we saw an ad for a financial institution that said: “Why break the bank?” We both looked at each other and said “naintindihan mo ba yung ibig sabihin noon?”

Yap and Maramba figured if they didn’t understand some of the English-language ads in Canada when they were both educated in North American–style English in Manila, what more of other immigrants from China and Latin America who came to Canada not speaking a word of English?

Thus, AV Communications, was born, a niche-advertising agency that catered to multicultural communities in Toronto.
“Our multicultural niche is a very relevant positioning in Canada,” Yap says. She backs it up with these facts:
An immigrant joins Canada almost every 2 minutes, almost 41% of Canadians are either first or second generation immigrants, 1 out of every 5 Canadians currently living in Canada was not born in Canada, every year 250,000 immigrants arrive in Canada and this does not include temporary workers who come with short term contracts or even international students.

She adds that within 10 years, 70% of growth in consumer spending will come from Asians and South Asians alone (not even including other ethnicities such as Latin Americans, East Europeans, etc.)

Working with mainstream agencies

From a struggling small company, the shop is now working hand in hand with big agencies, which realize they do not have the core competence to speak to multi-cultural communities.
“They hire agencies like us to work together with their agency of record. For example, we work with Saatchi on the Toyota account,” Yap proudly says.

AV Comm has grown to a full-service ad agency offering strategic planning, creative development, ethnic media buying and planning, events marketing, and everything that an ad agency does.

What makes it unique is that it has an ethnic or multicultural focus with a mantra to create an emotional bond between the ethnic consumer and mainstream brand. Another core competence is its ability to immediately adapt to trends that are happening in the world and filter these using the agency’s ethnic lenses from traditional to digital.

Today, the shop that the two established as a partnership in 2003 and fully incorporated in 2005 has 16 professionals from Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Jamaica and, of course, Philippines, working in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and across different Canadian provinces where large population of immigrant communities can be found.

Magnet to investors

A number of people, even clients, have also expressed interest in investing in AV Communications but the two believe that it is best to leave the ownership to the original “cooks” who really gave up blood, sweat, tears, sleep and social life to grow it to where it is now.

Awards? The agency has plenty of them. AV Comm started submitting entries to the Marketing Awards, an award-giving body that has been recognizing the best in Canadian advertising since 1908.

To win the “Golden M” as it is called, is a big thing even for mainstream agencies. In 2011, it opened a category called Multicultural to herald the best work in multicultural advertising in Canada. AV Comm has been consistently winning for 3 years now particularly for its work on BMW (Chinese New Year Campaigns).

The agency also holds the distinction of being the only multicultural agency that has won a Cassie, a prestigious creative and marketing effectiveness award where the “big boys” (McCann’s, JWTs, Y&Rs and many, many more) also compete. It was for an integrated advertising done by the agency for Western Union where it combined out-of-home, digital and grassroots experience to promote Western Union’s holiday campaign.

Located in artsy side of Toronto

Like Soho of New York, where most ad agencies are located, the agency is on the topmost floor of a Toronto heritage building called The Robertson. It is often described as an architectural gem among many warehouse/loft structures in the area built between the years 1911 and 1913.

Yap and Maramba are usually the first in the office, and the last to go. Even now that the agency is on its 12th year this May 2015, they still have the same passion and attention to the day-to-day stuff, as if they were still in Day 1. The only difference is, they are now able to delegate work outside of each other. Plus, they now don’t have to pack frozen bagels from 11 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. or deliver newspapers at the wee hours of the morning.

Asked if a Filipino-managed company can stand with the best in Canada or anywhere else, Yap says:
“There are many successful entrepreneurs in Canada – but they tend to be invisible, not recognized, as they should. In North America, you need to toot your own horn so people can take notice. This is not something we are used to. We let our work showcase our success and not the loudness of our voice,” she says.

Yap is proud to be a Pinoy because “we are known for our good work ethics. We are very hardworking, trustworthy, “talk-less, work-more” type of people,” she says.

What advice would she give to Filipinos who are planning to work in Canada? “Believe in your capabilities and your talents. Hindi dahil puti sila, or mas diretso at slang sila mag ingles, e mas magaling na sila. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t be the first one to say you are not as good as they are. Because you are. Don’t be discouraged. Starting over is never easy. Reinventing oneself is an exciting concept but the road towards fulfilling that is not glamorous. Just keep on and enjoy those little “stop overs.”

The two miss Jollibee, Via Mare Bibingka, Chocnut, Kowloon siopao, Pinoy dirty ice cream, the warm weather, and our beaches. “Our country is so beautiful we never really get to appreciate it until we were far away from it,” Yap confides.

On their next vacation back to Manila, Marvi and Anna say it would truly feel it’s so good to be home. “Because people are so much more genuine and helpful.”

RICHARD YAP ENDORSES CHOOKS-TO-GO

The “masarap kahit walang sauce” roasted chicken gets a big boost with “Be Careful With My Heart” heartthrob Richard Yap staking his name on the Philippine favorite and claiming it as his favorite, too.

Like millions of Filipinos who love Chooks-to-Go, Yap is the new face of the dynamic brand, which has grown close to 1,000 stores all over the country.

What’s in Yap that made him the perfect choice as Chooks-to-Go endorser?

According to a poll research done by a major publication, Richard Yap is the “ideal family man”. He is a cool and responsible dad in person, who makes sure that only the best is given to his family. He likewise appeals to moms and ladies across all socio-economic classes, like Chooks-to-Go. Wholesome, charming and dashing, Yap is the epitome of a Pinoy household brand everyone wants to bring home.

It is no surprise that Chooks-to-Go is close to Yap’s heart. He grew up in a family with impeccable taste for fine cooking. His family loves extraordinary food and he himself aspired to be a chef during his younger years. In fact, he has recently ventured into the restaurant business.

Chooks-to-Go became the undisputed number one roasted chicken brand in the country a year from its launching in 2008. In Metro Manila, Chooks-to-Go also offers a delivery service. With outlets in almost every town and city across the country, Bounty Agro Ventures, owner and operator of the Chooks-To-Go chain, sees more opportunities for growth in the coming year.

The brand also recently launched the “Gulat Ka Noh?” campaign to highlight the many surprises that comes with it, with special highlight on the product’s unique selling proposition – “Masarap kahit walang sauce”. The campaign marries the “kwela” and the brand’s sincere effort of delighting its consumers. Seeking to constantly innovate products and services to surprise consumers even more, Chooks-to-Go offered online ordering for delivery in Metro Manila mid last year.

Chooks-to-Go’s unique sweet taste has overtaken long-established rivals such as Andoks, Senior Pedro, and Baliwag. The rest of the market offers roast chicken with a salty taste and with sauce. Chooks-to-Go has taken an innovative brand positioning as the only ready-to-eat chicken that is sold without sauce. The Philippine market has such a strong penchant for eating chicken with sauce, that it is unbelievable that Chooks to Go’s roast chicken is “delicious even without sauce”.

Meanwhile, the company is gearing towards becoming a strong ASEAN player, continuously striving for excellence in its own business model and corporate culture.

PINAY IS FIRST ASIAN PRESIDENT OF CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION

By Roger Pe
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 4, 2015 issue

Her parents migrated to the U.S. because they realized that they would not be able to afford to send all of their eight kids to college if they had stayed and worked in the Philippines. 

Looking back, Aurora Austriaco says, “I am sure this decision was very difficult for them. It took a lot of sacrifice for our parents to leave their kids with my aunts and grandparents so they can earn money and send back to us. My parents would come home every year and stay for one month so they can spend time with us. This went on for ten years until we ultimately got reunited in 1983.”

Today, reading Austriaco’s biodata is dizzying, you’ll get lost through a pile of accomplishments as tall as Chicago skyscrapers.

As an immigrant who chased a big dream and saw it fulfilled beyond her wildest imagination, her success story will surely inspire millions of Filipinos.

On June 21, 2012, Pinay morena-beauty Austriaco was installed as the 136th president of a prestigious American organization – the Chicago Bar Association and served until 2013. She was also named among “100 Influential Women in Chicago” by Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine prior.

Austriaco was 8 years old when her parents left the Philippines for the U.S. Her mom was a retired nurse, and together with her dad, eventually petitioned her older siblings one by one. Along with the last of her 2 other sisters, they headed off to the U.S. on August 21,1983.

Austriaco vividly remembers that date. On their way to the airport, news broke out that returning former Senator Benigno Aquino had been shot at the same airport. When she came to the U.S. at age 18, she had to start as a freshman all over again (none of her college units earned from first year of college in the Philippines was credited when she transferred to DePaul University). She took up an undergraduate course, majored in Finance and finished law.
Was it hard for a Pinoy, much more to a Filipino woman, to practice law in the US, given that it is a mainstream profession dominated by men? Austriaco says, “I don’t think so, particularly if you are a graduate of a U.S. law school.”

Austriaco says, there is a “character and fitness application process, a multi-state bar exam and then, the state bar exam. Once you pass all, you will be admitted to the Bar and be licensed to practice, a state by state criteria. It becomes harder to get a license if one is a foreign graduate or a graduate of a non-ABA-accredited law school.”
Eager to start her legal career, Austriaco hopped from part-time classes to full-time load sessions and managed to finish law school in three years.

She began working in the accounting department of a law firm called “Attorneys’ Title” (where she worked while still in school). She returned as corporate counsel where she also served as one of the board directors.

After starting to have a family with her husband, Jerome, a Filipino dentist and business owner with a Doctorate of Dentistry from University of Illinois and MBA degree from University of Chicago), Austriaco wanted to get back to the courtroom. Though it was daunting for her, (she didn’t know where she would find clients), it turned quite the opposite, they came from everywhere, from her endless involvement in the legal community and local volunteer organizations.

Before forming her own firm (Austriaco and Associates) in 2009, Austriaco spent five years with a small boutique firm, worked for Harold Levine Ltd. for four years, and served as Corporate Counsel and Managing Attorney for the Indiana operations for Attorney's Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. for 10 years.

“I think it’s like the American dream, to have your own business”, Austriaco said. In her own office in a posh building in Chicago, Austriaco handles everything, from title insurance litigation to defense of mortgage foreclosure, a part of her business that makes her very much preoccupied.

Austriaco was formerly second vice-president of the Chicago Bar Association, helped organized the Filipino-American Bar Association in Illinois and spent much time reaching out to other bar associations. She was the first female minority president for the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, served as president of the Asian American Institute, chaired the Cook County State’s Attorney Asian Advisory Council and sat on a variety of other local commissions and councils.

In one of several articles written about her in Illinois, U.S. District Chief Judge James Holderman described Austriaco as a “natural leader, a person who cares deeply about her community and profession.” Holderman appointed her as a merit selection panel for federal magistrate judges.

Born in the Philippines

On her 24th year as a practicing lawyer, Austriaco was born in Quezon City and went to grade school at Project 6 Elementary School. She went to Quezon City Science High School, spent one year in college at UST and graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 1990.
There were only a handful of Pinoy lawyers in the U.S. when she started her legal career. “Today, the number has risen which is really great to see,” she says.

She tells Global Pinoy that her greatest professional achievement in the US is the respect and confidence her peers have accorded her, specifically being elected as president of Chicago Bar Association, which is one of the oldest and largest metropolitan bar association in America with over 22,000 member lawyers.

Austriaco was likewise recognized as a Super Lawyer in Real Estate by the Super Lawyers publication for the past 3 years. Peers vote to be included in this elite group. The Leading Lawyers Network of Illinois also hailed her as Leading Lawyer for the past 5 years. The state also named her one of the Top 10 Women Consumer Lawyers and Top 50 Real Estate Lawyers, all of these she considers as her career highlights.

Filipino community leader

Austriaco never forgets her roots. In addition to her bar association involvement, she actively participates in civic projects of the Pinoy community in Chicago, which she describes as one of the largest and strongest Asian groups in the city comprised of many Filipino organizations. To help future generation of lawyers and give something back to the community, Austriaco supports networks for women and minorities. She mentors younger attorneys when she can, fulfilling a promise she made to one of her first mentors, real estate attorney Laurel Bellows who once said: “Austriaco isn’t just a role model for women and people of color, she’s an example for all lawyers.”

In 2006, she received the CBA Alliance for Women Alta Mae Hulett Award, a prestigious award given to women lawyers who have given significant contributions to the advancement of women in the legal profession.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce recognized her as one of the “Ten Most Outstanding Filipino American Businessmen” for 2009. Austriaco also served as 2010 Chair of the Asian-American Coalition Event hosted by the Filipino Community in January 2010 attended by over 1,300 people.

The Asian American Coalition is an organization comprising Chicago’s Asian communities -- Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Thai, Laotians, Vietnamese, Indians, Malaysians, and Indonesians.

She was honored as one of the Top 100 Under 50 Diverse Executive Leaders in 2011 and was bestowed the Sister Margaret Taxler Award last year. Asked what advise she would give Filipinos to become successful in the US, especially in practicing law, Austriaco says: “Be yourself, be heard, be seen, work hard and give your 110% on any work you do. Embrace challenges, take risks and never give up,” she says.

Austriaco says while Americans love Filipinos for their loyalty, intelligence, warmth, talent, hardwork and dedication there are also challenges, which she herself also faced. “The Asian-American population in the U.S. accounts for approximately 6% of the entire population, the fastest-growing minority community. The Filipino community is a percentage within that 6%. But because the AA population is the smallest of all minority communities, we are not well represented in the C suites of corporate America or in the political field,” she says. We do not have the numbers Hispanics or African-Americans have so that our political strength and impact are not there to effectuate a strong voice.”

In 2008, the year Obama ran for President, Austriaco ran as State Representative, the first Filipina to run for the position in Illinois. “The more Filipinos run for office, the more our presence in the political silo will be recognized,” she says.

On her thoughts on the Filipino diaspora:

“You will find Filipinos in almost any part of the world, some parts more than the others and some Filipino communities stronger than the others. They work, earn money and send back to their families so they can have a better life, their kids can go to college and have good education. I think this is typical for most Filipinos in the U.S.”
She notices that in Chicago for instance, Filipinos are the largest customers of a money-remittance company. They consistently send money to their loved ones in the Philippines, thus helping the economy even though they are not in the Philippines.

Austriaco is proud of the many Filipinos she had met in many places in the U.S. and in other foreign countries. It’s always great to see fellow Filipinos, so whatever continent you are at, always be welcoming to a fellow Filipino. It’s a beautiful gesture,” she says.