Why 30% of Sailors are Filipino

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Next: Why 30% of the comments are Filipino.

Filipino sailors, nurses, domestic helpers, engineers, and all sorts of workers abroad who send money back home - they have my utmost respect. I hope that the day comes when they no longer need to work abroad and be able to make a sustainable living back home.

I'm a european captain of a chemical tanker, i have filipino men on my ship. They are the absolute best crew i could ever ask for. Hardworking, good at their jobs and very motivated. These men do not skip a day without performing their duties 110% and all that with a smile on their face. Only i wish they would be appreciated more economically since they are worth double of every single cent they are given. I could not give more praise to them. Salamat kaayo ug mabuhay❤🇵🇭

I graduated with a Business Degree, my other siblings are a Doctor of Medicine and a Nurse. We were able to finish our education through our mother who worked as a Domestic Helper in Kuwait and Hong Kong in 25 years.

I'm a product of such system. Migrate to Educate to, at some point, migrate to other countries. The promise of a better life, that's we want for our families, regardless if we'll only be complete, once a year. With the current economic conditions of our country, such ideals will not likely change anytime soon. Still, thank you for providing an objective view of what is being considered as 'normal' in our country.

It's also important to point out that in Philippines, the qualifications are very high and the wage is very low. For instance, if you are a fresh college graduate and looking for a job, most of the company or businesses here requires many years of experience and expertise in the job field and in order to get that qualification, you need a job. This problem is similar to "which came first? chicken or egg". The job requirement here in the Philippines is unfavorable to college fresh graduates and our government does not do anything about it.

I lived in the Philippines for several years and went house to house with them. I have never loved a people so much. It broke my heart to see the social & community gap that migrant workers would make. I saw lots of basically single-parent houses raising children because one parent would be off in Saudi or wherever. I could walk down a street and tell which house had an OFW and not. There are many more problems than economic caused by this. Pusong Pinoy!

Suprised you didn't mention the Navy. The US Navy at one point had alot of enlistment programs for Filipinos in the 1990s. Many in exchange for US Citizenship. As a result, tons of Filipinos flooded to the force establishing the "Filipino mafia". This combined with American GIs marrying local Filipinas via Clark Airbase and Subic Bay cemented the culture on the DoD as a whole. Even 30 years later you'll be able to go to an on post Army/Navy grocery store and you'll see tons of Filipino food for sale.

According to some of my veteran friends, they like to joke around that the US Navy is actually the Filipino Navy and the US Army is actually the Latino Army.

I worked with a US military contract firm that was staffed nearly entirely of Pinoy. They have a rich culture, delicious food, and always willing to share. One of the greatest groups of guys and gals I had the pleasure of working with.

I once knew some US Navy sailors who joked about the "Filipino Mafia" in the fleet. Not an actual crime syndicate, but simply the fact that 1) there were an abnormally large percentage of Filipinos in the service relative to the size of the Filipino-American population, and 2) the Navy's F-A sailors tend to look out for each other. The facts of the global labor market mentioned in this video probably have some connection to why that "Filipino Mafia" exists. Of course, the USN has to pay all sailors of equal rank the same regardless of background due to a small thing called "Civil Rights law", so the Navy doesn't benefit financially from having a large Filipino/ Filipino-American crew, but from the other side the USN probably looks like a pretty great job. If you're going to sea anyway, would you rather have a temp job with zero security working for a captain and shipping company which sees you as completely disposable and replaceable and can get away with treating you as such, or for an organization with a very clear 20-year career track. At least that's my theory, but I'm spitballing here.

Filipino people are one of the most cheerful, fun, kind and hardworking people I have ever seen. I am from Myanmar and our country relies on foreign remittance from people working abroad as well. I hope quality of life and livelihood of all of us improve soon, without having to separate from your home and family.

I worked on crude tankers years ago and the Filipino crews were the nicest and hardest working people I ever dealt with, they were great to work with.

The "cheap" labor that is perceived by foreign employers is the opposite for Filipinos. As you said, a nurse earns 15x more working overseas than here. The OFW (overseas Filipino workers) business is also a gateway for Filipinos to eventually live abroad as citizens who can bring their families, and I can attest to this. The conditions here in this country are more than just a bad workplace and low pay, it also has problems with the government, crime, environment, etc. My parents have suggested multiple times that I should work abroad simply because it is much better. At first, I thought about working here in the future to be separate from the norm, but seeing how our country is managed, I now think my parents were right. Unless the government does something about this, which will not happen since they earn a lot of money from this, then this brain drain that we are experiencing will just keep going.

I never met a Filipino until I went to US Navy. Lots of fun, good food, and friendly banter. The introduction to Filipino food was a great experience for me as a young man.

Without watching the video, but based upon personal experience- Because, unlike many people, Filipinos are not afraid of hard work and aren't afraid of the ocean. Met a lot of Filipino sailors in the US Navy working to improve the lives of their families. Admirable people.

I was in the US Navy and 20% of my ship's crew were Filipino. My Company Commander (Drill Instructor in the Navy) was Filipino. Lots of the US Navy are Filipinos (or were in my time) because there was a treaty with the Philippines and the US when we had Subic Bay there for the US Navy to enlist a number of Filipinos every year.

Used to work with a team of Filipinos, probably the nicest most diligent people in the entire company. I was really happy that you made this video, it allows me to understand them and where they come from, this video gave me a lot more insight into their life.

I served in the US Navy. Even before that my stepdad US Marine taking us to Camp Lester Naval Hospital. Filapino sailors as corpsman getting us medical examed and immunization. My Company Commander in bootcamp was Filapino. We had 3 Recruits in our company that were Filipinos and he made sure they were taken care of and not involved in harsh treatment like rest of the guys no matter where we came from. They stick to each other and there was serious unequal, unfair treatment. I even saw them in Dubai in mid 90s to Hongkong, South Korea, Japan (on/off base) to California at VA Hospital met a filapina nurse. Their everywhere. Alot of them I ran into. They mentioned putting their nephew, nieces to school, building business or home, etc. The poverty is beyond belief.