The family will remain strong despite migration, economic woes, and all sorts of other social pressures. Filipinos will continue to look at the family as protector, haven, and safety net, although the definition of what constitutes family will undergo drastic revision.

by Maruja Asis

	The family remains the source of the Filipinos' identity, strengths, and the object of their aspirations and affections. [photos by Jose Enrique Soriano]

THE IMPORTANCE of family to the individual is almost an article of faith in the Philippines. I remember the bewildered look of our respondents in a research project when we posed the question, "Is it important to have a family?" It was as if we had come from another planet, since we asked a question whose answer was obvious: yes. And just in case we did come from another planet, the respondents all zeroed in on the fact that life is simply unimaginable without the family. Whether they are down and out or happy and successful, Filipinos always have their families conveniently nearby.

The family is a major thread that runs through individual Pinoy life stories. The strivings of Filipinos are rarely just about "I" or "me." The desire to provide a better future for their families propels hundreds of thousands of Filipinos to work abroad, risking life and limb and defying wars and bans. I find myself muttering, "only in the Philippines," when I hear contestants citing their fervent wish to help their families as a reason for joining a competition. And in their moments of triumph, a thank-you speech is not complete without mentioning God — and the love and support of family members. Just as real are the stories of those who had been abandoned, abused, and failed by their families, and the havoc this has wreaked on individual lives.

And so my (fearless) forecast is that the family will continue to be the source of the Pinoy's identity, strengths, and the object of his or her aspirations and affection. The family, however, is not just the dispenser of nurturance and emotional sustenance. As the basic building block of society, the family is tasked with the responsibility to provide for the material support of its members, particularly the young, the frail, and the elderly. It is in this arena where many Filipino families have been struggling for decades. Past trends and present conditions suggest that Filipino families will be in for more rough sailing 10 years down the line. Given the country's fragile economic base and the uncertain prospects ahead, securing economic support will be the major challenge that will sorely test the resilience of our most cherished institution.

There are already some 84 million Filipinos today. Our burgeoning population would have meant a viable market and more human resources if our economy were robust and could provide jobs. The search for jobs — particularly regular work, a rarity in these days of contractual employment — has become an obstacle test of sorts as new entrants to the labor market (about 800,000 a year) and past waves of jobseekers compete with each other. Unemployment rates continue to hover at around 10 percent.

The implications of our growing population given the sad state of our economy are worrisome. In 2003, Filipino women had about 3.5 children, which was among the highest in Southeast Asia — compare this with the total fertility rate of 1.3 children in Singapore or 1.7 children in Thailand. A high fertility means a young population — four out of 10 Filipinos are under 15 years old as of the 2000 census — that would require investments in health and education before they can be productive. Even if our population growth rate has gone down to 2.34 in 2004, it would take many years before we can enjoy some breathing space. Due to high fertility in the past, our population will continue to grow because future Filipino parents have already been born.

A RECENT study by the Statistical Training and Research Center indicates that under the best-case scenario, the Philippines will eventually say goodbye to poverty — but not until 2045. In the meantime, poverty is and will be very much a day-to-day reality for close to one-third of our population. Based on 2000 data, 28.1 percent, or 4.3 million families, which further translates to 26.5 million Filipinos, live below the poverty line. This was just slightly lower than the 28.4 percent of poor families as of 1997, indicating the slow wheels of development processes.

Data from other studies paint a bleak picture. Just recently, a Social Weather Stations survey found that 15 percent of our population had experienced not having anything to eat in the past three months. In 2003, expenses on food that had traditionally taken out a large chunk of the Filipino household's budget declined while expenses on other items, such as transportation and communication, registered an increase. Apparently, families have been spending less on food to be able to cover other expenses. With the end to the economic malaise still nowhere in sight, more and more Filipino families are wondering where the next meal would come from. Shelter, education for the children, and health have become out of reach for poor families. Even the middle class — fast becoming endangered in the Philippines — is finding it increasingly difficult not to slip into the category of the new poor. No wonder that economic problems are among the major causes of stress among Filipino families.

The anxieties, insecurities, and lack of choices wrought by poverty or limited economic means can have deep and far-reaching consequences for the capacity of the family to be caring and supportive of its members. The rise of dual-earner families is, in large measure, dictated by economic need. The demands of the workplace could eat into family time, thereby reducing the time that parents and children can spend together. With the participation of women in the labor market, the family experiences a "care deficit" or the shortage of workers (traditionally mothers or other women in the family) who assume care-giving responsibilities. Presently, the care deficit pertains mostly to the care of children, but in the near future, as the number of elderly Filipinos (i.e. those aged 60 or older) increases, the family will also have to consider how it can provide the elderly adequate care and support.

Families used to bank on education as the vehicle of social mobility. This is why Filipino families put such a high premium on sending their children to school all the way to university (sometimes without as much regard for what type of education as long as it is a college degree); the hope was, a college education would help clinch a better job and a brighter future. Since the 1970s, however, another route to social mobility has been opened: overseas employment. The lack of employment opportunities and/or the low wages in the country have driven millions of Filipinos to leave their families to work abroad. In the last 30 years, many families have moved out of poverty or improved their economic conditions, thanks to the remittances sent by family members who work abroad. The economic benefits of migration, however, have been tempered by concerns about social costs, particularly the perceived threats to the stability of the family.

Maruja Asis is Director of Research and Publications of the Scalabrini Migration Center. She is a sociologist long involved in migration studies, and a large part of her research deals with the relationship between migration on the one hand, and gender, family relations and social change on the other.

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