Tonight, Burj Khalifa delivered the tallest tribute to the Filipinos for the second year in a row with a display of the flag in celebration of the Philippines’ 122nd Independence Day. Pinoy expats are delighted with the sight of the colors shining through and no less than Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes of Dubai and the Northern Emirates expressed his thoughts and feelings about the feat, especially in times when many Filipinos in the emirate are seeking assistance to make it through the pandemic.
Here’s what the Consul General has to say:
The Burj State of Mind (by ConGen Paul Cortes)
“The display of the Philippine flag on the Burj will be nothing short of tingling, one that numbs the mind as Filipinos assess who we are as a people in this part of the world. At least once a year, the whole country comes at a standstill for that one minute display of our symbol which seems to manifest the confidence of the entire expatriate community on the Filipino. It does and will evoke a sense of pride in many. For some, those within in the grounds of the Dubai Mall and those in the confines of their privacy, their eyes glued to their social networks, the view of the Burj Khalifa with the image the Filipino flag may possibly be one of their last fond memories of this glorious city as they prepare for life back home once again.
Filipinos thinking about repatriation
Our ATN (Assistance To Nationals) personnel spent Philippine Independence Day 2020 on their phones and on their laptops. Each were interviewing the hundreds of overseas Filipinos who had reached out to the Consulate, begging and pleading to be repatriated. Some had given up – unemployed, their pays slashed, the opportunities uncertain. Some were more than ready. Their pregnancy terms fast approaching and faced with a bleak future in the economy, they would rather be home as they bring a new life to this world.
Some have long been desperate, praying for a repatriation flight as soon as Dubai put on lockdown its economy in mid-March. But when told that Manila would provide them with the ticket back home and the fact that there was no turning back, quite a number flipped and change their minds.
Some prefers to stay
Many find that perhaps the prospects here are still much better than that of back home. Some had already spent a decade, even more, in Dubai, the new land of milk and honey for many of our Kabayans. They still feel that there are more chances that they could reach their potentials and their ambitions here than back home. These Pinoys may share their rooms with five or six people more, the repository of their Middle East experience packed in perhaps a suitcase or two, their residences as itinerant as can be — but as they share the images of food for their families back home, their children going to school, and for the luckier ones a humble home, staying a little longer in Dubai is worth the heartache and yes, because of the pandemic, the occasional missed meals.
As of 7 o’clock this evening, from around a few thousand who have expressed their interest to renew their lives back home, only 375 souls have decided that it was time for them to return. Speaking to some of them, you feel not their indecision but the agony of leaving their dreams behind as they scale down their vision to that of survival. Their hopes dashed, their tomorrows crushed – though yours are still intact, your heart shares this painful defeat.
Overseas Filipinos have been known to stand behind the pedestals built for successful Kabayans but also sympathize with those with shattered ambitions. After all, many of them began their journeys in the same way as most – a ticket from Manila to Dubai, where they had hoped they too could attain that elusive contentment.
Two days is all it would take for them to pack their memories and dispose of those that may not be worth bringing home. Cebu Pacific made it clear that the maximum one could bring is 30kg. But certainly, the image of the Philippine flag on the Burj weighs much more than that. They will be hand-carrying, of course, the hopes that the motherland could, this time with the help of hundreds of thousands who have likewise returned, provide them a chance to live their dreams in a place they call their own.”
