By the way, Malaysia enjoys visa-free access to 145 countries, Singapore to 150, Brunei to 101 (including Japan, USA, Schengen and Canada) and believe it or not, the poor countries of Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala enjoy more than 80 countries for visa-free travel.

So why are we at 50 something only?

Over Population? Yes.

Because we tend to export most of our labour force? Yes.

Because the Philippines is not seen as a strategic economic and diplomatic partner? Yes.

Because of poverty? Yes

Because of political corruption? Yes

Because of Filipinos’ tendency to overstay? Most Filipinos would deny this, but a resounding yes!

And who suffers? The bonafide Filipino traveler.

Solution: We need to replicate the success of South Korea. South Korea was like the Japan of the early-80’s. Now it is a powerhouse.

We need to incent graduates to stay in the country and help in the nation building. The government needs to spend more money for research grants (like Japan) versus lining the pockets of corrupt politicians (like the Ampatuans).

We need to limit nursing schools — convenient ticket to “abandoning” the country. FOREX remittances are only short-term solutions. We need to invest instead into Science and Tech (like Singapore).

We need to trim down the fat off our bloated bureaucracy. It is so outrageous that we have so many politicians for a tiny country like the Philippines. And the number of new towns and cities seem to grow every year.

Then you have these politicians for life — i.e. governors maximizing their allowed terms of offcie, then run for vice governor to get around that and then run for governor again. Worse, you have congressmen and mayors also maximizing their allowed terms, then have their wives run for the post while enjoing a rich vacation, and then run again.

The Philippines is the only country where you check the daily news headlines and you will only see 3 themes: Politics, Disasters and Movie Stars. About time we need real good news!

Oh boy …. I can go on and on … the list is too long………………….

However, Canadian passport enjoys “real” higher respect than US passport when travelling abroad (go figure). Although, US Passport (#3) is higher by one notch than a Canadian Passport (#4) in the Henley Index (http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/), Canadians are more admired. Even Americans would wear (pretend to be one) stuff with the Canadian flag. Other respected passports are that of the Danes and Finns (ranked#1), Irish (ranked#2), Swiss (ranked#9) and the British (ranked#6).

The Philippines? Not even mentioned, but probably It’s somewhere around #75, above North Korea (#83) and China #79).

Afghanistan is last at #89.

Caveat: The ranks of Portugal, USA, Belgium, Spain and France may be misleading and should have been one or two notches lower (in my opinion) due to former colonies exempting them from entry visas.

For a complete list, go to:

http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/

Suggested visa-free destinations for Philippine passportholders: Brazil (90 days), Israel (90 days) and the beautiful Kish Island (owned by Iran, but visa-free travel allowed ).

I hope this information is helpful.

The kids have already seen how good my Mother is at spoiling children, so this is really a crushing blow to them, am sure.

Will we ever get a waiver? I doubt it. They’ll let in more people first to help stimulate their raped economy. Will the clerks ever get nicer? I doubt it, not unless they face a similar predicament on the other side of the fence. We all hope that they’ll be nicer…well, we can hope.

Just watch La Visa Loca. Should at least give you a laugh on the whole process. I wonder if those clerks (and yes, they are clerks, not consuls) were taught to be rude?

Sigh — the travails of Philippine passport holders…

I had been subjected to all forms of discrimination when I traveled abroad in the ’90s and, yes, even now.

But I still love my green passport, no matter what.