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By Leti Boniol
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted 12/26/2010
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—It will be Mylene Malabanan's second Christmas away from home this year. She will be spending Christmas Eve with Filipino friends also working in this southeast Asian capital, as she did last year. As for Christmas Day, “it'll probably be just a regular Saturday for me.”
In a country where Buddhism reigns, Christmas is a struggle for thousands of Filipino professionals here, so they stick together, at least for the noche buena.
Mylene’s idea of Christmas is “just staying home with the family, seeing the children’s faces light up when they open their gifts, hearing their laughter, picture-taking, eating. I won't have those here.”
Her friend Marie Anne ‘Maan’ Abrera, an account director and producer for a production company who has been working for five years here, says she has learned how to cope. “You miss your family, friends, and the tradition.” Still, she says the Filipino “community here will try to celebrate the way it is supposed to be” as “Christmas is in our hearts.”
But there is a good side to being away, she says: “I am not pressured to give gifts.”
Another Pinoy friend, Leon Franco Dionco, a creative director for a fashion magazine, says Filipinos are flexible and know how to maximize what they have so they can still enjoy Christmas together.
Three years in the Cambodian capital, Franco, an advertising graduate from Manila, has observed that since 2008, Christmas decor has been popping up in the city. He surmises that Phnom Penh is slowly being influenced by international holidays.
Mylene now sees “a lot of commercial establishments hanging Christmas decors. Bookstores also sell Christmas trees, some establishments have big Santa inflatables in front of their shops.”
Maan said she is sad in a way because some sectors in the city are “celebrating commercially without really understanding the true meaning of Christmas.”
Franco says he prefers to celebrate Christmas in a simple way. It is New Year’s Eve he is waiting for, and at Mylene’s office, December 31 is the one they really celebrate.
Sharing expertise
“Last year I attended my first office annual party. I had friends from the Philippines visiting me then, so I asked my boss if I could bring them along as well. The party was like any other annual holiday party. Lots of food, alcohol, games, and raffle draws. Everybody had fun.” This year, she is again looking forward to December 31, when her friends will arrive from the Philippines. They will go to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat again.
Mylene, Maan, and Franco are among hundreds of Filipino professionals who work in Cambodia and enjoy the benefits that their positions promise—benefits that they did not find in their work in the Philippines.
Adjustment period
Maan, who first went to Cambodia to visit her sister, found herself a job as a producer for a local company. Franco said he was contacted by his cousin to try out a job there, while Mylene went there to visit Maan.
“I needed a different place to breathe,” Mylene explains. A graduate of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, she was attracted to the 8-5 working hours that she didn’t enjoy in her previous job in Manila, which always demanded overtime.
“Each new job is a learning experience. I'm here because I want to learn new things. Every job I have had is different from the previous one,” she adds.
Adjusting to the local culture is a challenge, they all say.
“It was a struggle at first but I got the hang of it,” Maan says of her experience working with the locals. She needs to adjust here and there, but it is “nothing major, major” as people are generally nice.
“There is mutual respect between Khmers and Filipinos.”
She also has to face the challenge of limited resources. “It needs of bit of time to get what you want in the office.”
But in exchange, she says she is earning well, people are nice to her, she has a good boss, she loves what she is doing and she feels she is respected by her colleagues. She hopes to stay a few more years in the advertising industry that is very new in Cambodia.
For Franco, working in Phnom Penh is the opposite of working in Manila, which means low salary and high taxes to pay.
For now, Mylene enjoys the eight-to-five work day, no weekend work and 23 holidays a year. She also has her own living space and has learned how to cook. “But I try to eat Khmer food every now and then,” she says
Of course she misses her family, the “bickerings over little things, the dining and hanging out with friends,” but she says she is “lucky to have found good friends here and being with them helps.”
Franco is “super happy” because he can choose the kind of life he wants. He says he really enjoys his work. Besides, “they need Filipinos here.”
Almost like PH
Mylene says living in Cambodia is like being in the Philippines except that the former is “a little less developed.”
“But it's a growing country. During the year I've been here, I've seen a lot of improvements,” she says, although she is still waiting for a Starbucks franchise and a cinema that shows international movies. Most of the movie houses here show only Khmer and Thai films. To keep up with the times, she buys DVDs and watches at home.
Many locals know how to speak English here and that makes it easier to get around and to make friends.
“What I love about the Khmer people is the way they have fun, especially during weddings. I have attended weddings of officemates. The people I work with get transformed. I see them serious at work, but during parties they are totally carefree. It's very refreshing.”
“Machismo, however, is very much evident. That was the biggest challenge for me at work, as a foreigner and a woman,” says Mylene.
The three say Pinoys are doing very well and are respected in Cambodia. “Most of the Pinoys I know here hold high positions in their respective companies as managers or supervisors. And there are a lot of Filipino teachers here as well. Most of the Pinoys are in the fields of education, advertising, and fashion,” Mylene shares.
“Cambodia is like a decade or so behind everyone else. We work really hard and we are not selfish with our knowledge and experience. It's these qualities that many Cambodians love about Filipinos, I think. That is why we are placed in supervisory or managerial positions. We share our English proficiency with them, we raise the standards of advertising and fashion, and we work hard,” Mylene adds.
In any business in Cambodia, there is at least one Pinoy, says Franco. “For me in the fashion world... even though it's small, the magazine, is doing well. And I can feel the people appreciate what we do. It makes me proud to be a Pinoy.”
Looking global
After 16 months, Mylene says she is still adjusting. But she says she wants to stay as long as she can and give the work her “best shot.”
Maan says she sees her next destination to be Australia, the United States, or Spain. “No plans of going back to the Philippines in the next five years or so. Medyo siksikan na sa Philippines (It’s a bit crowded there),” she says
Franco, too, wants to try other firms or countries.
Cambodia is “a beautiful country, with less traffic, less pollution, and ideal working hours... There's a sense of fulfillment when you share your knowledge with people,” Mylene says.
Adds Franco: Cambodia is not as stressful as the Philippines. “They will love it here... I swear.”
