eri (they/them) ⚢

For context, the Philippines was a US colony:

The US colonization of the Philippines from 1900 to 1934 had a tremendous impact on Philippine immigration. Mass migrations began, as Filipinos became US nationals and were given the opportunity to live legally in the US under the protection of its law. Demand for labor on Hawaiian plantations and California farmlands attracted thousands of Filipino immigrants known as Sakadas (plantation workers) who came mostly from the provinces of Ilocos and Cebu to replace the Japanese work force who intended to leave the Hawaiian plantations. Although the Sakadas came to Hawaii as American Nationals, they were not given full rights as American citizens and were the first Filipino Americans to experience racial discrimination and cultural oppression. (source)

During that time, migrating to the US was framed as an avenue to a better life, and it’s just been like that since then. Here in the Philippines, parents always encourage their children to go abroad, often as nurses. Now, were a top exporter of nurses in the world. (Heck, even my own cousin is studying to be a nurse in Australia.)

Philippine government has also been shitty the past years, so more and more Filipinos want to leave their country. A recent survey even showed that 57% of Filipinos are open to working and living abroad.

Raissa migrating to the US for school and Jo missing her is an experience many Filipinos can relate to. I myself have a friend who migrated to New Zealand, and I know many others who now live abroad.

But apart from the whole migration thing, let’s talk about Raissa as a character. From the second trailer, it seems to me that her going to Caltech is something she also wants and not just something her parents want; she just can’t bear to tell Jo that she’s leaving her.

I got this idea from the reveal at the beginning that Raissa had been planning to go to Manila, the country’s capital:

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