Igorot teacher victim of ‘hit and run’ in Thailand

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina P. Dizon

Cheryl Ambucay Depnag, who traces her roots from Sayangan, Atok, Benguet and Besao Mountain Province, was hit by a car in Kabinburi, Thailand. The owner of the car is nowhere to be found. Some of Cheryl’s friends in Thailand could only hope that the car owner will turn up and help defray expenses incurred in the hospital.

Currently Cheryl is confined at Chaopraya Prachinburi Hospital. According to reports from the Association of Cordillerans in Thailand (ACT), the doctor said Cheryl is in critical condition due to a broken skull and brain trauma.

Some ACT members are looking after her while awaiting some of her relatives to arrive from the Philippines. Cheryl teaches at Maryvithaya School at Kabinburi. She has been working in at Kabinburi for six months now. She passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers in 2006.

(Update: Cheryl was pronounced dead on November 16 and her body brought to her hometown in Atok, Sayangan. She was buried November 21.)
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Filipino teachers here in Thailand number around 10,000 and some estimate to be around 30,000. They are spread out in almost all parts of the country.

I met three Filipino teachers even here at the northern part of Thailand where I am working at the moment. I never thought this part of the country with its laid back state can still be explored as a destination for teaching jobs. Is it a good paying job to be teaching English in Thailand?

I met a Filipino teacher in Bangkok who has been teaching here for 8 years and she said Filipino teachers get as low as 12,000 baht to as high as 40,000 a month depending on the length of stay.
With the dearth of jobs back home in the Philippines, a 12,000 baht a month equal to around 16,000 pesos will be much better than sitting home in Pinas and having no job.

Another friend who is teaching in Bangkok in an international school receives 15,000 bhat per month plus some tutorial jobs which will earn her around 20,000 bhat a month. That is equal to around 28,000 pesos.

While she deducts her living expenses from her salary, she also has some amount sent home to augment family expenses.While this is so, Filipino teachers bewail preference for native English speaker-teachers and the bigger salary that the native English speaker-teacher gets. The native English speaker- teacher receives around 25,000 to 40,000 a month for entry level position. It’s not only happening in Thailand. It’s also happening in nearby Cambodia and China. What is wrong here? Call it discrimination. Call it racism. More next issue on Filipino teachers abroad.