values are values: ten iterations

By Eric Abalajon

Author's note: ​On January 23, 2023, Canadian Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre posted a tweet that began with ‘Filipino values are Conservative values.’ The said tweet then detailed his pro-immigration stance, especially relating to Filipinos, along with pictures during his visits to what appear to be a Filipino grocery store and restaurant.

What I find fascinating in the tweet and the conversations it generated is how its language, despite being so short, encapsulated so many discourses all at once: the intertwined policies of Canadian immigration and Philippine labor-export, and locating the role of work and family in imagining the nation/s.

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

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Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

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Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

---

Filipino values are Conservative values: hard work, family & country.
 
Let’s remove gatekeepers here so more foreign-trained nurses, doctors, and skilled workers can do the jobs they’re qualified for here in Canada!

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​Eric Abalajon is currently a lecturer at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Iloilo. His works have appeared in Plumwood Mountain Journal, Four Way Review, Stonecoast Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote, and Copihue Poetry. His debut poetry collection is forthcoming from Flowesong Press. He lives near Iloilo City.