it's the same until now, though my understanding is not so much the race or the color of skin but the qualification, experience, and the level of position in a firm. the british (almost always, most are british or europeans) just happen to be more qualified and more experienced. (the arabs can afford to get the best and the brightest from the west, so to speak, while the professional filipinos who go there are almost always young and just starting, in their twenties like your father. the older and more experienced filipinos tend to leave and go to the west, again like your father.)
they also give super bonuses for pinoys who convert to islam. dad said that his boss, almost everyday, would put a quran on his desk and say, "mohandis, we will give you a raise if you convert. please think it over." (mohandis is the arab term for engineer).
anyways, dad used to have religious talks with them and reiterate christ's importance.
sabi ni dad his boss said to him, "if you were a muslim, you could be an imam." haha. buanga.
dad had a friend, from cebu city, who converted. he was given a substantial raise. from 4500 riyals a month to 6000 riyals a month.
pero muslim ra saudi, when this friend went back to cebu, na catholic na pod.
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