@Roderick ************
By the original meaning of that term (Being strongly aligned with NATO and the US against the Soviet Bloc) or the more modern meaning which relates to its human development index, Thailand is not a first world nation.
Filipinos being more westernized is part of their mindset.
I don’t think the infrastructure plays that much into it though as Laos has even worse infrastructure and doesn’t have anywhere near the culture of moving abroad that the Philippines does.
Same with Myanmar, Vietnam and even Cambodia.
A lot of the Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants to other countries were a result of the Vietnam war and Pol Pot and not due to a long term tradition of expatriation.