I talked about the incident with my mom
"Yeah, they want to go, and they don't want him to be all alone."
and about the "friens will forget me"
"They'll remember him when he comes back. If they don't, they're probably not his friends at all. What, they'll be away for so long?"
I said yes, for the whole '12.
My advice is, before they start talking about the phillipins, get something to piss you off. And when they start talking, well you get it. Talk in a "mildly pissed" tone, slowly raising it over time. That should paint them the picture of "i don't want to go you ignorant forgets".