Showing posts with label money. Show all posts

Ang Nakakasilaw na Tukso ng Pera

At Paggastos Nito

Ni Apolinario Villalobos

Hindi maganda ang ugaling gastos nang gastos basta may magagastos lalo na kung ang ginagastos ay galing sa kaanak na nagpapakuba sa pagtrabaho sa abroad. Marami akong nakilalang pamilya na akala ko ay mayaman, yon pala ay may nanay o tatay o kapatid na OFW, o di kaya ay seafarer. Ang nabanggit na ugali ay masama na, subalit lalo pang pinasama ng iba dahil sa kanilang pangangalunya o pangangaliwa o pagtataksil…. sa madaling salita ay may “kabit”!...habang ang asawang sa abroad ay nagpapakahirap.

Sa awiting, “Kuya Eddie” binabanngit ang kapabayaan ng asawa sa mga anak na ang ama ay nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa. Nagtaka ang lalaki dahil hindi naman buntis ang kanyang misis nang kanyang iwanan subalit nang umuwi siya, ang mga anak nila ay nadagdagan ng isa! Ang masaklap pa, iniwan na nga siya at kanyang mga anak, tinangay pa ang inipon niyang pera! Kung babae ang gagawa ng kaaliwaswasan, ang idadahilan ay “woman’s frailty” tulad ng depensea ng isang big time na babae na ngayon ay nasa kulungan na, subalit ang kaso ay hindi dahil sa pagka-adik niya sa sex kundi sa mga kasong may kinalaman sa pera. Kung lalaki naman, ang palusot ay, “ di bale na, lalaki naman at hindi mabubuntis”.

May naging kaibigan akong mananahi na dating nurse sa Kuwait at ang kuwento niya ay anim na taon daw niyang sinupurtahan ang kanyang pamilya, mula sa mga magulang hanggang sa apat na kapatid. Dahil sagana sa perang padala niya, naka-develop ng “pagmamahal” ang kanyang tatay sa sabong at ang kanyang nanay naman ay sa casino. Sa apat niyang kapatid, tatlo ang naging adik at ang isa ay nalumpo dahil sa aksidente sa motorcycle na nabili sa malaking halaga, yong pang-karera. Nang nakauwi na siya, kahit papaano ay nakabili siya ng isang maliit na lote at isang Singer sewing machine….nagri-repair siya ngayon ng mga ukay na pantaloon sa Bambang (Manila) sa inuupahang maliit na kuwarto. Ang lote naman ay tinamnan nilang mag-asawa ng mga gulay na pambenta sa Divisoria.

Siguradong marami ang aalma o magrereklamo kung sasabihin ko na ang isang bahagi ng kulturang Pilipino na hindi maganda ay kayabangan kapag maraming pera. Ang mga Pilipino na may nabanggit na ugali ay walang tigil ang pamimili ng mga bagay na mapapansin agad upang makapagbigay ng impression na mayaman sila. Tulad halimbawa ng isa kong kumpare na nang mag-retire ay bumili agad ng isang mamahaling sasakyan kahit wala silang garahe kaya sa labas ng bahay niya iginagarahe dahil ang tinitirhan nila ay isang maliit na apartment lang.Binalaan o winarningan ko siya na kilala ang lugar nilang maraming adik at snatcher na naninirahan…sa San Andres Bukid sila nakatira. Sagot niya sa akin, “pare…pa-impress lang…iniismol kasi ako ng mga hinayupak kong kapitbahay”. Hindi inabot ng limang buwan, nag-goodbye sa kanya ang mamahaling sasakyan dahil ninakaw!

Tulad ng iba pa nating pangangailangan sa buhay, ang pera ay nirerespeto at hindi inaabuso…pinaghihirapang kitain ng mga tapat sa trabaho, hindi basta lang dinadampot. HIGIT SA LAHAT, MAAWA SA MGA KAANAK NA HALOS MAGPA-ALIPIN SA IBANG BANSA PARA LANG MAY MAIPADALANG PERA SA INYO!

The “Funny Money” that Goes A Long, Long Way

By Apolinario Villalobos

The “funny money” comes from “Perla”, a kind-hearted Filipina benefactor based in America. She earns the money from her translation “sideline”, as she is on a regular call to interpret for Filipinos with cases being heard in court, and who have difficulty in speaking English. The “funny” is her lingual concoction for the job that she did not seek, but in a way, accidentally came her way. She has been consistently supporting my RAS (random acts of sharing) which started when she learned of my RAS from my blogs about such advocacy.

What is really funny is the reaction of friends who keep on asking where some of my fund comes from, as if suspecting me to push drugs just to earn extra. They just cannot believe that somebody would send money for total strangers who are in dire need for help. When I add that there was also a time when another friend in London sent money, and still another in America sent a “blessing” through her “balikbayan” sister, their eyes get bigger in disbelief. In exasperation, I just tell them that it is very difficult for somebody to understand the sharing that others are doing if he or she does not have the same advocacy in life….or if he or she does not extend a hand to others as a habit. As expected, these fence-sitting friends fail to get what I mean. The problem with some people is that, they are used to seeing “charitable acts” done only by people who wear t-shirts emblazoned with their mission.

Perla drives or commutes to courts or hospitals where her service as translator is needed. Her benevolence sometimes bothers me, as I would imagine that she could be left with a little amount or nothing for her own needs. Every time I remind her about that, she would send me a message with typed laughter with an assurance that what she sends me is “funny money” earned accidentally from the job that she has somehow learned to like.

The unselfish sharing of Perla always reminds me of the comment of my two “balikbayan” friends who tried to treat me to a lunch. On our way to the restaurant inside a mall, I saw an emaciated mother and her child who was holding on to a black garbage bag half-filled with empty plastic bottles. Both were staring at the customers eating fried chicken at a lunch counter near the aircon van terminal. When I told my friends to go ahead and that I would just follow in a few minutes, as I would like to buy packed lunch for the mother and her child, they told me not to bother, as “we can just pack our left- over for them after our lunch inside the mall”….they meant “doggie bag”. What they said made me adamant and which also made me decide not to join them anymore despite their pleading. When they left, I bought three packed lunch for the three of us – I, the mother and her child, and enjoyed it in the farthest corner of the terminal where we slumped on the floor. That lunch made my day….and, for which was spent part of Perla’s “funny money”.

Everything in Life has a Price

…a consequence that we deserve for each of our deeds

By Apolinario Villalobos

Every deed that we do consciously has a price. It is the consequence that we deserve for each of our actions. Since young, we need not be told that telling a lie is bad, or hitting a friend can hurt him physically. By telling a lie, the conscience is bothered which can be carried on as we advance in age. By hitting a friend, he is expected to retaliate, so that we get the same hurt.

When young people get curious so they indulge in drugs, they become addicts and later become a nuisance to the society, hence, ostracized, viewed by others with disgust. If the parents failed to carry out their responsibility in rearing their children properly, the price they get is the latter’s disrespect, and the proverbial pain in the neck, for constant problems that their children give them.

Because citizens of a country sell their vote during elections, the price they get is a bunch of corrupt officials who steal from the government’s coffer – the people’s money. Add to that the instability that the elected corrupt officials give to the government system, especially economic, resulting to the people’s deprivation.

War is the price for the different nations’ greed for expanded territory. It is the price for the zealots’ or fanatics’ desire to impose their religious belief to other people who resist by all means. It is also the consequence of connivance among strong nations to control weak ones. While pockets of it are happening now in many parts of the world, it is also looming over contested areas that at the moment, are enjoying volatile peace….needing just a single spark to explode.

Devastation of Mother Nature is the price of recklessness and greed in many forms. Forests are denuded for timber that man needs for his comfort. Hills and mountains are pockmarked with diggings for minerals and gems to satisfy his vanity. Fish trawlers deplete oceans of breeding fishes, resulting to deprivation and hunger.

Pollution is the price of progress. Not only is the atmosphere ripped open but its tranquility, as well, is seriously disturbed . Endless line of cars are spilled out by factories – cars that emit residue of fossil fuel 24/7, fattening the pockets of manufacturers at the expense of mankind’s health, and the earth’s deterioration due to the effect on its atmosphere.

Man is practically committing a self-annihilation! The suffering that he is enduring today is the ultimate price that he pays for his vanity, greed and pride!