education;
takes care of monthly bills for the electricity, water, Internet
connection (a valuable service for communicating with the
migrant Filipino worker through email, Internet chat or Internet
voice calls); pays for health care bills; provides money for
recreational goods and activities—practically the entire
family’s way of life, physical health and survival depend
in large part on the padala.
This makes products and services that facilitate
the sending and receiving of padala in the form of money remittances
(as provided, for example, by services like LBC Peso Padala)
crucial to the life, health and well-being of millions of
Filipino families.
The padala may also be understood as a way
for Filipino families, the recipients of these padalas, to
partake of the economic, social, and political fulfillment
that their relatives who work as migrant workers—whether
overseas or in the local regions—have achieved.
Padala as economic driver
With millions of Filipinos abroad sending dollar remittances
every year, their combined padala becomes a powerful contribution
to the Philippine economy. According to the Bangko Sentral
ng Pilipinas, OFWs send money remittances totaling P17.384
billion in 2009. This was the largest total padala from OFWs
on record. The World Bank estimates that the money remittances
or padala from OFWs comprise as much as 13 percent of the
total gross domestic income of the entire Philippine economy.
Some economic experts have also said that
OFW remittances have, time and again, saved what would otherwise
be an even weaker national economy. These experts also say
that the recent economic recession that hit the United States
and other parts of the world was not so badly felt in the
Philippines because of several factors, among them, a more
conservative economic approach (which prevented the Philippines
from investing in more risky, “exotic” investment
instruments) and the huge influx of padala from OFWs.
Family is number one
And yet, beyond benefits to the national economy, and the
practical, day-to-day living of families dependent of our
OFWs and local migrant workers, there is a deeper significance
to the Filipino padala culture. In a deeper sense, the padala
is also a kind of glue that preserves the all-important bonds
between family members as well as our social relations—as
a result, we remain united, as families and as a nation, despite
hardships and upheavals that threaten the integrity of family
and society.
The family remains the basis of our community
relations. Social organization is based largely on ties of
kinship first, while bonds based on shared geography and political
considerations only come second. Therefore, the welfare of
the community also means the welfare of the family; this truth
is demonstrated in our history as a people, and reflects one
of our most cherished Filipino cultural values. From this
perspective, our padala culture is a source of unity and strength
for our society.
The padala is simultaneously, a symbol of
love and affection to family members, as well as a symbol
of the achievement and success of our overseas Filipino workers.
These padalas are now part of our tradition; a cultural bearer
of the importance of the family to every Filipino.
Merce Planta, Ph.D. is a professor of History
and Sociology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman,
Quezon City. She finished her Ph.D. in History at the Department
of History of the National University of Singapore and has
been an LBC user all her life.
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