MANILA, Philippines — Jamaica It-it, 20, has more in his brain than his studies as a sophomore in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. It also faces the constant challenge of making the budget last as long as you can imagine. for your family
Jamaica, the oldest of 4 siblings and mother of an 11-month-old baby, is the de facto financial manager of the family. Control the family budget and do the shopping.
“Dati po, pag nag-grocery po ako, yung P1,000 po halos marami ka nang mabibili. But ngayon, ‘yung P1,000 in parang P100 na lang – na isang snap mo lang ng kamay, wala na agad,” she said.
(I used to buy groceries, P1,000 bought you a lot of things. But now P1,000 looks like P100; In an instant, it’s all gone. )
Jamaica is Ging*’s niece, who works as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia. Ging will pay for Jamaica’s tuition and books, but sometimes, when they want them, Jamaica asks for additional budget for other family expenses.
On October 3, the Philippine peso fell to its lowest point of 59 pesos to $1. But emerging costs in the Philippines are wiping out all that has been gained from remittances.
The peso may even fall from 60 to 62 pesos consistent with the dollar this year, according to ING Groep NV, Bank of the Philippine Islands and eMBM Services. According to a Bloomberg report, the peso has fallen more than 13%. in 2022 and is one of the worst consistent conformers in Asia.
The difficulty of Jamaica’s and Ging’s family circle is just one manifestation of how W families are bearing the brunt of the weakening weight. OFW families would arguably see the higher exchange rate as an opportunity to make money, but emerging costs here at home have also accelerated, if not exceeded, the strengthening of currencies they send from abroad. OFW families continue to struggle to lead comfortable lives.
Catherine*, a barista also from Bulacan, receives 15,000 pesos a month from a brother founded in the United Arab Emirates. The money goes to another sibling’s education and to the family’s food, rent and utilities budget. Other expenses are paid through another circle of member relatives.
But even though she belongs to a multi-income family, Catherine says it’s still not enough.
“Wala kaming maipon kasi kahit tumaas le palitan de pear, tumaas naman ang mga bilihin sa Pinas,” Catherine said when asked about higher exchange rates. (We can’t save because even though the exchange rate has gone up, costs in the Philippines have gone up too. )
From October 2021 to October 2022, the peso depreciated by 16. 38% against the UAE dirham, at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rates.
“Masarap lang pakinggan kasi ‘mataas ang rate’ pag na-convert na sa peso, but bawi lang din pag ginastos na sa Pinas (Sounds smart because the ‘rate has gone up’ when [dirhams] is changed to pesos, however it is compensated when you spend it in the Philippines),” Catherine said.
Meanwhile, Jamaica can’t even have snacks at school like it used to. Use what would be spent on food to save on transportation costs.
At the Jamaican university’s outdoor booth, turon (sweet fried banana rolls) is promoted for P5. But since it started taking categories on the spot when the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the turon now costs 15P each.
“Kapag possibly naiiwan sa pera na binibigay ni Tita Ging, hindi ko na ginagawang baon na pang-snack. Pang-pamasahe na lang. Kumakain naman ako sa bahay (When there is additional cash from Tita Ging’s remittance, I no longer use it for snacks. I use it more for rates. I can eat at home),” Jamaica said.
Jamaica takes a tricycle and jeepney to school. While the tricycle fare has returned to the pre-pandemic value of P12 for students, the jeep fare has increased from P8 to P11. P23’s overall rate doubles when she returns home from school. Fortunately for Jamaica, their school’s hybrid setup requires students to come to campus twice a week.
Ging’s main legal responsibility to Jamaica is its tuition fees: P6,000 consistent with the semester. Ging has to take care of his own wife and daughter in Norzagaray, the city in Bulacan Province. Because Jamaica knows that Ging’s first priority is elsewhere, he refrains from asking for more.
“Minsan po, gusto ko sanang humingi, pero minsan nahihiya na din po ako, kaya ginagawan ko na lang din po ng paraan (Sometimes I need to ask him, but I’m embarrassed to ask him, so it’s just a way of doing it works),” Jamaica said.
If we remove the increase in value, the weakening of the peso is “beneficial” for OFWs and their families in general, because dollars earned and transferred mean more in terms of weight, according to Carmel Abao, a board member of the Center for the Defense and Defense of Migrants. professor of political science at the Athenaeum.
Based on the attitude of businessmen and companies abroad, Abao said that a weakened peso means less expensive foreign products, in other words, they want fewer dollars to buy products in pesos. OFWs are commodity symbols, selling their hard work to employers.
“Like raw materials, the cost of hiring foreign personnel is less expensive when the peso depreciates,” Abao said. schema of things, which is found in the global hard work supply chain or in the global hard work market. “
The effect of the peso’s weakness is also convenient, as it hurts the local economy, which is heavily dependent on imports (for example, oil, which now costs more pesos to buy). This is pushing Filipinos to migrate, Abao said.
“A weakened local economy means fewer jobs and revenue streams here, and higher costs here. This means that OFWs will have to send more, as their families will have to rely more on those remittances to survive,” he said.
Migs Lizaso, a Filipino nanny in Switzerland, had to double her pay just so her relatives in Taguig could stop by for a while.
In a September 19 episode of the Rappler At Home sa Abroad podcast, Lizaso said that one hundred Swiss francs were changed once to around 4,700 P, which will cleverly last for 10 days. Now that the exchange rate has risen, his one hundred Swiss francs now equals more than 5,800 pesos.
“Ang laki, malaki siya kung tutuusin. But not even five days, ubos na. Kaya ang nangyayari, before, one hundred Swiss francs, agreed lang. Parang makakahabol ulit for the next [10 to] 15 days. With one hundred Swiss francs, I have to raise a hundred more supplements for a week’s expenses,” Lizaso said.
(That’s big if you think about it. But it doesn’t last even five days. Before, one hundred Swiss francs were enough for the next 10 to 15 days. But now I have to upload a hundred more just to have compatibility with your spending week. )
“OFWs will think they’re paid more when they really aren’t, their price just goes down when the peso weakens. Thus, for the same amount of remittances in dollars, they can send more in terms of pesos. But vis-à-vis wages in host countries, the wages of those OFWs will be cheap, even cheaper,” Abao said.
In the House of Representatives, lawmakers are seeking to locate tactics for OFW remittances. There are at least nine spending in the 19th Congress that seek to do so.
In an edition presented through Pampanga District 3 Representative Aurelio Gonzales Jr. , financial intermediaries will be required to impose a 50% reduction on OFWs that send cash to their immediate family members. In another edition presented through the Representative of Tarlac District 2, Christian Tell Yap. , the focus is on requiring cash transfer service providers to actively post fees so that OFWs are not left off guard by the amount of cash deducted from what they send to their loved ones.
But is it what it sounds like? Some of the country’s national agencies charged with devising methods for a stronger economy have expressed reservations about the bills.
“We have reservations about this proposal as it will result in relief in government revenues. . . It will also pose administrative difficulties, as tax administrations would possibly have to demand more needs from SFTs and money intermediaries to determine and determine deductibility claims. “Jeanne Guinto, a legislative liaison specialist at the Ministry of Finance (DOF), said at an Oct. 13 hearing before the House Committee on Workers’ Foreign Affairs.
Guinto said that in a previous position on the edition of the invoice presented at the XVIII Congress, the DOF estimated that the government’s losses range between 2. 8 and 3. 5 billion pesos.
Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Eduardo de Vega also questioned the feasibility of enforcing the refunds, as “we impose regulations on [foreign] banks” where OFWs pay their salaries. dual citizens or dual citizens.
The merit of OFW would likely seem unfair to non-transient migrant workers, De Vega said.
So what policies can the government implement to help OFWs and their families cope with the economic crisis?Abao said financial policy deserves to be reviewed and oriented towards strengthening the peso. It also boils down to creating more jobs in the country.
Jamaica hopes the Philippine government will find a way to increase OFW wages.
“Kasi pagdating po sa Pilipinas, lalo na po ngayon na ‘yung Pilipinas is nasa krisis po na ang laki-laki ng mga bilihin, tumataas po’ yung bilihin kada araw, ang hirap para sa circle of relatives ng isang OFW ‘yung magtipid tapos kada buwan lang po ‘yung suweldo ng OFW,” he said.
(As for the Philippines, especially since the country is in crisis and costs come up every day, it’s very difficult to save for an OFW’s circle of relatives, because [some] OFW only send their salaries once a month. )
Abao also had an “ethical consideration” in the government’s reaction to the peso’s weakness: “Why put the burden of keeping an entire local economy afloat on the backs of a staff who, in the first place, had to leave because the local economy left them without employment opportunities?
“The OFWs will have to fend for themselves and at the same time save a weak local economy. “– with reports from Yana Uy/Rappler. com
* Names have been replaced at the request of for confidentiality reasons.