{"id":15714,"date":"2022-12-03T06:49:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=15714"},"modified":"2022-12-03T07:17:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T17:17:27","slug":"we-hope-our-community-will-carry-on-our-christmas-remittance-tradition-if-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/12\/03\/we-hope-our-community-will-carry-on-our-christmas-remittance-tradition-if-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"We Hope Our Community Will Carry on Our Christmas Remittance Tradition, If Possible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When you look at the top four countries that receive remittances (money sent home by their citizens working abroad in a foreign country or by expats to their ancestral home) \u2013 India, Mexico, China, Philippines \u2013 we see a pattern of countries with historically massive migration. All these countries have histories of diaspora, their people are found in many parts of the globe and have settled and built communities in their adopted homelands.

Migration in these foreign communities has always been initiated by opportunities for work and income. \u00a0And therefore, it\u2019s no coincidence that all four of these countries have a huge presence in the U.S. (communities built over generations) and have the highest rates of immigration into the U.S. until today.

<\/strong>There aren\u2019t a lot of studies done that explore the reasons why migrants send remittances back to their home or ancestral country.

<\/strong>Interestingly, as the international communities are currently watching the 2002 World Cup held in Qatar, it is in Qatar where one study was done exploring this concept of migrants\u2019 motivation behind remittances. India (the number one country in receiving remittances) has a large presence of foreign workers in Qatar.

Researchers have concluded two major motives driving remittances among these workers: 1) altruism, and 2) self-interest. As migrants\u2019 income increased, in both study groups (one mostly driven by altruism and the other mostly driven by self-interest) remittances also increased. But in time, it was the self-interest group that continued to send remittances while the altruism-driven group\u2019s remittances declined. Workers in the self-interest group were identified as those with loan obligations such as a property or house back in India.

<\/strong>Worker in this study were all married males, received only secondary education (no college level), and had working contracts for only a few years.

Hawaii sakadas and remittances
<\/strong>We can look to our own Filipino community in Hawaii, the very first wave of migrants (sakadas, 1906-1946) who worked in the sugar plantations. There are similarities in that sakadas were contract workers (for three years), saw their time in Hawaii as temporary, and therefore sent their money earned back to the Philippines to either help their families (altruism) or to buy land or property (self-interest) or both.

The difference from the workers in the study above is that sakadas were mostly all single males. Since such a study wasn\u2019t done on sakadas, we can only speculate that both altruism and self-interest were motivating factors for sending remittances (of course this term wasn\u2019t used then). Furthermore, it\u2019s inconclusive which of the two had a stronger influence.

Today\u2019s remittances practices
<\/strong>It is in this tradition that Hawaii Filipinos first started to send Christmas remittances back to relatives in the Philippines. Through generations and multiple flows of Filipino immigration to Hawaii until today, Filipinos have been sending remittances back to relatives in our ancestral country.

Those who are more recent immigrants and have strong ties with immediate family \u2013 parents, spouse, children — send remittances much more frequently. \u00a0Some within this group plan (or entertain the idea) to return or retire in the Philippines.

Those who are second-third generation Filipinos with less family ties (relatives) there, and have their primary family members in Hawaii, tend to send remittances less frequently. Some within this group no longer carry on this tradition after their parents pass on, while others \u2013 at least during the holiday season \u2013 perpetuate this tradition in memory of their deceased parents.

Inflation potential impact on remittances
<\/strong>With the current high cost of basic goods and services hitting record-high prices, some Filipinos say they will cut back on the amount of money they would normally send for Christmas. Others simply cannot afford to do it this year. This is the likely the trend for Hawaii Filipinos where many are stretched thin financially in a state that is among the top in the nation with the highest cost of living but falls in the bottom half of states in wages and salary.

Hawaii ranks number 37 out of 50 states for salaries according to ZipRecruiter. As of Nov 22, this year, the average annual salary in Hawaii is\u00a0$52,126, that works out to be approximately $25.06 an hour.

<\/strong>While this year\u2019s Christmas remittance could experience a dip in Hawaii, Philippine economists are projecting that the global recession will not have a severe impact in the year\u2019s total remittance, and in the end most likely will settle at a 4% growth or about $33 billion.

Their estimates are based on the quarterly reports (up to September) this year that show remittances are on track to slightly improve from last year \u2013 with the last quarter that will include Christmas remittances to surge by nearly $10 billion.

OFWs, the real force behind the country\u2019s enormous remittances
<\/strong>How is this possible in a global inflation? Besides the approximate 10 million Filipinos living outside of the Philippines (expats, immigrants, citizens of other countries) that send remittances, the Philippines has a massive OFW workforce that is responsible for the vast majority of the country\u2019s total remittances.

It\u2019s argued that the Philippines largest export is its people. From Filipino physicians to professionals of all types, to Filipino electricians and skilled workers of all types, to their countries unskilled labor like maids \u2013 many of them are contracted to work outside of the Philippines in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Middle East. The OFW work culture is so prominent in the Philippines that the government has grown to be dependent on OFW remittances that accounts for about 9% of the national GDP.

<\/strong>If OFWs are employed abroad, it\u2019s most likely they are sending the same amount of money because their number one priority is to feed their families and take care of the bills back home. They have fixed costs, obligations to pay for. This, perhaps, is why even in an inflationary year that\u2019s off the charts, the country\u2019s remittance is still robust, and potentially will outperform the previous year\u2019s total.

<\/strong>The first week of December typically begins the Christmas remittance season. If possible, we encourage our community to share our Christmas gift-giving with our family and friends in the Philippines. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you look at the top four countries that receive remittances (money sent home by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,4,7],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=300%2C171&ssl=1",300,171,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=600%2C360&ssl=1",600,360,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=600%2C360&ssl=1",600,360,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1",630,360,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=540%2C340&ssl=1",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Editorials<\/a> Features<\/a> Philippines<\/a>","tag_info":"Philippines","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/pasko-editorial.jpg?fit=630%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15714"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15731,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15714\/revisions\/15731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}