In 1903, U.S. Congress passed the Pensionado Act which allowed qualified Filipino students to study in universities in the U.S. at the expense of the U.S. government. Upon completion of their studies, the scholars — called "pensionados"- went back to the Philippines to serve the colonial government in important civil service positions.
Today, a new generation of "pensionados" has emerged. However, Today's pensionados are not scholars of the government nor do they work for the government. As a matter of fact, most of them do not work at all because they don’t have to. To them, money is snot a problem. Last year, according to Central Bank records, these pensionados received a whopping 12.8 billion dollars from their benefactors — a 19.4% increase from the previous year. It is estimated that there are several billion dollars more — some estimates are as high as 10 billion dollars — that were received from benefactors through other means of transmittal such as door-to-door remittance centers and private couriers.
There are approximately eight million benefactors, a tenth of the Country’s population. These are the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) deployed in 194 countries around the world. It is estimated that one out of two Filipinos benefits from the OFWs’ remittances. Indeed, there is a glut of money — an amount equal to the 2006 national budget — in the Philippines right now. The pensionados are the emerging and growing middle class — the nouveau riche.
The constant flow of money to the
debt-free pensionados has created a large pool of liquid cash — ready to be
spent at the blink of an eye.
And what is the easiest way to spend this
kind of wealth? Shopping, Isn’t it? It is no wonder then that
four of the 10 largest mega malls in the world are conveniently located in
Metro Manila. In addition to these four mega malls, there are 11 other
mega malls in Metro Manila and hundreds of super malls and smaller malls all
over the country. The SM Prime Holdings owns the four largest mega malls
and another 25 super malls located as far as Davao in the south and Baguio in the north. SM has planned to
build at least 15 new super malls within the next two years, from Laoag in
Ilocos Norte to Naga in Camarines Sur; thus, creating a nationwide web of
retail outlets — or “magnets.”
The second largest mall developer is JG
Summit Holdings whose brand name is “Robinsons.” Currently, there is one
mega mall, Robinsons Galleria in Quezon City, and 18 super malls. Five more are
scheduled for 2007. Ayala Corporation, one of the country’s biggest
developers, has five super malls including the famous Glorietta in Makati. Other mall developers are
Greenfield, Star Group of Malls, Araneta Malls, Ever Goteco, Olivarez Plaza
Malls, and more.
Recently, Lucio Tan — the airline,
tobacco, liquor, and banking tycoon — started his own real estate company, Eton
Properties, Inc. A shrewd businessman with a Midas touch, he is called
“Kapitan” in the business industry, a moniker that best describes his preeminence in the
business community. It is anticipated that he will soon be building
malls. With malls mushrooming across the country’s landscape, “shopping”
has become a habitual — nay, addictive — preoccupation among the pensionados.
The air-conditioned malls are built for
comfort. With a variety of gourmet eateries, boutique shops,
state-of-the-art hi-tech outlets, entertainment centers, and all the amenities
of a “good life,” a visit to the mall has an “opiating” effect which induces
an insatiable urge to come back and
spend more. Indeed, these malls have created a shoppers’ paradise for
pensionados, OFWs, and the largest group of tourists, the balikbayans.
The malls are like beehives where honey is collected from the bees. Now,
we can say that our Motherland is the “Land of Milk and Honey,” but only for
those who have money. As the expression goes, “No money, no honey.”
Of course, as long as the eight million “milking cows” remain productive
there will always be an abundance of milk. I am just hoping that they
will not be put out to pasture.
But how about those who do not have milk
and honey? According to the 2006 World Factbook, 40% of the Philippines’ population are below poverty line.
That’s 35 million poor — and hungry — Filipinos. To put it in
perspective, Taiwan has less than 1% of its population below poverty line,
China has 10%, Malaysia has 8%, South Korea has 15%, Indonesia has 16.70%, and
Vietnam — the country to watch — has 19.50%. Clearly, the Philippines has a long way to go in achieving real
progress. It’s ironic that while the OFWs’ beneficiaries are progressing,
the poor are getting poorer and the rich — particularly those in the mall
business — are getting richer.
In my opinion, the Philippine government
is missing a grand opportunity to eradicate poverty. Instead of pushing
for industrialization, it’s promoting a consumption- driven economy that is
beneficial to the rich elite and depleting the wealth of the middle class.
The enormous profits earned from the malls are funneled to build more
malls; thus, further increasing personal consumption expenditure. The
Senate Economic Planning Office said no less in its September 2004 Economic
Report which states:"Our growth has been largely fuelled by personal
consumption expenditure. It has accounted for an average of 74% of GDP
for the past decade and has been steadily growing."
(PerryDiaz@aol.
By Perry Diaz
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