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How OFWs in the UAE manage to send pamasko sa Pilipinas

It’s that time of the year when Pinoys across the UAE will once again play Santa to their loved ones back home, making their list, checking it twice…

What has through the years become a traditional icon of Christmas for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the UAE is not the Belén, the representation of the Nativity; not the parol, the star-shaped lantern hanging by windows; not even the Christmas Tree.

Of course they have one or maybe even all of these in their flats to remind them of the holidays, but only one thing actually comes to most OFW’s mind when Christmas draws near: a balikbayan box filled with goodies for everyone back home – a fedora for tatay, brand name handbag for nanay, rubber shoes for bunso, perfume for ate… the list goes on.

Labor Attache Felicitas Bay

Save and send

“In my years of experience,” said Labor Attaché Felicitas Bay, “pinag-iipunan nila iyan over the months, nilalagyan ng laman yung box para timing na timing, may bubuksan sa pasko ang mga mahal nila sa buhay.” (They pile them up in their care boxes and send them so that their loved ones will have something to open on Christmas.)

She added, “Nakikita ko talaga, kapag salary day at may sale, pumupunta sila duon sa event at namimili, ini-ipon yun at ipapadala para nga naman yung kanilang pinaghirapan mula sa ibang bansa ay makarating sa Pilipinas.” (I see it all the time. They go to sale events during salary days and buy things. It’s the fruit of their labor working in another country that they send home.)

How much?

A random survey done by the The Filipino Times revealed that OFWs in the UAE  use up anywhere from Dh1,000 to Dh5,000 for their balikbayan box, spending a little each a month till the box is filled up usually around October or November for shipping.

“I allot an average of Dh200 a month for around three to five months till it’s full,” said Rosette Ruan Cabilla Balanay, project officer at a health care company.

Balanay said that as his wife and kids are with him in Dubai, the care box is sent for his family and in-laws.

Two hundred dirhams it is too for Marinelle Saturno,  a nanny staying in Dubai, who said she’s always “on the look-out for sale events every month.”

“I do fill up at least one super jumbo box slowly twice a year (one of which is for yuletide season),” she said.

Karren Franco, who works at Dubai Media City, is also among OFWs who fill up balikbayan boxes for Christmas.  “I plan to send it by end of this month,” she said, adding it took her three months for her care box to be ready. “Masarap kasi ang feeling kapag nakaka-receive ng balikbayan box ang family ko,” Franco said.   

What’s inside?

Overseas Pinoys send anything from groceries to gadgets, even clothes from the ukay-ukay, for the holidays

I’ll be sending mostly food items. Food stuff that aren’t available back home so my family could get to taste some delicacies I’ve been privileged to munch on here in Dubai. And maybe a bit of chocolate snacks as they are much cheaper here. Food makes Christmas celebrations even better!” said Kisselle Carino, receptionist.

Saturno, for her part, said she usually send groceries that are expensive in the Philippines.”

Other contents of her box, she said, are “personal hygiene stuff like shampoo, toothpaste, soap and anything that’s on sale.”

It’s imported groceries, electronics and appliances for Garme, while it’s a combination of gadgets, groceries and clothes, shoes, kitchen items and household stuff for Aby Bokingo, a public relations executive; and Troy Lo Tabamo, who works at a money exchange company and spends up to Dh10,000 sending boxes year-round 

Balanay said he send toys, food stuff, even sandwich spread for the kids while Frankie Boton has a really long list: not-too-expensive mobile phones for the nephews and nieces “as per request,” perfumes for the aunties and sisters, beverages for the boys, toys and shoes for the sons, and cash for the wife and his mother.

“Every year I send a box to my relatives before Christmas,” Boton, an engineer, said.

I-cash nyo na lang po

But while most OFWs’ first impulse is to send balikbayan boxes, a lot, too, are inclined to send cash for a host of reasons.

“Mas need mo nila yun,” said Marie Bernadette Jacobo Ortiguerra, asst. director  of marketing and communications at a five-star Dubai hotel.  (They need it more).

“Ang hirap po kasi talaga ng buhay din duon sa atin. ‘Pag cash po, mas alam nila kung ano ang needs nila sa bahay. So cash talaga pinapadala ko,” she added. (It’s a hard life back home. My folks know better what they need. So I send cash.)

“We only send money so that they can decide whatever they would need or want to buy,” said Chris Calumberan, commercial photographer.

Ferdz Bedana, also a photographer, said he sends cash for his grandkids while Mary Grace Caguete, an entrepreneur; and Fanessa Lanotes, an engineer; Mhy Escano de Guzman, media practitioner; and Carl Duffrey send money for the same reason: “They can buy  what they need and want.”

During the Christmas season, I prefer sending cash to my loved ones rather than sending items or filling up balikbayan boxes. One major reason is to let them feel the essence of giving and for them to have the freedom of choosing on their own as well as sharing to others the blessings this family has for the past 11 months. Also, cash will give them plenty of options and the opportunity for them to invest (in stocks or mutual funds) in case they’re interested in growing their finances,” said Jonathan Albarracin, bank executive in Dubai.

Garme said she’d prefer to send cash but only if the box wouldn’t make it on time. Saturno, the nanny, said she sends cash on New Year from “whatever’s is left from my allowance as I travel during the holidays instead of going home to the Philippines.”

Home for Christmas

Still, there are OFWs who go home for the holidays, planning and sending their care boxes ahead of time so that they can be together by the Christmas Tree and open surprises.

“Since I normally spend my Christmas and New Year with my family back home, at least three months before December I would send a balikbayan box, so that by the time I arrived in the Philippines,  nandun na pasalubong ko for them,” said Rubie Evangelista, project administrator at a multinational engineering firm.

It’s the other way around for Crissy Geronimo who works at a recruitment and manpower company: “I don’t send balikbayan box for Christmas because my mom and family are usually here with me for the holidays. They bring along balikbayan box on their return which is filled with groceries,” Geronimo said.

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