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| Love in a (Balikbayan) box |
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| Thursday, 29 July 2010 16:09 |
 IS it possible to put your dreams, your love, your hopes in a box?For thousands of Filipino migrant workers, this is possible. This, they do, through the iconic balikbayan box. Quoting his mother, Forrest Gump once declared: “Life is a like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” There is a deviation of this Gumpism for a Filipino overseas worker and his family: Life is a “balikbayan box,” but you know what you gonna get. It is not all sweets, like what Gump had said, that feed the appetite, but everything that could satisfy the spirit. We Filipinos made another interesting global phenomenon when we coined the word “balikbayan box” that crept its way easily to the Wikipedia and the Google search in the early ’90s. The word Balikbayan Box, defined literally by Wikipedia as a “return to one’s homeland box,” made a debut in the official Philippine Taglish dictionary during the resurgence of Filipino contract workers in the ’80s and when then President Ferdinand Marcos enacted a law allowing the entry of personal goods to the Philippines from global Filipinos tax free. Any box, from a “balikbayan” should not be taxed. Rico Nunga, who was working in a shipping company in Los Angeles, California is said to be the father of “balikbayan box shipping business in 1981.” It is said that Nunga brought up the idea to Monet Ungco, who was based in New Jersey. The business further evolved in 1989 when Manny Paez of Manila Forwarder offered a bigger balikbayan box and coined the word jumbo box. But before the birth of these forwarding businesses that legitimized the word, the practice of sending items through  “balikbayan boxes” started when Filipinos began sending “pasalubong” to their loved ones in the Philippines, as part of the Filipino tradition of sending gifts to loved ones, and as a devotion to cultural expectation that a person who goes out of the country, even as a tourist in nearby Hong Kong, is expected to bring goodwill gifts to relatives and friends in the Philippines..The “balikbayan box,” before the introduction of more durable and reusable box, is a simple, corrugated box which can be found everywhere. In the early days, when forwarders had not thought of investing in branded boxes yet, OFWs would use every box available on sight like cigarette boxes or appliance boxes, which they keep handy all the time. One could expect Fortune, Hope and Marlboro or Sanyo boxes almost completely wrapped with packing tapes, emblazoned the huge names of their recipient relatives in black marker pens. “Para kasing nakakahiya kung wala kang pasalubong. Subukan mo nga lang pumunta sa Cebu or other provinces, kapag wala kang pasalubong sa officemates mo parang pakiramdam mo ba pinag-uusapan ka. Kaya ako kapag nagpunta ako ng Cebu sigurado may dala akong otap, ’pag sa Bacolod sigurado may dala akong piaya at ’pag sa Baguio kailangan may dala kang peanut brittle,” Joseph Florante Alvaro, internal auditor, who has been to Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China and other parts of the world for business and leisure trips, said. There is no variety of meaning in the world “balikbayan box.” It is a box, plain and simple, but it contains a variety of everything and anything an OFW could lay her or his eyes on while scouting for something as a pasalubong. Hence, balikbayan box has become a cultural icon which is uniquely Filipino. A Filipino worker may put anything that can fit in the box like toys, electronic gadgets, clothes, perfumes, household items, food, cigarettes and anything that can be bought cheaply in the market. Emmanuel Loon said he received a balikbayan box containing a very old, yellowish computer set from Japan, “pinaglumaan ng kumpanya,” second-hand hair blower, an over-used rice cooker and a blender that could be heard six blocks away when in use. He said when he attempted to sell the computer, he was told by the buyer that it could be sold at P650. Any OFW who does not have a balikbayan box, according to Mario Marky Paule, cannot be called a true-blue OFW. He said, in his years of stay in Dubai, he has not experienced a homecoming without a balikbayan box, which sometimes, he jokingly said, becomes much much more important than the person who arrives. “On your first homecoming, you tend to bring home as many balikbayan boxes as you can,” he said. “I feel joy, whenever I come home with a balikbayan box. Would you believe that in my first year in Dubai, I went home with 14 balikbayan boxes, six bags, three travel bags, four plastic bags which I hand-carried on the plane. I hired two jeepneys to bring home the balikbayan boxes. I have plenty of relatives and friends who eagerly gave me a hero’s welcome. When I got home, the entire neighborhood was watching me as six people carried my balikbayan boxes “mula sa kanto hanggang sa bahay ko,” he chuckled. “Ang dami kong narinig na `kelan ka dumating? Kelan ka aalis? Kumusta ang trabaho? Tumaba ka! Ang guwapo mo! Pumuti ka! Lahat sila kailangang bigyan. Nandiyan na ang inaanak sa kasal, sa kumpil, sa binyag, na ’pag nagpunta kasama ang mga kapatid at siyempre sina pare, mare, at mga kaibigan at pati mga kabatian, “ he said. What are in the boxes? “Everything, there is a thing for everyone,” he said.  “Merong sigarilyo sa mga ka-tropa sa labas, mga alak sa medyo bigatin na ninong at ninang, mga chocolates sa mga pamangkin, mga sabon sa mga nanay, lotion at cologne sa mga dalaga, t-shirts sa mga binata, may baraha sa mga mahilig mag-tong its, may damit sa mga kapatid, mga de-lata sa nanay, siyempre pabango sa sweetheart at ang nanay, tatay, kapatid, lolo ni sweetheart, ke tatay naman me sapatos kang dala at saka isang polo na isusuot kapag Linggo sa simbahan. Lahat sila kailangan bigyan, kapag may nakalimutan ka, kailangan tumakbo ka sa SM at bumili ka kahit ano o kaya sa Duty Free Shops para mapagbigyan lang. Huwag kang lalabas for one week, kasi iyong friend mo na nabigyan mo na, may kaibigan pala siya na gusto ka raw makilala,” Paule said.Interestingly, the contents of the box vary depending on the country of origin: electronic toys and gadgets from Japan and Taiwan; jewelry from the Middle East and some European branded clothings and perfume from the US, Hong Kong and Singapore, house decors and souvenirs from other historic or tourists-frequented countries like Egypt and Spain, chocolates from Italy, US and the Middle East. The boom in Duty-Free shopping does not stop Filipinos from sending balikbayan boxes. Tess Bautista said her husband would rather go home with cash. “Kapag dumating ang husband ko, mas gusto niya yung pupunta kami sa Duty Free shops at doon mamimili ng mga items na gusto namin. He said it is more practical and convenient that he does not have to worry about the baggage,” Bautista, whose husband is working in the Middle East, said. “Yung iba kasi, for some practical reasons, cash na lang ang ipinadadala lalu na ’yung mga walang time mamili sa abroad. ’Yung mga seaman na hindi masyado nakakapamili dahil nasa barko lang sila mas preferred na mamili na lang sa Pilipinas,” she said. Jessica Cornell, who works in a department store in Las Vegas, regularly sends food items to her loved ones in the Philippines “para matikman ng mga loved ones ko ang mga pagkain na wala sa Pilipinas. Kasi may mga food naman dito na interesting kaya ako natutuwa kapag may nakita akong bago. I know that if I send them money they would not buy what I wanted them to get, kaya ako na ang nagpapadala, siyempre aside from the money. “One time I sent appliances, hindi nila magamit kasi 110 yung electricity, eh 220 tayo sa Pilipinas. Ayaw nilang bumili ng converter, dahil sabi nila mas mahal ang converter kesa dun sa appliances,” she said. “Here in the US most of the stuff are bought from a warehouse store named Costco. We can get stuffs from there such as soap (Dove, Caress and Ivory), Tang in a large jar, Nesquick (chocolate mix) Nestea everything in large cans, Libby’s or Hereford brand of corned beef, Coffemate and coffee, cans of Vienna sausage, all those we get from Costco. Lotions and body sprays from Victoria’s secret, toys from Target and Toys R Us, bed sheets from Macy’s or from small discount stores that are selling branded stuffs too, also include apparels. Chocolates are not advisable because they will melt. We also include peanut butter, oatmeals, multivitamins and so much more,” Rose Tamay Henry, who is living with her husband in Las Vegas said. She said she sends items that will be remembered. For a first-time sender, balikbayan box is a joy to behold. “Puro bago ang padala, mga lotion, sabon, pabango, chocolate, sapatos, de-lata,” said Julieta Fernandez, who has two daughters working in Qatar. “Pero pag nagtatagal na, nagbabago na ang mga dala like lumang sapatos, lumang damit, lumang kumot, unan, hanger, twalya, toothpick, ballpen, mga container ng mga imported na pagkain na pwedeng gawing tasa, mga kutsara sa airline, mga reusable na mga pinggan at ’yung pabango, hindi mo na kilala na meron palang ganu’n. Minsan yung spelling ng mga brand ng t’shirt mali pa,” she said. But she said it was fun having these items brought to their home. Ysell San Juan, said when her husband called her that he would send a balikbayan box, she was excited. He told her that everybody has a gift especially their young daughter Khaylie. After days of anticipation, the box finally arrived. All the members of the family were there for the official opening of the box. That was 7:30 p.m., after the family had taken their dinners. When they opened the box, they were shocked, all the contents of the box were toys for their daughter. Dismayed, she called her husband what happened. Her husband told her that in his excitement, he forgot to include items for the rest of the family. “You have to wait next month for the next delivery.” |
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Thanks for reading.....I get "windy" at times. Regards to all, Jim
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Mabuhay po kayo at ang Sambayanang Pilipino.
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