Five-Six Lending Is #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines During The Holidays

Do you remember the song of the late Yoyoy Villame called "Dayang Daya"? It was a parody of the otherwise not Indian song (actually it's a Muslim song) which was said to come from either Saudi Arabia or Indonesia. Some say it was from Zamboanga or it was a Filipino song. Either way, it's an entertaining song that made a good parody. The song "Dayang Daya" talked about the Indian guys who loan the five-six lending. It means for every five pesos you borrow - you end up paying them six pesos. In short, the interest rates are so high. Even worse, these five-six lenders usually aren't registered. But why do so many Filipinos get trapped in the Indian debt trap especially during the holidays? It's because not budgeting for Christmas and New Year is MORE FUN in the Philippines.

Why do you think Christmas shopping is very stressful in the Philippines? It's because most people are still waiting for their 13th-month pay in December instead of learning to budget all year round. If Filipinos learned to budget all the time then they wouldn't need to do any of their Christmas shopping at the last minute. Instead, they would have the bad habit of going to eat out on payday. Many of them are also stuck in the situation of being poor and wasteful - it also contributes to why they wait for the year-end extra cash rather than do their Christmas shopping earlier. It's even worsened by the fact that many Filipinos tend to think that Christmas isn't Christmas without the festivities. They waste their money on Christmas shopping that they don't have the money to celebrate at all. The best solution seems to borrow from those Indian lenders due to their ease but with that ease comes a price. If it's too good to be true then it's got to be a trap just like double your money for five years.

With the COVID-19 epidemic going on then you five-six lenders may get double opportunities for profits. I wrote earlier about how Christmas may "magically" cause COVID-19 cases to increase. Some people are bound to break the protocol by having mass gatherings when they're not yet allowed for obvious reasons. Government personnel who will suddenly lax down the requirements are going to see an increase in cases. Break the protocols and you may consider spending Christmas and New Year in the hospital. If it's not firecrackers then it may be because of COVID-19. The USA now has soaring cases of COVID-19 because people have TOO MUCH FREEDOM. With money overspent then you may expect people to borrow from five-six lenders not just to finance their celebrations but also for either hospitalization or even FUNERAL expenses. Yes, GCQ should mean GET CREMATED QUICKLY, RIGHT?

This is really a time for Filipinos to start reflecting on their budgeting habits and to support foreign investments to be part of the local economy. However, unlike Benign0 of Get Real Philippines - I blame it on the fact that too many Filipinos have very low opportunities to earn money. The OFW families may have that lone sole breadwinner abroad while the rest do nothing. However, if there were more job opportunities for Filipinos then they will start to learn to budget money. How can more Filipinos get employed in their OWN NATIVE LAND if there are too few jobs thanks to economic protectionism? Please, don't give me the excuse that Filipinos will never learn to budget or just waste the money. What about Filipinos who have succeeded financially even if they never became big shots? Some of them come from poor families. Filipinos will learn to save more IF they first earn from employment in their OWN LAND. This would be another measure to defeat five-six lending. If more Filipinos get legitimate money then five-six lenders will be much easier to apprehend.