"BPI sees peso reaching 46:$1, 91-day T-bill rate 3%" (Phil. Daily Inquirer - 1/25/07)
Dollar Daze
"Catch Bus#22 along Clark Avenue in Chicago even in the bleakest of winter days and you're bound to meet a shivering, dollar-bearing yet still grinning kababayan on the way to cash cathedral - the PNB remittance center. Even as parting with our hard-earned cash makes our parkas feel a teeny bit thinner, somehow the thought of having met our obligation is comforting. " -Letter from Chicago - Armand Frasco (Phil. Daily Inquirer - 12/14/06)
Cash cathedrals. That is what writer Armand Frasco calls the remittance companies. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) usually hang out in Catholic churches and of course in the other "church," the other cathedral which is the remittance center.
Here in Saipan, there are a lot of remittance centers and agents that cater mostly to Pinoy OFWs. PNB (one of the biggest banks in the Philippines) has 2 branches here. BPI (my former bank) has 2 agents here in the island. LBC, Rustans, APEX and many others service the remittance needs of the living heroes of the Philippines.
Remittance companies usually charge $5 per transaction. Banks usually charge higher fees for wire transfers and telegraphic transfers so an ordinary OFW would of course transact with a remittance center with a lower fee scale for a faster and safer method of transmitting the funds.
Most of the remittance centers are online. All it takes is a few seconds for the funds to be available to the beneficiaries in any part of the Philippines. One of the many advantages of the advances in technology.
I remember reading stories (when I was younger) from the first batch of Pinoy contract workers - the construction workers in the Middle East. They used to send cash thru mails (which gets stolen sometimes) or when someone goes home for a vacation in the Philippines, that person would act as the courier. Of course, a lot of risk is involved in this. The courier is held-up, or he runs away with the money, or he is conned. But that was ages ago. OFWs are lot smarter now and with the technological advances available to them, sending money back home is easier, safer and faster.
Remittance companies usually charge $5 per transaction. Banks usually charge higher fees for wire transfers and telegraphic transfers so an ordinary OFW would of course transact with a remittance center with a lower fee scale for a faster and safer method of transmitting the funds.
Most of the remittance centers are online. All it takes is a few seconds for the funds to be available to the beneficiaries in any part of the Philippines. One of the many advantages of the advances in technology.
I remember reading stories (when I was younger) from the first batch of Pinoy contract workers - the construction workers in the Middle East. They used to send cash thru mails (which gets stolen sometimes) or when someone goes home for a vacation in the Philippines, that person would act as the courier. Of course, a lot of risk is involved in this. The courier is held-up, or he runs away with the money, or he is conned. But that was ages ago. OFWs are lot smarter now and with the technological advances available to them, sending money back home is easier, safer and faster.
And by remitting money home, the economy of our poor country is kept afloat. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (1/27/07), "At $14B, the amount would be about 60% of the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of the Philippines, which surged to an all time high of $23B at end of 2006."
Mabuhay ang mga buhay na bayani ng Pilipinas!
Here are some of the pictures I took. The Cash Cathedrals of Saipan!
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