Five (Little) Six (Little) Indians
Mike Banos
April 04, 2006
There's a big chance former cop turned city councilor Reynaldo Advincula could sincerely believe he's doing his constituents a favor by calling for a probe on the businesses of Indians in Cagayan de Oro to make sure they're not breaking any laws, evading taxation and overstaying.
Fine, but why single out Indian nationals? Is it because they stand out like sore thumbs put-putting on their motorcycles as they make their daily rounds? Although the "Bombay" (as we Bisdaks refer to Indians in general) loan shark has become an ingrained stereotype in the Pinoy psyche, that's maybe more because of their turbans and foreign looks than anything else.
Surely, there are even more loan sharks of other ethnicities in this city than the Bombays (I can personally name you at least three!), but who blend more readily into the landscape that they're taken for granted. Like it or not, your neighborhood five-six operator serves a social purpose: even well-meaning foreign funded projects seeking to provide low-cost, collateral free funds for micro entrepreneurs and small borrowers to liberate them from the clutches of loan sharks have been unable to replace these "scourges of the urban poor" with any acceptable degree of satisfaction.
That's because the markets for micro loans in the marginal D and E markets are often so small and fragmented, even rural banks and savings and loans associations can't get a reasonable return for micro loans in these market niches. But loan sharks can, and do, by charging exorbitant rates that are usurious by allowable legal standards, but which small businessmen and desperate housewives avail of anyway, simply because there's nobody else out there who does.
Thus, daily collections are the standard for these five-six loan sharks and their borrowers, hence Councilor Advincula's inclination to point to our local Indian businessmen because of their relatively higher profiles compared to predators of a different persuasion. But Kagawad Rey, the local bankers and other lenders have taken themselves out by choice and circumstance from serving these markets, should we now blame the loan sharks for going where others fear to tread?
The only businessmen who are doing business in the D and E markets are the suppliers of the sari-sari stores and neighborhood e-load retailers whose billion peso business provide the sachets of shampoo, detergents, noodles and P30 peso loads which are all our poor fellow countrymen can afford to spend on a daily basis but which have been driving our economy's growth these past few years.
Compared to the cellphone companies which strip the poor who would not hesitate to splurge the last centavos of their meager daily incomes on "e-loads" for their cellphones just so they could text their friends and loved ones , loan sharks keep afloat many of your corner sari-sari stores and e-load retailers in the underground economy.
Don't get me wrong, usury is a sin not only against our fellow man, but even more so against God, who provides everything his peoples need at His appointed time, if only they have the patience and humility to call for His help, which is never refused and never fails by One who so loved the World He gave the life of his only begotten Son to save Mankind.
Take away the Bombays, and all other loan sharks for that matter shall we now? And who shall step into the vacuum created by their departure? This Catch-22 situation is akin to the dilemma faced by every U.S. President and Senator when faced with the issue of illegal migrants without whom the labor-intensive industries of the United States would collapse overnight. So until we have viable alternatives to our neighborhood five-six cottage industries, let's not even think of pointing an accusing finger at them because not even the U.S. with all its economic muscle has managed to get rid of them from their ghettos and urban jungles.
On top of that, I would like to take exception to the accusation that Indians are staying here illegally, running illegal businesses and not paying their taxes. There's practically only one family, or clan of Indian nationals residing in this "City of Golden Friendship" and to accuse them of openly breaking the law is bigotry at its worst. I happen to personally know some of them and I can openly declare in their behalf they are without exception Filipino citizens of good standing in their respective neighborhoods, churches and communities, no less good or bad than migrants and residents of other ethnic origins.
(Incidentally, they are, strictly speaking, not Indians but Pakistanis, since they all come from the former Indian province of Sind, which has long since been within the boundaries of Pakistan.)
Why? Aren't there other people doing illegal businesses, loan sharking and not paying their taxes that Indian nationals are all we see? The evidence for this is so staggering one immediately suspects the good councilor of either suffering from a particularly virulent strain of myopia, or deliberately pointing our collective noses in one direction so we don't notice what's on the other side.
This is never going to be a perfect world, honorable councilor, and never will be. We perceive something as evil, and as good Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and whatever our religion may be, we instinctively want to remove it lest it also stain our families, friends and relatives with sin. But we're equally aware good and evil can't be discerned as simply as black from white, and questions of morality are always colored in various hues and shades of pale to gray.
What we do pray is for the Good Lord to give us the wisdom to discern what's truly wrong and what's right, to give us the understanding that we should have compassion on our fellow men whatever the color of their skin, their social standing or origin, secure in the conviction that His power is made perfect in weakness, so when we are weak and humbly seek His help, then we are strong. (2 Corinthians 7-10).
INDNJC -
Fine, but why single out Indian nationals? Is it because they stand out like sore thumbs put-putting on their motorcycles as they make their daily rounds? Although the "Bombay" (as we Bisdaks refer to Indians in general) loan shark has become an ingrained stereotype in the Pinoy psyche, that's maybe more because of their turbans and foreign looks than anything else.
Surely, there are even more loan sharks of other ethnicities in this city than the Bombays (I can personally name you at least three!), but who blend more readily into the landscape that they're taken for granted. Like it or not, your neighborhood five-six operator serves a social purpose: even well-meaning foreign funded projects seeking to provide low-cost, collateral free funds for micro entrepreneurs and small borrowers to liberate them from the clutches of loan sharks have been unable to replace these "scourges of the urban poor" with any acceptable degree of satisfaction.
That's because the markets for micro loans in the marginal D and E markets are often so small and fragmented, even rural banks and savings and loans associations can't get a reasonable return for micro loans in these market niches. But loan sharks can, and do, by charging exorbitant rates that are usurious by allowable legal standards, but which small businessmen and desperate housewives avail of anyway, simply because there's nobody else out there who does.
Thus, daily collections are the standard for these five-six loan sharks and their borrowers, hence Councilor Advincula's inclination to point to our local Indian businessmen because of their relatively higher profiles compared to predators of a different persuasion. But Kagawad Rey, the local bankers and other lenders have taken themselves out by choice and circumstance from serving these markets, should we now blame the loan sharks for going where others fear to tread?
The only businessmen who are doing business in the D and E markets are the suppliers of the sari-sari stores and neighborhood e-load retailers whose billion peso business provide the sachets of shampoo, detergents, noodles and P30 peso loads which are all our poor fellow countrymen can afford to spend on a daily basis but which have been driving our economy's growth these past few years.
Compared to the cellphone companies which strip the poor who would not hesitate to splurge the last centavos of their meager daily incomes on "e-loads" for their cellphones just so they could text their friends and loved ones , loan sharks keep afloat many of your corner sari-sari stores and e-load retailers in the underground economy.
Don't get me wrong, usury is a sin not only against our fellow man, but even more so against God, who provides everything his peoples need at His appointed time, if only they have the patience and humility to call for His help, which is never refused and never fails by One who so loved the World He gave the life of his only begotten Son to save Mankind.
Take away the Bombays, and all other loan sharks for that matter shall we now? And who shall step into the vacuum created by their departure? This Catch-22 situation is akin to the dilemma faced by every U.S. President and Senator when faced with the issue of illegal migrants without whom the labor-intensive industries of the United States would collapse overnight. So until we have viable alternatives to our neighborhood five-six cottage industries, let's not even think of pointing an accusing finger at them because not even the U.S. with all its economic muscle has managed to get rid of them from their ghettos and urban jungles.
On top of that, I would like to take exception to the accusation that Indians are staying here illegally, running illegal businesses and not paying their taxes. There's practically only one family, or clan of Indian nationals residing in this "City of Golden Friendship" and to accuse them of openly breaking the law is bigotry at its worst. I happen to personally know some of them and I can openly declare in their behalf they are without exception Filipino citizens of good standing in their respective neighborhoods, churches and communities, no less good or bad than migrants and residents of other ethnic origins.
(Incidentally, they are, strictly speaking, not Indians but Pakistanis, since they all come from the former Indian province of Sind, which has long since been within the boundaries of Pakistan.)
Why? Aren't there other people doing illegal businesses, loan sharking and not paying their taxes that Indian nationals are all we see? The evidence for this is so staggering one immediately suspects the good councilor of either suffering from a particularly virulent strain of myopia, or deliberately pointing our collective noses in one direction so we don't notice what's on the other side.
This is never going to be a perfect world, honorable councilor, and never will be. We perceive something as evil, and as good Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and whatever our religion may be, we instinctively want to remove it lest it also stain our families, friends and relatives with sin. But we're equally aware good and evil can't be discerned as simply as black from white, and questions of morality are always colored in various hues and shades of pale to gray.
What we do pray is for the Good Lord to give us the wisdom to discern what's truly wrong and what's right, to give us the understanding that we should have compassion on our fellow men whatever the color of their skin, their social standing or origin, secure in the conviction that His power is made perfect in weakness, so when we are weak and humbly seek His help, then we are strong. (2 Corinthians 7-10).
INDNJC -
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