CHARGES FOR BEING POOR?

Wilhelmina S. Orozco


The music world has a lot of songs about money. Liza Minelli sang "Money, money makes the world go round," in Cabaret. Shirley Maclaine did her own with "Hey big spender, spend a little sum with me," in Sweet Charity. Meanwhile, here in our country, we don't hear much about money songs but rather lament about being poor. I recall a pop musician singing "Bakit ba ganyan ang buhay ng tao, mayrong mayaman, may api sa mundo..." Or listen to that Cebuano song, Usahay, with the lyrics saying about how a man or a woman is not worthy of the love of an other. Is this because the Filipino people still do not favor talking about money directly in songs? In reverse, Madonna justifies her wanting wealth with that song "I'm a material girl."

Anyway, sometime about five years ago, our women's organization lost our savings in a bank after a turn-over. The bank was taken over by a bigger bank. And so, the balance of our checking account (which means it did not earn interest at all no matter how long it stayed in the passbook) dipped below P10,000, about P7,500.00 It was wiped out completely. Upon learning this, I appealed to the mangement and wrote them to reverse the act as we are a non-profit non-stock organization, but until now I have not heard from them. It was a case where they would inform us but the postman would not deliver the letter to our place, or some wise individuals would get hold of the letter and not inform us about it at all. Or the letter was sent to my co-signatory, I really have not fathomed the reason. But closing an account is a very grave move and banks ought to do all means to contact the depositor.

By the way, the Central Bank closed the Banco Filipino and until now I still am waiting for the notice when I will be able to get the funds.

So many other accounts have been lost in this manner, the balance getting below the minimum. Every month the banks would deduct and deduct until the account becomes zero.

Why is it this way? Money is a solid thing which can be used by the bank to purchase or negotiate a deal that could earn it profits. The depositor gives it to them for safekeeping but instead it gets dissipated, as if it were just a thing that ought to be discarded; dismissing the fact that this was hard-earned money of our kababayan. How much is going to banks when they close accounts? I have myself lost more than P800 pesos covering bank charges in another account.

I also have heard of friends who look for a bank with a minimal deposit but eventually could not open an account because even P500 is very difficult to maintain during these hard times when the basic commodities and services are going up.

We have oil wells but the prices of oil keep going up and a little down, and then up and up again. We have greenfields yet we import rice. We have a huge reservoir of labor, manual, professional, but where are the jobs available for them: abroad. Many would not want to take the opportunity because it would separate them from their loved ones. Others would travel and them return and then eventually leave the country because it would really be a great loss of opportunity if they would not take advantage of it while they are still young. "Anyway, the Philippines is always there for us to retire in. We need to earn so we can buy a good house and lot, have a lot of money till our breathing day," seems to be the raison d'etre for that exodus to other lands, among other reasons.

As we glean the richest of the rich in our country, we know that they also worked hard to earn that rainbow space in the sky.

Now if they are already very, very rich, so much so that you could imagine their having every square millimeter of their skin being worth patsy millions of pesos, and their children, their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren (according to a bank employee) needing no longer lift a finger to work as their future is secured after inheritance, why couldn't they waive those atrocious bank charges when the balance dips? After all, these are just paper transactions; the money is not being withdrawn, and the depositor leaves it there for safekeeping.

So please my dear Kababayan, let me understand why the Central Bank does not make a peep over this. For whom is it working?

Let us now get into depths of all the moves that make our economy awry, skewed against the poor.

"If you make fun of poor people, you insult the God who made them. You will be punished if you take pleasure in someone's misfortune." Prov 17:5

"If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship." Prov 14:31