Transcript

VOX POP BEGINS

That debt is something that is owed to someone or some kind of institution, but thinking the Filipinos are, I'm thinking that this is also asking about the debt that I feel like I have to my mom and dad, but I try not to think about it too much.

In simplest definition, a transactional exchange of funds from one party to another.

You know, debt is something that you don't want to have. It's kind of this idea that you would want to get in debt or in deep debt. I think taking out loans or even asking people for money is frowned upon. And I think at a young age, you kind of have to decide how you're going to live your life in a debt free manner.

VOX POP ENDS

INTRODUCTION BEGINS

In Blood Debts, we tell the stories of choices and sacrifices to pay back what is owed and pay forward something of value.

I’m your host, Leezel Tanglao.

On this podcast, we talk about one of the few through lines in people’s lives - debt.

You’ll hear stories from the Filipino diaspora around how debt has impacted all aspects of life from those in the medical field, public service sector to creative arts.

As a journalist, I’ve spent more than a decade reporting on the financial aspects of debt in diverse communities.

But many carry debts beyond money.

Melanie Sabado-Liwag: That's the amazing part of this idea of the LUB is that it's you start to own it where you don't feel like it's a burden. And in some sense it's almost you've accepted it as something interwoven in your family dynamic. It might start off one way, but then it evolves into another. It's so hard to describe, but I think it has a lot to do with that idea that it's no longer just money and it's very much deep rooted into this respect factor.

Leezel Tanglao: In this episode, we talk to Melanie Sabado-Liwag, a professor in the Public Health Department at California State University, Los Angeles. We discussed how finances, respect and how debt can impact a person's health.

INTRODUCTION ENDS

My name is Melanie Sabado-Liwag. I'm an assistant professor at California State University in Los Angeles, also known as Cal State LA.

In Filipino culture, we think financially successful means that you have a job that has status behind it or that, you know, I kind of use this in my phrasing when I talk to, like, my minority students is like “hood rich.” It's like you want to be perceived that you are making good money. And so the way that you do that is buying material things. And I'm not saying that all Filipinos are like this, but I think that the Filipino culture, especially that the ones that you see here in the United States or even in the back in the Philippines is that it is money is is a form of status.

The biggest causes of stress is finances. I think that it's this idea of keeping or maintaining or even catching up that becomes a form of stress for people and losing face is a form of stress. And because losing faith financially or status wise can cause huge amounts of anxiety and depression and stress among people. And I think that is one major factor, why heart disease is still number one.

You know, it's the number one cause of death among Filipinos as well as, you know, just people in the United States in general. And, you know, when you have high amounts of stress, it affects cortisol levels.

That affects how your metabolic system runs and it affects you over time. So there's issues of chronic stress, which is long, prolonged amount of stress.

Filipinos are this weird anomaly, like they're not really all Asian. They're really not fully American. They're really not fully anything, I mean, in that sense. Right. And we're just kind of a hodgepodge of many different cultures, but specifically an Asian and South Asian, Malay, Pacific Islander hodgepodge of cultures.

We've kind of built a different type of resilience that I don't see in other Asian cultures, you know, we do have some aspects of like what Chinese have, which is like, you know, this hard driven, hard wired idea about money. And, you know, we've been in cahoots with with China for a very long time. So we have a lot of traits that are similar to Chinese. But I think that we also have something that is very savvy that I think everybody around the world sees among Filipinos worldwide is that we're very adaptable and that we're resilient in a way that we're still hospitable.

We're still very welcoming. We're still very warm despite the circumstances, whether it is, you know, financially poor or, you know, you know, or the situations are not favorable. Filipinos still show a good resolve and a good face where they're still very they still are seen very positively regardless of the situation. So it's kind of funny to say that because even though Filipinos show a very warm demeanor, they still have a worry of finances behind that smile.

And I think that’s kind of an art that Filipinos have picked up, and I think that it affects them health wise because you're constantly giving a front. I'm not saying that everyone is doing it is a front, but, you know, you are trying to perceive yourself as “OK” constantly when really the biggest worry you have is, you know, finances, whether it's the finances of debt or making sure that you pay back someone or that.

Are you going to be able to pay for things next month? Are you going to be able to send money back home? Are you able to pay for your kid's education? And I think these are things that Filipinos don't normally talk about until you have to ask for money, right, until you are at the point where you are having to struggle.

So it's almost like, you know, in a in a clinical setting, it's like this is the worst of men. And women are really good about going to the doctor and being preventative about their health. But men don't go to the doctor unless they're dying. You know, and I think the same thing among Filipinos is that they don't they don't search out ways to prevent them from getting in a hole until they're in the hole financially.

Yeah, and I think that it affects them in that in that in that stressful way.

 Leezel Tanglao: So what happens when worrying becomes a stress?

You know, you want to be able to support your family, but you also don't want your family to worry about you. I think that's the biggest stress factor that people have, is they don't want people to worry, you know what I mean? But the problem is that they don't realize that we're worrying anyway, you know what I mean?

 Like, I worry about my dad. I worry about my brothers. I worry about my family.

 And I want them to be OK, not only health wise, but financially. And so if I can help them, I will help them however I can. But it also becomes this idea that, you know, we should have never been here in the first place, you know what I mean? It's like this idea that like, what can we do to get out of this rut? We don't even talk about that. Like, how do we get out of this cycle?

 You know, I mean, it's easy, you know, edge, you know, it's easy for certain things like, you know, if you're fine, if you're already poor like you, you know that you have to get higher education and get a better get a better a job like that's just automatic.

 But like, how do you truly get out of debt if your family it's everyone in your family is just constantly not talking about how to get out of debt?

OUTRO BEGINS

There are many sides to debt.

This series intends to take you on a journey through defining and redefining debt through stories of Filipinos in the diaspora.

Upcoming stories from guests like rapper Ruby Ibarra are just a sampling of the journeys you’ll hear along the way.

That’s all for this episode, thank you for listening.

To find out more about the series and upcoming episodes and resources, visit Blooddebts.com

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Blood Debts is produced and hosted by me Leezel Tanglao.

This series is a legacy project of the Filipino Young Leaders Program.

Shoutout to FYLPRO Batch 8.

This series is dedicated to all those who struggle to talk about uncomfortable issues and for all those who ever felt overlooked.

I see you.

I hear you.

OUTRO ENDS