Dayang Daya: The Case of Five-Six Lending Services Roaming to Collect Christmas/New Year Debts by January

I remember during the late 1990s when the song "Dayang Dayang" (Princess of the First Degree) was played on the radio. The origins are often debated whether or not it was from Muslim Mindanao or from the other neighboring countries. The Philippines has had settlers also from Malaysia and Indonesia. A parody cover by the late Yoyoy Villame was called Dayang Daya or Cheating Cheating. It was probably making fun of the Indian five-six lending business. Indians tend to be called Bombay because of the location known as Mumbai. I even made the mistake of referring to Indians as "Bombays" more than once. The song "Dayang Daya" does talk about the five-six lending services. It does target a lot of gullible people. I even became nearly distrustful of Indians in college for quite some time.

I wrote how a Merry Christmas may lead to an Unhappy New Year due to debt burden (read here). I tend to say to myself, "Somebody hasn't paid their debt!" every time I see an Indian (wearing a turban) riding a motorcycle. I tend to laugh thinking that January vindicates my painful December due to traffic. A lot of last-minute Christmas shopping happens because people splurge on their paychecks (read here). Instead of budgeting the money to pay for their needs--they spend it on their wants first. It becomes customary to spend the money from the paycheck on things you don't need. Even worse, gambling becomes more common than investing. I guess it's because of the mentality that says, "If it's bitter then just add sugar." They would choose to try and forget their problems by having good times instead of facing the problem head-on. It can even be as ridiculous as, "Your landlord is about to kick you out? Why not attend the fiesta and forget about it!"

Why did they end up borrowing money from the Indian five-six lenders, to begin with? It's because of spending more than one earns. If you're living paycheck to paycheck then splurging on that paycheck is very unwise. They do it from January to November. December arrives and they discover, "I don't have money! No problem? Just add sugar!" (read here) This "just add sugar" might mean that if they haven't paid Creditor A they will go to Creditor B, C, D, E, etc. They borrow money for the December feast. After the December feast, they find out, "What? No money? No problem! Just add sugar for the New Year Celebration!" They will borrow money again from somebody else if they haven't paid the debt from the other credit. In short, it's the foolishness of borrowing money in order to celebrate than earning money in order to celebrate.

I guess this is why five-six becomes profitable even if it's outlawed. People who spend more than they earn are prone to borrowing money from illicit sources. The bank denies the loan for a Christmas dinner. The five-six lender will grant a loan even if the person may have an existing loan somewhere. I may go ahead and scream all December about terrible traffic. However, I could laugh on January thinking that the five-six lending services may be preparing to collect debts from irresponsible debtors.

The Malaysian-Filipino Sweet Tooth Demographic

As a Filipino, I've observed the Filipino diet tends to lean on a sweet tooth. What causes this probable genetic disposition of the Filipino to crave sweets? That trait might be traced to one's ancestors. Newsweek also mentions it might be with the DNA . The Malaysians and the Filipinos have close genetics. The Britannica also cites this about Filipinos: The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia . Contemporary Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay...

Learning Mandarin Chinese Through Melons

Hanlin Language Center In pursuit of encouraging people ot learn Mandarin Chinese, here's a chart teaching the different types of melons in Chinese. Learning how to speak Chinese with these melons would be a productive exercise. Aside from using what was often called bon toi in the Chinese schools, it might be good to help people memorize these types of sentences, with the translation: Chinese: "天气热，想吃西瓜." (Tiānqì rè, xiǎng chī xīguā.) Translation: "It's hot, I want to eat watermelon." Chinese: "你想喝冬瓜茶吗?" (Nǐ xiǎng hē dōngguā chá ma?) Translation: "Do you want to drink winter melon tea?" Chinese: "我要做南瓜派." (Wǒ yào zuò nánguā pài.) Translation: "I'm going to cook pumpkin pie." Chinese: "用黄瓜去眼袋." (Yòng huángguā qù yǎndài) Translation: "Use cucumber on your eye bags." Chinese: "苦瓜对你的健康有益." (Kǔguā duì nǐ de jiànkāng yǒuyì) Translation: "Bitter gourd is good for your health." Chin...

A Consequence of Adobe's Subscription Model?!

As I look at this video, I don't regret not opening an Adobe account. I used Adobe Photoshop back in college--back when I could borrow someone's CD and install it on my computer. However, paying thousands of PHP monthly is ridiculous for a casual user! Why would I pay thousands of PHP just to produce artwork that I'm not even selling? Back then, I used Photoshop mostly to relax during semestral breaks in college. What happened to the good old days? As I listened to this video, I was disgusted at how Adobe could be a "Get Rich Quick Scheme" against its customers. Instead of selling Adobe Photoshop (or any service) outright (that's until the newer version arrives), they decide to use the subscription model. I could understand if Adobe offers a subscription model for intensive work that requires intensive power. Meanwhile, Adobe could offer a one-time purchase of any of its software for non-professional use. This reminds me why relying on past successes isn...

Keep Calm and Continue Investing in Stocks, Despite the Current Situation This 2025

FQ Mom It's no secret that U.S. President Donald J. Trump's tariffs may backfire . Should I even be surprised at the results that the global stock market are going low? It's something to think about why I didn't get invested in stocks ASAP. It's because I don't have a calm personality. However, I realized that the key in stock market investing is, "Keep calm and invest long term." Nobody should ever think of investing in stocks hoping to get rich quick fast! The FQ Mom provides useful advice that I should do, as I check my equity funds at an almost daily basis: 1. Understand the stock market. It is the avenue where we can all participate in the ownership of the listed companies. This facility that allows us to buy and sell stocks with ease anytime during trading hours also goes with a “price.” We see the stock prices go up and down like crazy every second, something that does not happen in other asset classes. To borrow from Benjamin Graham in h...

My Experience with Pyramid Scams in College Up to Present

Often, a pyramid is often confused with a Ponzi scheme. Both are illegal schemes but there's the difference. A pyramid scam emphasizes on recruitment and selling of products. A Ponzi scheme guarantees high returns for short periods. Both operate similarly but scam people differently. Both should be shunned and be considered defective baskets. I remembered my college days at the University of San Carlos-Main Campus (USC-Main) when I was still a newbie with money. It sucks really when high school didn't teach us financial literacy and people seemingly need to take commerce to do so. One of the biggest scams that hit even graduate school students was the pyramid scam. Even worse, some of those who got suckered with ongoing financial scams were graduate school students of the School of Business and Economics! The Investor.gov website from the United States of America (USA) would tell us these are the hallmarks of a pyramid scam: These are some of the hallmarks of a pyram...

South Korea's Pro-Foreign Investment Policies Made it Literally Overshadow North Korea

When you have the taste of capitalism for the first time! There are really a lot of misconceptions about the free market and foreign investments. It would be a good time to write about the differences between North Korea and South Korea. I remembered studying Asian history in high school but it seems it was a rushed course . I guess Asian history is now taught in middle school and high school in the K+12 program. Like economics, it seems that Asian history and world history are treated like "just requirements to pass". Economics is linked to history and vice-versa. It would be good to talk about both Koreas for another economics-related post. Korean history was taught in high school but in a glimpse. I wish I had an updated Korean history textbook in English. We saw the progress of the two Koreas. Sadly, high school economics during K+10 was so rushed though I did learn a lot with a teacher as fierce as the late Miriam Palma Defensor-Santiago. Election seasons reminded me of...

Getting Nuts About Standard Chinese, By Learning About the Chinese Names of Nuts

Hanbridge Mandarin In pursuing the need to teach Mandarin Chinese, it's important to deviate from the old-fashioned Chinese language education (read here ). Instead, we need to get people interested in basic vocabulary. This would be a good exercise to learn from basic sentence making and conversations. Here's an example of what's called bon toi back in my day. Let's think of learning Chinese through nuts. Question: 你想要巴西坚果、核桃、杏仁还是腰果? (Nǐ xiǎng yào bāxī jiānguǒ, hétáo, xìngrén háishì yāoguǒ) Translation: Do you want brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashews? Answer: 我想要杏仁，非常感谢. (Wǒ xiǎng yào xìngrén, fēicháng gǎnxiè.) Translation: I want to have almonds, please, thank you very much. However, there's a mistake in the chart because the coconut isn't a nut. Instead, it's a coconut fruit of the coconut tree, of the coconut palm family. The song was written by Filipino musician Ryan Cayabyab. Now, it's time to enjoy learning Chinese through learning about n...

Using the Credentials Fallacy to Dismiss Anti-Protectionist, Pro-FDI Arguments

GarthBox I guess it's time for another post, isn't it? I'd like to say that I'm no super-expert in my field. I could remember one time I started talking about the need for constitutional reform. What I always choose to speak about first is the need to liberalize the economy, let more FDIs come in, and allow FDIs to own 100% of their businesses . Instead, get shot down by arguments like, "Why let them invest here? Only they will be rich!" Even worse, they'll have the credentials fallacy which can go with these kinds of insults that I can get every now and then: "Shut up! You're not an economist!" "Do you know Sonny Africa of IBON Foundation graduated from the London School of Economics and you didn't?" "Do you have a degree from the University of the Philippines, Ateneo De Manila University, or any of the Greenbelt universities?" "The school you graduated from is not one of the hardest to enter!" "You ...

Why I Support Taiwanese Politician Yeh Yi Jin's Proposal for Taiwan to Drop Zhuyin Entirely (in Favor of Pinyin)

Taiwan News It may be news from 2018 (meaning, five years ago) but as a person who sees the importance of Mandarin in the international market, I still want to react. Not surprisingly, Yeh Yi Jin lost the Tainan mayoral bid because of her controversial statement to abolish Zhuyin from Taiwan altogether . She may have lost the race but I'm still supporting her for this. It's not because I kept failing hard in Zhuyin back in my days. It's because I feel that as time goes on, some things need to be dropped like asking students to submit their reports written via typewriter or asking documents to be faxed when email (and modern standard mail) are more reliable. Like I argued with an investment before, I said, "You can't fax a book. Can I just mail it?" The bank kept arguing it had to be faxed. Unfortunately stubborn boomers, stubborn boomers, everywhere, right? From The Free China Post , this is what's said about Yeh's argument: Yeh argues that using zhuyi...

The Lesson of "Bad Genius" is More Than Just "Cheating Never Pays Off"

Sometimes, much truth can be told in fiction, right? Talk about how the great Jose Rizal revealed much truth in his fictional novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo . The digital age today would create more entertaining media. I may encourage book reading over movie watching. However, some movies may do more than entertain. They can also address a real issue. It was said that a cheating scandal in China inspired the producers Jira Maligool and Vanridee Pongsittisak to create the film Bad Genius . Right now, there's even a TV series presumably because a movie can't always deliver the message one wants. How does the whole thing go? I was inspired to watch this film because of comments from a Facebook friend's post. The post also talked about how students cheat because the system cares more about grades than learning. As the world becomes more global, exposure to Thai cinema is definitely not surprising. Sure, one can talk about the South Korean wave or the increasin...

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