Buy Pinoy is Back in Black!

I acknowledge that I’ve neglected the Buy Pinoy blog over the last four or five weeks. I have no excuses! I could tell you about all the things that have kept me busy over the last month, but I still wouldn’t have a real excuse for not posting new content sooner. I just let other things come first before blogging, treated this blog like a chore, and generally forgot what originally spurred me to begin this blog in the first place—which is really my desire to share how great Pinoy products are, especially to my fellow Pinoys.

I was confronted by this when I received a text message from Boyet, one of the individuals behind OneTama.com, and it hit me then just how much I had forgotten my original intentions for starting this blog. Has this ever happened to you: you experience something so striking that you just have to share it with everyone? Well, that’s exactly how I felt when I started this blog—I had a very ordinary, but striking insight that I wanted to put into reality and share with others.

That insight? It’s really simple: that we don’t have to look far or break our banks to find high-quality, locally-made products; and by doing so, we contribute to our country as a whole.

After all, if we believe in something strongly enough, shouldn’t it be seen in our everyday actions?

Just this Friday, I was giving a talk to a student publication that I used to write for when I was an undergraduate, and I remember telling them how much the social climate had changed since I was an undergraduate. During those years, having t-shirts that had cleverly-designed, nationalistic slogans were unheard (and un-thought) of; the kind of national pride present in pop culture at the moment was then nonexistent.

Should we just let the sense of national pride stay at the level of TV ads and t-shirts and clever slogans and snazzy ad campaigns? If we’re really proud of who we are and what we do shouldn’t that translate into our everyday actions, not just the heroic or exceptional ones? Even actions as mundane as buying things?

So, do watch out for more entries and updates from me in the next months! I promise a new post every week, but I’ll also try for two entries a week, if I can. Watch out too for guest posts from other bloggers!

(BuyPinoy’s Mothers’ Day Special) Without my mother…

…the BuyPinoy blog would not exist.

You may think I am exaggerating, but I’m not. It’s true, on so many levels. On one level, it’s true because without my mom, I would really not be sitting in front of my laptop, typing away. Without our mothers, none of us would exist! Our mothers carried us in their wombs, brought us into the world, fed us, cared for us, and raised us.

But more than my own physical existence, the BuyPinoy blog would not exist without my mom.

I’ve already written about how I was moved into action by OneTama.com–about how I was reminded of one of the principles I believed in: That buying Philippine-made products is a concrete way of contributing to the growth and improvement of the Philippines.

I got that principle from my mother. But it’s not something that she directly taught and said to me, but it was rather a principle that I saw concretely in her everyday actions–at the grocery, the department store, and even in the kind of gifts she gave. I grew up with a sense of pride in locally-made products, and appreciated their quality and craftsmanship, because I saw my mother appreciating their quality and craftsmanship.

Thank you, Mama, for instilling in me a pride in what Pinoys are capable of doing and making.

Happy Mothers’ Day!

  (photo of sampaguita flowers from http://www.philippinecentral.com/images/sampaguita.jpg)

Why Buy Pinoy, Part 3: Development Beyond GDP and GNP

Development can be seen, it is argued here, as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy.

(Italics mine, from Development as Freedom, by Amartya Sen)

One of the most common reasons that I hear for buying Pinoy products is that it supports local businesses and the local economy. Which is true, but it’s sometimes not a reason compelling enough for me. After all, “supporting local business” and “supporting local economy” sounds great, but what does that really mean? On top of that, I certainly don’t want to support local businesses that take advantage and abuse its laborers; nor do I want my (okay, I’ll say it) patriotic stand to result in just some sort of jump in the GNP or GDP numbers.

After all, GNP and GDP are not the best measure of development. Sure, it measures how much an economy has grown on a macro scale, but does it really show us if there is a positive change in the lives of people? And, to be honest, looking at the numbers on a marcro level doesn’t really show me, doesn’t show us, what kind of impact we make as individuals making choices every time we purchase something at the supermarket, or the mall, or the department store.

For me, what is more compelling is an argument that I’m just starting to understand, from the economist Amartya Sen. (Forgive me for going a bit “academic” here–I’m no economic expert though, so please bear with me!) He wants us to consider that real development is not about GNP or GDP, but about human freedom and quality of life.

It’s important for me to emphasize the word “real” in the quote above. Why?

(more…)

Why buy Pinoy? How buying locally-made products helps the country, Part 1

 ”Why buy Pinoy?” is both a simple and complex question, with both simple and complex answers.

It’s a simple question because it’s straightforward, direct to the point, and asks a meaningful question. However, depending on the context in which the question is asked, it becomes quite complex.

In some situations, asking the question “Why buy Pinoy?” implies a certain preconceived notion or prejudice about locally-made products. For example, growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s, I was surrounded by so many people who preferred to buy imported (usually Made in USA) products, and would always assert that “Imported products are of better quality than local products. So, why buy local?”The early 1990 PX/Duty Free craze is testament to that mindset. My family would actually troop en masse to Subic and Clark to buy PX goods. American-made Ovaltine, Tang, Planters Cheez Balls, and 100% US cotton bedsheets were part of my childhood.

In the same way, answers to the question, “Why buy Pinoy?” can be both simple and complex. They can be simple because we can point to certain generalizations and patterns–the economic benefits of buying locally-made products, its effects on our economy, on the labor force, on preserving and creating jobs, generating more tax revenues, and creating a vibrant local economy. On the other hand, we can’t deny the effects that globalization has taken, which makes the whole situation of the local economy far more complex. Sure, by buying local products, we support local manufacturing businesses–but don’t importers and distributors of foreign-made goods generate jobs and income as well? Don’t they pay taxes, too?

On top of everything else, I’m not at all close to being qualified to talk about things like the economy, globalization, and things like that. I have to admit that it’s nowhere near my area of expertise. 

At the same time, though, as someone who advocates buying Philippine-made products, the question does need to be asked, and answered. Why do I feel so strongly about buying locally-made products, in the first place? Where does this strong opinion and sentiment come from, on my part?

(more…)

Buy Pinoy: My Story

Six months ago, while getting into the shower, I realized that almost all of the bath products I used were made in other countries—from my shampoo, conditioner and soap, even to my toothbrush and dental floss. I was surprised because, as a child, I had been raised to Buy Pinoy—buy locally-produced products to support local industry—yet here I was, with 90% of my bath products made elsewhere. Coincidentally, I had recently taken an online test that mapped out my carbon footprint as an individual—measuring the amount of carbon emissions that my kind of lifestyle generates. In the process, I learned that a tons of carbon emissions are generated each year by the importing process—and that amount keeps growing as the demand for imported good rise. After that realization, I started paying close attention to the labels of the products that I bought at the supermarket, taking note of where each product was made, making an effort to by locally-made products.

Paying attention to the labels of products then led me to pay more attention to the ingredients lists of these products. After encountering a whole host of names that I didn’t understand and wasn’t familiar with (Dimethicone, anyone?), I decided to educate myself about these ingredients—and what I learned surprised me. There are so many chemicals that go into commercially-produced shampoos, conditioners, even food products that are safe in small amounts, but not so safe in large amounts. Even though these chemicals are technically safe for human use, many of these chemicals end up going down our drains and into our sewers—and given the kind of sewage system we have in Metro Manila and in the rest of the country, these chemicals eventually end up in our groundwater, causing all kinds of chemical contamination.

Knowing all of these things was a deal-breaker for me—I felt very frustrated about my unconscious contribution to polluting the Philippines and the world (not to mention making multinational companies richer in the process), a negative contribution that I’ve made over the past 24 years of my life. It also made me start asking questions about whether there are any alternatives to the kinds of consumer products that I usually buy—alternatives that cause less pollution, are made locally from ingredients that are kinder to the environment, and generate sustainable development through providing training and jobs to my fellow Pinoys. I was skeptical at first—apart from organically-grown vegetables, I wasn’t sure if there were any other products that fit these criteria.
So, where did I start? Well, the internet, of course! And I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of products available—online and offline—that met all of these criteria. Little by little, I started buying products and trying them out, just to see if they could be viable alternatives. I also started seeking out alternative shops, cafes, and restaurants. The more I looked, the more alternatives I found!

Then it came to me—what if there are other people like me who are looking for products and services that are responsible alternatives to those provided by big companies (some of whom have unjust environmental or labor practices?). What if there were people who wanted to find out more about Philippine-made products, but didn’t know where to start? So I began thinking, what can I do?

The tipping point for me really was two things:

1. I received a Facebook invitation to join a Cause from a friend, and it led me to the website onetama.com. I don’t know anyone behind the website, but its message truly inspired me—that we Filipinos can make our country a better place, one tama (right action) at a time. And one of the actions listed there was: buy Pinoy (and encourage other to do so as well).
2. While taking a bath yesterday, I suddenly realized that, without any real effort/difficulty, all the bath products I use now are Pinoy-made—some even sustainably-made and socially-responsible. If it was easy for me to make the transition to Pinoy products, then maybe it could be easy for many others. People just need to know what options they have, and maybe I can help others know of these options.

And so, this blog was born!

What can you expect from me? You can look forward to updates 1-2x a week, featuring product reviews, news, information about products and “alternative” lifestyle options—and of course, stories of my efforts to buy Pinoy products.

Happy reading, and I hope to hear from you, too!

(Happy Easter, as well! )