I. More on
the PINOY TINGI. The small sari-sari store of my nephew in Barangay
Molino at Bacoor, Cavite is a place to know a segment of the everyday
life of a Pinoy and his/her creativity and/or ingenuity. The customers
who buy their daily needs present an interesting study in taking things
and amazingly thinking things small. For instance, a stick of cigarette
costs P1.25, a small packet of body lotion, shampoo, conditioner costs
a couple of pesos or so). Mind you, it's not a pack or a cartoon of
cigarette, it is a stick. In the same way, we are not talking here
of a bottle of shampoo or conditioner but in plastic packets small
enough to carry in a breast pocket or women's purse. Rice is bought
per kilo: hence it becomes a daily routine from one's house to the
store to have rice to cook everyday.
My arithmetic
tells me the Pinoy consumer loses a lot on buying things in small
doses, but the Pinoy does it anyhow - day in and day out. From an
entrepreneur's perspective, it's an advantage to earn millions catering
to the Pinoy's penchant to TINGI.
Picking a cue,
it seems competing telecommunication giants Smart and Globe in Pinas
hit pay dirt in corporate profit by doing exactly what the Pinoy wants:
supply in small doses. Thus, here, anyone can buy calling cards with
pin numbers to load their cell phones n increments of P30, P60, P100
and P300. And to think that texting is done by millions of Filipinos.
It is brisk business indeed.
II. The Banton
2003 initiatives in promoting ecotourism in Banton island is a
subtle exercise in attracting potential tourists to visit the island.
Seventeen (17) barangays built cottages along the shoreline, in small
coves, in stretches of sand and stone - places where the visitor or
family can picnic, take a night swim, skindive in the coral reefs,
spearfish or hunt seashells, or watch sunset/sunrise.
Yet all these
initiatives are all for naught if the coral reefs are not protected
from illegal fishing such as the use of dynamite. Banton's coral reefs
are teeming with exotic fish - nature's answer to attracting tourists
- local, national and worldwide. For what good are the cottages if
the coral reefs are gone?
