Remittances - A Lifeline to Families in the Philippines

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The Philippines was a colony of Spain for nearly 400 years. The United States helped the Filipino people battle the Spanish colonizers. In an effort to basically erase Filipino culture and replace it with American ideals, the U.S. set up American hospitals,. American schools with American teachers.

This time of year, right in the middle of the holiday season, there's a beloved, frenzied tradition playing out in Filipino households all around the world, with which reporter Gabrielle Berbey is intimately familiar. A Balikbayan box is a huge cardboard box (often weighing over 100 pounds) that Filipinos living all over the world send to family members who are still living in the Philippines. The word Balikbayan literally means homecoming in Tagalog.

Balikbayan Boxes