Welcome to Saudi Village, Rizal

By Jo Javan Calinao-Cerda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 03, 2008

MORE THAN TWO decades ago, residents called this nondescript place southeast of Manila as “out there.” In the daytime, farmers and their carabaos could be seen walking through patches of monotonous green, cultivating the land and planting rice.

Come nighttime, common folk armed with flashlights could be seen probing the thick foliage, looking for wild spiders they could pit against their neighbors’ for easy money.

But most of what this place used to be is now only in the memory of elders who’ve seen it develop from its humble beginnings. Where rice fields once covered the horizon now stand fully furnished middle-class houses with glass windows and fortified iron gates. And in the evening, family-owned tricycles and jeeps with signs like ‘Katas ng Saudi’ can be seen retiring to the family garage.

Saudi Village in Barangay Lunsad, Binangonan, Rizal, around 20 kilometers from Metro Manila, has made quite a transformation from its simple image, thanks to the steady supply of remittances from overseas Filipino workers whose families have together created a “little Middle East.”

Saudi Village came to be what it is today through the initiative of homeowners who met with the barangay captain in 1997 to formalize the new name of the area.

Napoleon Cerda, president of the Binangonan Federation of Senior Citizens and then barangay captain of Lunsad, said that in that period, nearly 90 percent of residents were working abroad, particularly in the Middle East.

The residents, however, did not come only from the town of Binangonan or the province of Rizal. Some came from Manila, neighboring provinces and even places as far away as Pangasinan, he said.

How it started

The development of the area began when lawyer Alberto Ramos, a local, bought small tracts of land in the 1980s. “It was just P70 per square meter before; now it’s P1200 per sq m,” he said.

He initially bought 500 square meters, which he eventually sold to eager buyers. Later he purchased larger areas of lands for a steady demand of clients, most of whom were nurses, contractual workers and lower middle-class OFWs who had earned fortunes in the Middle East.

During that time, five OFWs per year on the average bought lots from Ramos, paying by installment. A majority of them live there to this day.

While other subdivisions host palatial houses with pools on the side, most of the houses in Saudi Village strike a balance between extravagance and modesty. Some of the huge houses are still unpainted, and other owners are content with small backyards. Beside some houses are sari-sari stores sustained by money earned overseas.

Inside a typical Saudi Village house, pictures of family members decorate television sets and coffee tables. What also seem common are home entertainment appliances, wide screen TV sets, audio systems and Sony Playstations, mostly sent by OFW fathers on special occasions like Christmas.

Homemakers

Other decorations like carpets are placed under couches or hung on a wall in the receiving area. Landscapes, flowers and animals in colorful frames are everywhere.

Some houses are unfinished, with ceiling and other parts awaiting finishing touches. This is because most of the time housewives prefer to invest immediately in house construction on an incremental basis rather than save money first, later overhauling the entire house. This assures them that the money goes immediately into a tangible investment.

One of the many homemakers with husbands who have worked in the Middle East is Ma. Lourdes “Malou” David, a mother of five. Her husband Walse is a welder who earns a salary enough to sustain his big family. His experience as a professional welder is attested to by the number of identification cards he obtained from the different employers abroad.

He is now in the country but plans to apply for another welder’s post overseas. Meanwhile he spends his days driving a public utility vehicle bought from his savings. Their oldest son, Walse Jr., has an associate degree as computer technician. The second child, James Ralph, is a mass communication graduate; the third child, Alliana Marie is taking up mechanical engineering. The fourth and fifth children, Anna Patricia and Ara Nicole, are still in high school and grade school, respectively.

Malou David credits her husband’s stint abroad for the family’s relative prosperity. The couple sees the vehicle as a worthy investment they can use in case Walse retires from work.

“Ayoko namang tumanda ang asawa ko sa abroad, (I wouldn’t want my husband to get old abroad),” said Malou. Walse used to return home every year, sometimes every six months.

While budgeting could be considered difficult for mothers who make most of the financial decisions, she makes it a point to spend her husband’s earnings only for things considered top priority, allotting a huge portion for food, school expenses, and sometimes paying off debts.

She admits that she’s a penny pincher when her children ask for some thing unnecessary, although she rewards them for good grades in school.

Her two oldest children now have their own families, while the three girls are still in school. Alliana Marie, who studies in Manila, lives with her aunt Michelle in Taguig on weekdays and works part-time in a fastfood chain.

Another homemaker is Emma Munsod, mother of three. Her husband Rolando works for a steel company in Dubai and returns home every two years. After working for his first post in Saudi Arabia for 17 months, he managed to buy a house and lot for his family.

Two of their three children have already obtained their college degrees: Ryan, the eldest, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering; the second child, Russell, is now in Europe working as a nautical engineer. The youngest child, Roem Marielle, is on her third year in nursing.

Greater purpose

Emma admits the difficulty of budgeting money, especially now that the prices of groceries seem to skyrocket constantly. Another concern is Roem’s tuition which costs almost P50,000 a semester, she said while pointing to the pile of nursing books stacked on a chair. In emergency cases, she calls her son Russell for help.

Rolando plans to return home after Roem finishes his degree; they are planning to set up a sari-sari store upon his retirement.

Over two decades since its birth, Saudi Village shows proof of endurance, not just thanks to OFWs who willingly endure separation from their spouses and children, but from family members who understand that being away from each other serves a greater purpose.