GIFTS. An Ear informer said he has learned from friends connected with a cargo forwarder specializing in balikbayan boxes that long before the current controversy over the balikbayan boxes, many OFWs in the US and Canada were already sending gifts including cash to their families at home through other means.
MALLS. Our Ear informer said many OFWs buy "sinugatan" gifts for the family at the local shopping malls when they come home during Christmas time or Fiesta Señor. He said some OFWs pack their Christmas purchases in Boxes similar to the balikbayan boxes. "To these wise OFWs it's the giving that counts, not where the gift were bought," our informer said.