WHO are the vultures of modern-day society? These are the ones who hold the ATM cards of private and government employees and who prey on the vulnerable.
These vultures, more popularly referred to as loan sharks, linger in the vicinity of city and municipal halls. Some are identified to be visible at malls. (The ATM card is used as guarantee of payment, making collection easier for the loan shark—or vulture, as the case may be.)
When I was little, the business of loaning money to small sari-sari stores was the monopoly of some nationalities otherwise referred to as “Turko” (from Turkey) and “Bombay” (from India), men who wear turbans.
For decades now, some enterprising Filipinos prey on those who live on a shoe-string budget. My grandpa used to say: “Kanang gapa-5-6 buhi pa ang usa ka tiil tua na sa impierno kay ang naa sa kalisud, giduot og samot.” (The term “5-6” means that the amount being borrowed must be returned with 20 percent interest added.)
When bigger amounts are involved, these vultures demand collaterals in the form of land titles, jewelry or appliances. I know of one family who lost their five-million-peso house for a loan of P400,000. Another lost a piece of jewelry for a loan of P3,000. You can lose a television set for a loan of P100.
Scenarios of financial hardship are common in a poor country like ours. Families are unable to survive on their meager income. Small business entrepreneurs fall victims, like the man who sells seafood in subdivisions, and the lady selling vegetables and fruits that she carries in a basket over her head. They have no money for capital so they succumb to big interest from these loan sharks.
Wives of overseas Filipino workers sometimes have to juggle funds because the allotments from their husbands have not yet come. Some wives, however, live beyond their means. They live like one-day millionaires, spending their husbands’ money left and right. Then when the money allotted for utility bills and the children’s tuition fees have been spent like water, these same wives approach loan sharks.
Like the vultures in the desert, these loan sharks hover and wait to catch prey. Be wary, for some of them pretend to be your friend.