It pays to have a 21 year old alaga

Yeah literally, it pays to have a 21 year old alaga, ampon, girlfriend to be, mistress or whatever.

He is based in San Diego with his wife and a teenage son. He loves coming home to the Philippines once or twice a year to be with his siblings, his parents, school mates and friends. He enjoys the almost daily two hour whole body massage for P300 / hour x 2 hours plus 100 tip = P700. His body craves for the $14 pampering when he’s back home. For him living in the Philippines is pure luxury and relaxation.

A week before he left Manila in June for San Diego, someone introduced to him a Snow White looking young girl aged 21 from Davao. She is looking for a job according to the one who introduced them. Aka Snow White tagged along while Mr. San Diego shopped with his siblings at the Duty Free Shop. She was quiet and looked observant whenever Mr. San Diego paid for the items either with his credit card or in US dollars bills.

From June to October, Mr. San Diego and Snow White communicated daily thru texts and Facetime. In July, her mom was hospitalized and needed financial assistance. Her mom has breast cancer and their family have no money for the chemo and radiation treatments. He wired her the funds to help her family. More money was needed for medicines and hospitalization.
Snow White wanted to to go home to Davao to visit her mother but she told Mr. San Diego she has no money to buy plane tickets. A round trip ticket Manila to Davao to Manila was gladly financed by the generous Mr. San Diego.

In September, her mother passed away. Money was needed for funeral and burial expenses plus Snow White’s round trip ticket to attend the wake and funeral.
Mr. San Diego was awang-awa so in a heartbeat, he sent her the funds plus extras for her pocket money.

In October she told him that she’s looking for a job. She wants to work in a night club. Mr. San Diego was alarmed. What he wants is to provide Snow White with a good future. Instead of looking for a job, he encouraged her to go back to school, to finish college. She was not interested to study and insisted that she wants to earn money. She’s very pretty and she could be the club’s princess.

Mr. Diego has a different idea. He wants to provide for her needs and be his alaga. He claims he is not happily married and is looking for someone who would love him and eventually become his wife after he divorced his wife in San Diego. He was all too excited to come home and start this process of getting to know her. Yes indeed. He got to know her.

Two days after he arrived in Manila, his 21 year old alaga was a no show. He couldn’t reach her. He called the person who introduced them and Mr. San Diego because furious when he found out that Snow White’s mother is not sick. She doesn’t have breast cancer. She was never hospitalized and most of all, she didn’t die. She is very much alive. Mr. San Diego couldn’t believe that Snow White never went home to Davao.

She told San Diego thru text that someone stole her handbag with her cellphone in it. He’s not buying it. He requested for a personal meeting with her. He was furious and told her not to bother him again.

Snow White still tries to contact Mr. San Diego, sending sweet text messages obviously trying to win him back so she could coaxed him again in giving her kabuhayan package.

When I told this story to my husband, he said there are many balikbayans who do that. They work very hard abroad and when they come home they spend their money treating out friends, neighbors and women. They like the feeling of being superior over others. They buy friendship and love that’s why they get abused and taken advantaged of. They are either in denial or aware of that but they just ignore the fact that without their money their friends would disappear. And your 21 year old alaga too.