Transcript

VOX POP BEGINS

I mean, that is owing something to someone that was my very basic, I guess, definition of it, you know, so in thinking about this term debt, right.

It's sort of, you know, something that you owe to another person that might be sort of the rudimentary definition, I suppose. But it's when I hear the word debt, I think of something that you owe in exchange for something else that has yet to be paid back.

It's more on when you get a debt from other person or from another company or a business, it means that some parts of your freedom will be taken away from you in this debt.

Could be so many things. I like to think about it in a way that is anything that you feel obligated to give back to somebody in blood debts.

VOX POP ENDS

INTRODUCTION BEGINS

In Blood Debts, we tell the stories of choices and sacrifices to pay back what is owed and pay forward something of value.

I’m your host, Leezel Tanglao.

On this podcast, we talk about one of the few through lines in people’s lives - debt.

You’ll hear stories from the Filipino diaspora around how debt has impacted all aspects of life from those in the medical field, public service sector to creative arts.

As a journalist, I’ve spent more than a decade reporting on the financial aspects of debt in diverse communities.

But many carry debts beyond money.

Honorable Judge Rizza Palmares O’Connor: It’s a sense of like in this in this political world and how you interact with people.

And I've seen that, you know, that there is sort of a feeling that you have to repay if somebody has done something for you.

 And that could be now or that could be, you know, at some point down the future or that could be in a ways that you feel indebted to that person forever. So it's so, you know, I think a lot when you think of debt, sometimes you think about just monetarily, but it goes so much deeper, deeper than that. Debt seems to be a feeling of that. You owe something. And so whether you owe that to a company like your credit card or if you owe a favor, if somebody bought you lunch or you owe somebody just really, anything that you feel, just that you are tied to that person in some way or something where you don't have the freedom to do what you completely, what I would consider that to be debt.

Leezel Tanglao: In this episode we talk to the Honorable Judge Rizza Palmeres O’Connor. We talk about debt to your community, career and family in the motherland.

INTRODUCTION ENDS

Hi, I'm Rizza O'Connor. I am the chief magistrate judge in Toombs County, which is rule small town south Georgia. I handle civil claims and so I've been what I like to call it or refer to it as the “People's Court.” And I've been doing this about six and a half years. I've lived all of my life in Georgia. My family is originally from the Philippines.

But living in small town rural Georgia has been something that has been quite different for me. It's so interesting and I've only seen this in the Filipino community where it's this deep, deep, deep…. I don't know how to describe it, but this need to help the family and basically the whole community back in the Philippines if you are here on American soil.

I grew up with my mom and my dad always either sending money or both or sending some types of goods to the to their family and to their overall communities where they lived. And that has been something that I saw as a child and something that I still continue to see today, where they where they really support them a lot financially. I don't know necessarily where that comes from, but it is a practice that I've seen in many, many Filipino families.

Like I grew up having to basically save everything that I didn't want and so that we could put it in a like balikbayan box and then we would send them are all of our used items, but then also add in things like chocolates or perfumes or things that the family liked. But there is this deep sense of helping this deep sense of family ties that I don't see in other places.

I would call it a responsibility in the Filipino family unit to help their family who are still in the Philippines. My parents was my dad is the second oldest of five children, and he always talks about how he put the three of his siblings through college. And my mom was the second youngest of eight siblings and her siblings helped her go to college.

So it's just an interesting, very, very interesting dynamic.

Filipinos are so polite and so nice. And just over all of this just sense of of debt and gratitude to where they were they came from.

It was basically like this is really it was just for me, like as a child and now it's just like understood, like this is what we have to do. And, you know, I never knew I really never knew why.

I just you know, that's a good question. I probably should ask when I go see my mom today. Now, why do they feel the need? And whenever I see Filipino, you know, one of the things that breaks my heart is when I see Filipino workers. And they're the only one here in America and they've got this family, they've got a spouse and they've got children and they're still in the Philippines and they send money over and they send money over there. I think that's that seems so especially tough for them to see that.

Leezel Tanglao: And how would O'Connor define blood debts?

So when I put those two words together, I feel like that is like the ultimate debt where you are sacrificing and giving up your life in some way for I think that can be a lot of things for a lot of people. But for me, I would say that would be definitely the student, the student loans, because it's kind of limited the options of what I've been able to do professionally. And but so I would think it's something deep where you don't really, truly have the freedom to have any movement.

So it runs blood debts or something that just runs runs a long, long time, and there's not particularly there's just not a quick solution to it.

Leezel Tanglao: And what is debt look like in the legal and public service space?

I feel a lot of times that like a like a personal debt, I think could be a good thing. A lot of us, with lawyers is very relational. And, you know, our profession relies on us having professional interactions and being very cordial to each other and everything, and I think and providing opportunities, whether that's referring a client or finding somebody to tap in a leadership position, you know, it's all I feel like there is always kind of that list inside your mind of, like, wow, I really, really appreciate that person.

And I hope I'd be able to repay their kindness in some way down the road.

And I found, you know, I have found public service to be extremely valuable. And it's not to say without this debt, I wouldn't be doing what I was what I'm doing. But, you know, it would be nice to just be able to have just options.

You just don't have the freedom to even think about doing something else.

OUTRO BEGINS

There are many sides to debt.

This series intends to take you on a journey through defining and redefining debt through stories of Filipinos in the diaspora.

That’s all for this episode, thank you for listening.

To find out more about the series and upcoming episodes and resources, visit Blooddebts.com

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Blood Debts is produced and hosted by me Leezel Tanglao.

This series is a legacy project of the Filipino Young Leaders Program.

Shoutout to FYLPRO Batch 8.

This series is dedicated to all those who struggle to talk about uncomfortable issues and for all those who ever felt overlooked.

I see you.

I hear you.

OUTRO ENDS