One of the reasons I avoid birthday parties in the Philippines is because of the extreme amount of alcohol abuse involved. A "sobering" fact is that alcohol is frequently abused here without any special occasion being required.

The San Miguel Brewery, originally founded in 1890 in Manila, became the San Miguel Corporation in 1963. It is now one of the largest business conglomerates in the Philippines selling both alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages as well as other products. It's no wonder they've become so large. A single day doesn't pass without me seeing at least one person with a San Miguel branded beer either being held or in reaching distance.

There are other beer brands available locally, but none are as popular as the San Miguel beers. So far, I've only seen their Pale Pilsen (the first beer in their original line-up), Red Horse and San Mig Lite with being consumed although they have a few other beers to offer.

Birthday Parties

I have somewhere between 20 and 200 relatives living near me within a two-kilometer radius, with more than 20 living in my own compound if you count every head. Of course, the adult numbers are probably a third of that — I've never attempted to get an accurate count. I get invited to birthday parties frequently, but I rarely show up. The only birthday parties I attempt to attend are those pertaining to my wife's immediate family.

Local birthday parties seem to include three key ingredients (besides the people involved): Food, alcoholic beverages and karaoke (called videoke, actually). To be honest, I don't like most of the food choices available and I don't like getting drunk. I definitely don't like interacting with drunken relatives. One of my wife's cousins becomes an annoying pest long before he gets to the drunken stage.

The alcohol choices are very limited as well. It's usually one San Miguel beer or another and cheap brandy or gin offered as hard liquor. I prefer Tanduay Dark Rhum (any of their rum varieties will do) while my wife prefers Cuervo Gold Tequila (about $20 a bottle here). My preference runs less than 100 pesos. I like spiced rum, but I can never seem to find any.

Alcohol Abuse

Outside of birthday parties, alcohol is still frequently abused. I have a street light in front my house (owned by me) which is near the widest part of the street and next to the creek that borders the left side of my property (when looking from the front). It never fails that I'll have to chase away some drunken bastards loitering in that area (at night) at least once a week because they're carrying on and making too much noise. Sometimes they're the same people over and over again. I see these people during the daylight hours and some of them are showing telltale symptoms of alcohol dependency.

One of the things I find the most irritable shouldn't bother me, but it does. There are men who will spend their money on alcoholic beverages before feeding their own families. These families are poor to begin with and these guys have a responsibility to take care of them as best they can (and don't). The reason it shouldn't bother me is because I have no control over their actions and never will. Each one that I've met has an addiction to alcohol (and some are also smokers).

Avoiding Alcohol

I will, on occasion, partake of alcohol in one form or another. I avoid alcoholic beverages for the most part and stick with my daily diet of water, tea and coffee. I would be lying if I said I never drink alcohol. I'm not a social alcohol user and drink it for what it does for me — making me sleepy. When I have difficulty sleeping, alcohol can help me relax enough to get past the barrier that's blocking my sleep.

I would also be lying if I said I don't get drunk. It's usually not intentional but it happens, especially when I'm participating in a videoke session with relatives in my compound. If I stick to beer, I don't get drunk — I just end up urinating a lot. It's when the hard liquor is brought out (usually a couple of hours after the beer) that I forget to slow down.

The difference between me and them (the alcohol abusers I've mentioned) is that I can afford to feed my family and others and still afford to pay for alcohol. Yes, I have abused alcohol in the past, but I haven't met a man in the Philippines who hasn't. I won't even get into my early years in the military.

Health Factors

There are other addictions I'll get into at a later date (and I don't know exactly when) that are just as bad, financially, as alcohol addiction. How deep the addictions run will usually determine their affect on an individual's health.

Alcohol use can be healthy (or unhealthy depending on how it's used) while alcohol abuse is definitely not healthy. There are numerous studies that show that most "crutches" have beneficial health effects until they start to be continually abused. Moderation is the key and unfortunately, most people are at one extreme or the other (no use or heavy abuse).

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