In this environment, all 'puti' (white skinned people) are viewed as 'dato' (rich).
Many times while shopping I have sales clerks take me to the higher priced items in the store only to look at me in disbelief if I walk away and don't buy the expensive item! Most recently I was looking for a gift for Ben to take to a birthday party. The sales clerk in the toy department kept pointing out the higher end remote control cars as an option. (In US dollars they would've been $40 - $80). I told him, "no, I can't afford that" a couple times. The look on his face was one of incredulousness - as if I was the biggest lier of all times!
Another time, while checking out at a grocery store, after the sales clerk rang up my order, the filipino lady standing behind me turned the cash register screen towards her so she could see how much I was spending!
Once, while traveling to Nasuli, our driver (a filipino) stopped at a rest area. Merchants were there and I heard the hat sales man offer a hat to our driver for 150 pesos. Then he came to Kurt and offered him the same hat for 300 pesos! "Puti Dato" in action!!!!!!!