MANILA, Philippines - Horror vacui is the fancy Latin phrase that translates to ?a fear of space.? A synonym that may be easier to handle is cenophobia.

We Filipinos are intensely cenophobic, and this is reflected in many ways in our culture? from the way our artists fill up every centimeter of their canvasses, to the way we weave in and out of road lanes, unable to bear the empty space in front of the other car.

Our public cenophobia spills over into our homes, where every floor inch is crammed with furniture, every wall inch with photographs, calendars, posters. Closets and cabinets are packed with clothes and shoes and all kinds of tools that reflect the occupants? trade (in my case, it?s books), bathrooms are full of soaps, shampoos, conditioners, body lotions, hand lotions, plastic pails, basins, dippers, even water hoses. If the home owners are in business, you can be sure parts of the house, including the bedroom, serve as warehouses as well.

Domestic horror vacui is best represented by cabinets groaning from the weight of the abubut, sometimes weakly translated as ?trinkets? but which can be anything from a Lalique glass figurine costing a few thousand pesos to the ?101 Dalmatians? give-aways from some fastfood joint. Put another way, we actually love clutter. It?s kalat (trash) that we dislike, so never mind if you have a mess, as long as it?s organized and it doesn?t leave any empty spaces.

Why this national cenophobia? One simple reason is that we are a densely populated country?the last national census revealed the average Filipino household has a living space of less than 30 square meters. I?ve seen smaller, including a government-built condo of 16 square meters! Ironically, this scarcity may actually feed into our cenophobia. We think that a home with too much empty space represents poverty or deprivation.

Corollary to this is a powerful concept of sayang, loosely translated into ?What a waste? or ?What a shame.? We fill up space because we think empty space is unused, and therefore sayang, much like ?informal settlers? taking over an empty lot, never mind if someone owns it: ?Use it, or lose it.?

?Sayang? takes on new dimensions with modern consumerism, which tells us, ?Hey look, here?s a bargain. Sayang if you don?t buy, and why not take two, or three?? Even the poorest of the poor can do this as well, since we?re flooded with all kinds of cheap made-in-China goods, Japanese surplus electronics, ukay-ukay (okay, for the upper classes, factory outlets).

?Cheap? is of course relative, but even the poorest families will be tempted to buy more than what?s needed if the price is right. In fact, the temptation to go on a sayang buying binge is stronger with the poor, because of the fear of running out of these bargains. The sayang mentality is also strong with older Filipinos, rich or poor, if they went through the Second World War or other difficult economic times, so that at the slightest hint of a shortage?gas, rice, medicines?they?ll go out and buy as much as they can, a full kitchen shelf or medicine cabinet giving a sense of security.

Sayang takes on another form in the home domain, and this is the idea that throwing something out is a form of waste. So we accumulate, making space even when there?s none left, to keep everything we don?t want to throw out.

The abubut are particularly intriguing. They?re almost always useless, but because they?re gifts or souvenirs, they become priceless, meaning they can?t be thrown out. Not only can?t they be thrown out, they have to be displayed for any number of reasons, mostly nostalgic: ?Oh, but the 101 Dalmatians remind me of Jason when he was little.?

This cenophobia will worsen in the years ahead, with so many families having relatives working in distant lands, leaving behind not just abubut memories, but sending in new ones through the balikbayan boxes, which also end up displayed as status symbols.

Horror vacui then isn?t really a fear of space itself, but a fear of what space represents: poverty, deprivation, children who have left home.

What to do then?

We have to be conscious of how ?sayang? shapes our cenophobia. Next trip to the mall, watch yourself: are you buying or hoarding? Buying several pieces of something cheap may mean more sayang in the end?I have seen homes with bottles of expired medicines, bought in the States because ?Ay, it was so mura (cheap)?.

If we hoard things because we want the memories, we should ask: do we really need the abubut to remember our loved ones?

Chinese feng shui principles warn about cluttered homes obstructing Qi (pronounced ch?i) and bringing misfortune. It makes sense, in practical ways. All those abubut attract dust and trigger allergies and asthma. Cluttered homes are major fire hazards and can cause all kinds of accidents, especially for young children and the elderly.

Look for the last empty spaces in your home, and rather than thinking of it as space that needs to be filled up, value it as integral space that gives the rest of the room warmth, congeniality, even health.

Appreciate that space in front of a window that fills up with sunlight at certain hours of the day. Or that space that allows you to stand and reach to get your books (or that special abubut). It could be space your cat or dog considers a last refuge in a cluttered home. Or it might be your space to which you can retreat, for quiet time, for good abubut-free memories.