“How many sacks of rice, enough to feed a barangay, would be the equivalent of a Patek on one’s wrist, or an Hermes handbag?”
For the vanishing middle class in this country who find their incomes unable to cope with inflation, never mind if the BSP and the PSA assure us the price index is going down, yet the tindera in the wet markets tell them, “sabi lang ‘yun ng gobyerno”, and need to draw down on precious savings to augment their incomes, nothing grates sensibilities more than seeing their officials flaunt their wealth, likely ill-gotten.
Over the last few days, we have seen online reports about how the country’s richest woman, Tessie Sy-Coson of the working rich Sy family, lines up at the baggage carousel to retrieve her luggage, as distinguished from officials who have the habit of having their staff or airport employees retrieve theirs while they hastily exit the airport.
I have seen Ms. Tessie, widow of my friend Louie Coson in socials, refusing to seat at presidential tables, and garbed in simple attire, the epitome of ennobling humility as against others less wealthy who sashay in hundred thousand peso designer outfits sporting million peso handbags, enjoying the feeling of being entitled.
In fact, I have seen many of the ancien riche, those whose wealth came from multi-generational herencias which they have husbanded well, live simple, even austere lives. The recently demised Bea Zobel comes to mind.
During the weeks when the members of the House of Representatives were grilling officials in trying to pin down the vice-president in obeisance to their cues and script, we saw postings of these ladies and gentlemen flaunting their wealth, unexplainable given the legal emoluments of their office.
Rolexes, Richard Mille, Patek Philippe on their wrists; Hermes, Vuitton, Chanel, Goyard hung from their arms, as they show their multi-million, latest model Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and other motor vehicles. The shameless flaunt it.
Never mind the very poor, as our Philippine Statistics Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and congressmen identify them, because they get their manna from those of us who pay our taxes, deducted from legitimate incomes, from the 4Ps, AKAP, AICS, TUPAD and whatever else our legislators invent, to be able to buy their loyalty aside from buying their votes come the May election date.
Meanwhile, the “leaders” we elect, or rather, are elected by the recipients of the manna from our taxes, get their untold riches from Janet Lim Napoles and her re-incarnations, or from contractors who fork over 60 to 70% of the cost of their over-priced but under-specified projects to satisfy the greed of government officials down the line, plus other rackets from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators to Pharmally to laptops.
Worse, they get away with it.
We have heard of legislators who now supposedly own buildings in the fashionable right bank of Paris, or in Kensington and Chelsea upon London, while depriving Secretary Jerry Acuzar of the budget needed to build the million houses per year that the President promised.
How many sacks of rice, enough to feed a barangay, would be the equivalent of a Patek on one’s wrist, or an Hermes handbag?
Yet, the ignorant — because they were malnourished in their infancy and further mis-educated under the tutelage of our likewise underpaid teachers — keep voting these officials over and over again. Or their wives, their children, their siblings, entrenching these family dynasties for generations.
I recall a now deceased politician from Caraga whose political philosophy is to keep his constituents poor, so that they can easily be bought on election day.
Another newbie politician also in Caraga, where by the way, vote-buying was “invented” in the late fifties by filthy rich loggers, overthrew a well-known icon of corruption, by paying as much as 7,000 pesos per voter, “alindahaw” the poor call it, which the greedy cheapskate refused to pay. How do you suppose the newbie will recover his “investment”?
Ask a stupid question.
The late Miriam Defensor Santiago used to say that corruption is the cause of our nation’s poverty. Noynoy Aquino told us all that “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”.
Returning senator Ping Lacson always says that “government itself is our biggest problem.” Correcting the government, he says, is the first thing we must do.
He has been fine combing our annual budget every time it is submitted to the Senate by the lower house, but despite his exposes of hidden costs and pork barrel entitlements which he solely declines, the budget keeps bloating, and so does pork transmogrify from slices to slabs.
Yet he is running again, in the hope that he can institute reforms in the system, because reforms cannot be done outside the system, so he says.
The impossible dream.
