ABUSIVE POOR

We hear the term ‘abusive rich’ on a daily basis. But have you ever come across the term abusive poor?

Let me give you examples:

• I work overtime most nights, to the point that half of the time, dinner is at the office. So I go home past bedtime, sometimes near or past midnight. When I approach our gate, I always have to slow down since our neighbors have this nightly habit of downing Ginebra San Miguel at the side of the road. These are the same people who complain that the government is not giving them enough food and jobs, not enough education for their children, and well, the government is basically doing nothing. Yet they can afford the nightly booze and cigarettes.

• Enrollment time is another good time where the abusive poor show up. Why is enrolment in public schools chaotic? Parents are complaining why they have to pay for the boy scout / girl scout fees, and PTA fees of their five children. Five children? All in the elementary? Is it the government’s fault that they did not space their children properly and cannot support them afterwards?

• And oh, this one I really love. This came out in the Sun Star daily on June 25, 2008. The residents have been complaining about a lagoon which formed after the property owner had done a reclamation project. The lagoon allegedly causes health hazards for the residents. The barangay officials brought up the problem to the City Hall, prompting Mayor Osmena to ask the lot owner to do something about it. Turns out that the residents have illegally put up their shanties there after they were evicted from a nearby lot. “We can’t force him to accommodate the squatters in his property. I don’t think it’s fair for me to make him spend to maintain this area for the benefit of the squatters,” the mayor told reporters. That makes a lot of sense. And it generally summarizes the attitude of the poor: they want the best things in life for free, because they are poor.

• This one is closer to the heart. During one of the site visits among community projects, I came across loans disbursed for a cattle fattening program. Some farmers say that this is where they get their extra income. The process is rather simple, requires minimal labor and is profitable. That is if you follow the instructions to the letter. The procedure is to buy a full grown cow, fatten it for a month and sell it afterwards. The loan is repaid and a profit is earned. Simple. But some farmers, upon receipt of the loan, buy a television or a sala set instead. Since part of the loan has already been spent, they buy a young cow instead of a full grown one. They try to sell it when the loan is due, but since the cow can only fetch so much money, the loan is not repaid and interest charges pile up. End of the success story.

• Lots of foreign grants find their way into the country, into the hands of non government organizations, and ultimately into poor communities. These grants are designed to improve the lives of the poor and financially challenged communities. Sad to say, the poor don’t appreciate it that much. These foundations just don’t give donations. They require the communities to give counterpart contributions, more often in the form of labor and services. Take the case of water systems. The granting agencies usually give materials and money for the construction of the water system; the recipients donate their labor. And afterwards, the community maintain and run the water system for the benefit of everybody. After the water system is inaugurated and starts to distribute water to the community, everyday is happy. Now the committee in charge of maintaining the system starts to bill the users. The users refuse to pay. It is a donation; it is for free. What will happen if the water system breaks down? Where will they get the funds to pay for its maintenance? “Then we will ask for another grant”, came the reply. Same with multi purpose loans. The grant is supposed to be a seed money for a credit cooperative. But the people who received the loans refuse to pay the amortization. This is a grant, a donation. This is not supposed to be paid. So we witness another credit cooperative folding up.


Today, I came across an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about Mang Pandoy. I heard his name some years back but I only have a vague memory of him. For the benefit of all, Mang Pandoy became a symbol of poverty during the time of the Ramos administration. He made an offer on TV that he was willing to be killed if P100,000 will be left behind for his family. He was even invited to Ramos’ first State of the Nation Address. Sixteen years later, he died as he had lived: poor.

Now, our first reaction would be to say that the Ramos Administration, followed by the Cory administration, Erap and then Gloria administrations had done nothing to pull Mang Pandoy out of poverty.

Now the fact is that he had received many gifts outright at the height of his popularity. He was given a P200,000 loan to start and business and was paid a P2,000 weekly talent fee for appearing on a government TV show for three years. These are not large amounts, I agree. But if used properly, I believe his financial condition could have been at least improved.

There were also missed opportunities. His seven children by his second wife were all given scholarship grants – yet not one of them finished schooling. One daughter complained that she wasn’t able to finish her studies due to lack of school allowance. A perfect example of what I’ve mentioned before: THEY WANT EVERYTHING TO BE FREE.