They can’t seem to get it

It is frustrating and somewhat scary that our ruling elite can’t seem to get it. Flaunting wealth in a country where millions worry about where to get their next meal is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. They may think they have the bull under control. But what if the bull starts thinking he has had enough and these bastards are asking for it?

Didn’t BBM learn from history? Here he is trying to redeem his family’s lost honor and not doing a bad job of it until Duran Duran exposed his true elitist feelings.

Importing a foreign singing group for the birthday party of BBM is straight out of Imelda’s repertoire of cringeworthy events. Such displays of power and wealth fed the uprising which eventually ended the Marcos dictatorship. Remember that bash on the presidential yacht where an overgrown baby in diapers popped out of a cake to amuse Ferdinand the First?

It doesn’t matter that the over a million dollars spent to pay Duran Duran, and to fly them here did not come from the National Treasury. It is still an uncalled for lavish display of wealth BBM can do without. It may even be illegal. Since nothing is really free, the BBM friends who financed Duran Duran’s costs will certainly try to recover their investment by getting favors from BBM later at the expense of the public interest.

What gets to me is that these same people stoking social unrest with this insensitivity have most likely already invested in golden visas to several European countries for their quick getaway when sh-t hits the ceiling here. We, who are not rich enough to afford their Plan B will be left behind to suffer the consequences of their absolute lack of social conscience.

It is bad enough that these same people flaunt their wealth, probably ill-gotten, during official events like the President’s SONA or events in Malacanang. Multi million-peso Hermès handbags are commonly displayed as are earrings and rings with precious stones the size of marbles.

BBM shouldn’t have indulged them with his presence. He should have snubbed the surprise party altogether and continued spending his time with the poor of the country. But his mother’s genes are impossible to sublimate.

Our elite may pretend that the poor are invisible to them. But the stark reality of economic data pointing to a high level of inequality should be disturbing to every Filipino at the top of our social ladder.

PIDS, the government economic think tank, warned that “the Philippines has the highest GINI coefficient among ASEAN’s six largest economies at 41.58 percent. It is a social time bomb for multiple reasons, the most significant of which is social tension.

“In a society like ours where the poor constitute 57 percent of the population, the government channels the lion’s share of its support toward this sector, be it through financial amelioration, free education, healthcare and housing. The middle class is crowded-out and deprived of such social safety nets.

“The middle class is where discontent is greatest and tension is highest. History shows that in most societies with acute income inequality, the call for social change through revolutions are instigated by the middle class.

“Other consequences of acute income inequality include low average education levels, low technology adoption, poor public health, high crime rates and high dependence on state subsidies. All these translate to lower labor productivity, lower long term GDP growth rates and a heavy public welfare burden.”

Many of us who think of ourselves as middle class have been classified by government statisticians to be among the rich. For example, a monthly income of merely P219,140, according to PIDS, is enough to be considered wealthy for Filipinos. Even then, less than one percent of the population earns this amount. This means that only around 117,000 Filipinos out of 118.8 million can be classified as rich. We all know earning P200,000 a month is in reality far from being rich.

To be more precise, BusinessWorld reports that according to Knight Frank, a property consultant, the threshold to join the wealthiest one percent of our population requires only a net wealth of at least $60,000 (around P2.9 million). To be considered part of the richest 0.1 percent in the country, a Filipino needs a net wealth of $210,000 (around P10.2 million). This is significantly smaller compared with the $10-million (around P 485-million) threshold in Singapore and $10.4 million (around P504 million) in Hong Kong.

It probably won’t be an exaggeration to say that less than 500 Filipinos out of about 120 million are really rich and wouldn’t blink at the thought of importing foreign singers to cheer up BBM.

My point simply is, our very rich or those just pretending to be very rich should be more austere and avoid excessive display of wealth. BBM’s friends did not do him any favors with that party. The elite merely showed a social callousness we can do without now.

It would have been better if local talents were considered. We have world class entertainers too and a million dollars of hard earned OFW remittances would have been saved. Filipino talents are struggling for recognition and the least our leaders can do is help them persevere in their quest which also costs a lot of money for training and marketing.

BBM spent his birthday well enough by showing his concern for the poor. Opening the gates of Malacañang to receive birthday greetings from ordinary people, gifting patients of PGH with a zero balance on their bills (something we should be getting from PhilHealth but are not) and distributing aid to farmers should have been the highlight of the 67th birthday celebration.

BBM’s old friends just gave the Duterte bloggers ammunition to show how detached the Marcos leadership is to the dim national reality. Sayang.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco.