Whereas many famous government officials are currently being held to account for allegedly buying too many condos and for supposedly making many real estate acquisitions, in rapid successions, and whilst some minor clerks of the Bureau of Customs are ostentatiously displaying their fancy and luxurious Italian sports cars, the great majority of our public servants are silently living in simplicity and servanthood, utterly unmindful of the many urgings and pressures of a consumer-driven, if you will, hedonistic human society, where dogs eat dogs and men have lose their reasons in a raging rat race within a globalized, market-driven economy.
When a high public official, who holds office right there in the Palace, rubbing elbows with the President, is driven to scrimp on his entertainment budget by buying some pirated DVDs, it may be indicative of the general state of finances among our civil servants. It is not our intention to be an apologist for that official. He is far more powerful to be able to defend himself. In fact, he was afforded an unprecedented speedy due-process and forthwith given a slap in the wrist, with a gentle reminder to behave or not to get caught again. But his case can well be invoked, your honors, as an argument that people in government cannot even afford to buy original entertainment videos.
There are many poor officials in government but the media do not mind them at all. They are not good copy. They don’t sell broadsheets. They’d much prefer the controversial ones. Unexplained wealth is juicier than unexplained poverty. We remember that Senator Rene Saguisag used to pride himself as the “poorest” among the senators in his batch, although he seemed to have failed to mention that the late Dulce Saguisag, his brilliant wife, was top executive of Mondragon and was earning much more than any senator.
There was a time when to be poor is a badge of honor. Senator Nene Pimentel used to invoke it when he faced his poor constituencies. He lived in a Spartan-like home where his wife nourished him with music and love. It was that simple abode that produced a Bar topnotcher of a son and now a senator of his own right. Ka Crispin Beltran, a member of Congress had the longest uncontested record as the poorest congressman. He died falling from the roof of his rented shack, repairing it after a typhoon.
If unexplained poverty were indeed an impeachable offense, senators Pimentel and Saguisag, and Congressman Beltran would have been a sure candidate for conviction. And perhaps our own Chief Justice Dodong Jun Davide. But the paparazzi didn’t mind them at all. They do not mind either that some senators are moonlighting as hosts in TV shows, earning millions in a week, which will take years to earn in the Senate. Some senators appear as superheroes in movies or appear in regular TV sitcoms as comedians, or endorse consumer products, thereby enriching the job descriptions of legislators.
If lawyers who are elected senators are compelled to cut off their ties from the law firms they founded or used to lead as managing partners, in the name of the principle of conflict of interest, why are actors and entertainers in the Senate allowed to continue practicing their trade? They shuttle from TV shows to the Senate impeachment hearings. We used to have basketball icons also and many other kinds. People are confused at times which hats are they wearing on national television. Well, only in the Philippines, there is more fun indeed.
Some solons marry into rich families. They marry rich superstars. In fact, the rich wife of one senator has been held reportedly in Las Vegas bringing US$50,000. The senator should be asked to explain why only that amount. Well, there is more fun and more “funds’’ in the Philippines.
And yet, while many of our bureaucrats remain poor and some lowly paid clerks are living below poverty line, in squatter areas and rented esteros, there are favored bigwigs in government-owned corporations who are paid handsomely, with perks, travel privileges, club memberships and all. Senator Drilon used to investigate the DBP, Land Bank, SSS, GSIS and LWUA for excessive allowances and bonuses. But it seems the investigation in aid of legislation, including that of the infamous “joke joke” of the fertilizer scam, have all given way to the impeachment of the Chief Justice. Why single him out? In the labor front, why not investigate the union leaders who live in luxury mansions while their members are exploited, oppressed and terrorized? Why focus only on one man? Is everybody else clean? He who comes to court must do so with clean hands.
Meanwhile, the poor continue to suffer in deep misery, population goes on unmanaged, the unemployment and underemployment rates will remain impossible nuts to crack, the jobless and homeless will remain hopeless. The rich may be impeached but they have many condos to go home to. The impeachment court can adjourn and some senator-judges can go back to their TV shows. With all due respect, we submit that poverty, your honor, is the worst form of impeachment. There is none more painful than to be poor.