Mang Pandoy Is Dead

Mang Pandoy, the urban poor man who rose to popularity when he was used by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as an example of a Filipino whose economic status would improve once her administration's economig reforms are in place, is DEAD. Still poor, with his family agonizing not only as to his death but as to where to get the money for his burial.

Mang Pandoy died of Tuberculosis, a diseases which the society claims is also curable with continuous medication. But poor as he is even after PGMA's promise catapulted him to the limelight, he could not even prepare for his own casket and burial fees. He could not even purchase his Tuberculosis medications in the first place if ever he knew he had the disease considering he might not have money for medical check up when he was still alive.

Easy for the government to say there are free medications and check up in the barangays but try to go to the barangays and most of those poor souls, underpaid and too lazy to entertain the poor masses, would only give youa run-around and have you accomplish so many forms and requirements it would be easier to just sleep your illness off until you die.

Mang Pandoy's death also signifies the death of thousands if not millions of Filipinos. If not death from lack of hope then death literally from lack of food to satisfy their hungry stomachs. Mang Pandoy's death will temporarily be in the limelight with some government officials if not the Office of the President itself offering financial help for his burial or even for the education of his kids.

But these are temporary, band-aid remedies. And soon enough, his death will be forgotten. In the meantime, poor Filipinos will die everyday from poverty, from illnesses and from lack of economic opportunity.

With

SANA or SONA?

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's SONA should have been dubbed as SANA because it contained all the wish-list of the government under her administration: more budget for the kawawang housewife, more income generating enterprises for the 41-year old padre de pamilua, etc, etc.

In fairness to PGMA, this year's SONA was more in touch with reality such as the worsenign economic crisis and the poverty facing even the unborn Filipino. However, with her honesty came the glaring realization that the Philippines is indeed a country in desperate need of economic reform but VAT should not be one of them.

On the contrary, PGMA even highlighted the Value Added Tax as the enactment that saved the country from further economic crisis. PGMA should say this to the millions of Filipinos who have to pay an extra 12% VAT for their Jollibee meal everyday and for every Filipino who has to pay the additional VAT slapped on by professional like DOCTORS to their patients.

The reality is that while the government has been using VAT allegedly to subsidize the poor, the same VAT is making life HELL for millions of Filipinos. And if PGMA is true to her words, then the VAT is subsidizing ARMM officials who are living in sheer abundance despite the region being the poorest in the country. Check our their homes---sorry ----mansions at Juna Subdivision and you will see that every Muslim in the ARMM should not be living in poverty at all.

Poverty, Anyone?

National News: PGMA proudly annnounces there are fewer poor Filipinos now


Davao News: 12-year old girl commits suicide due to poverty


A day after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that her administration has improved the quality of life in the Philippines, with fewer Filipinos suffering frompoverty, here comes a twelve year old girl from Davao City who hanged herself (using a rope) out of sheer desperation and poverty. Sources claimed the girl has stopped going to school for a few months now because she had no money for fare.
A girl this age should be looking forward to growing up, finishing high school so she can get a college degree. On the contrary, this girl was suicidal because she was not allowed to work in a factory. That would have meant income for her, for school, for food...
The government admitted accountability for what happened and said they are already addressing the issue.
While we should not let the government off the hook, isn't it time we ask ourselves if we are making this world a better place for the young? Should adults procreate when they could not even feed themselves properly?

What do you think?