Splurging amid deprivation

On the whole, Filipinos are known to celebrate almost every milestone they achieve however trivial they are for other nationalities and for those who follow different ways of life. Romantic couples, for example, celebrate the very first day they said yes to each other. Some who have adopted pets also celebrate the birthdays of their dear feline or canine.

Perhaps the biggest celebration many Filipinos are known to splurge on is the traditional fiesta that happens every year, to celebrate the feast of a saint considered as their town’s spiritual anchor. Many times, such feasts are associated with indigenous practices of presenting offerings to ancestral spirits that are believed to have caused a bountiful harvest in many farming communities. And quite often, even if families are reeling from not having enough money to buy food that can adequately feed their brood, they still decide to celebrate the feast of their town’s patron saint. They believe that not celebrating the annual patronal fiesta will add to their financial woes and, thus, push them to further deprivation.

In many barangays I have visited, I have seen an ostentatious display of food and other special delicacies of different ethnic groups during fiesta season. One common explanation for splurging once a year is the belief that it will make them receive blessings from their patron saint and other benevolent spirits. They save up whatever meager earnings they have within a year to have a feast on the annual celebration. Some community merry-making completes the lavish display of gustatory delights.

In a keynote speech delivered to around 200 participants of the “Transitional Justice in the Bangsamoro: What’s Next?” conference held in Davao City from Feb. 7 to 9, I prefaced my talk with a picture of a hanging bamboo bridge that connected one side of the Loboc River bridge (in Bohol) to the other side. The picture provides a powerful visual of the metaphorical journey that people who experienced a dark, violent past would have to take to move to another side of the river that holds a promise of a brighter, more peaceful future. I also noted that because the bridge is hanging and made of bamboo slats, it visualizes our shaky present, that perhaps will lead us to drown in a river filled with crocodiles and other predators. (I made a side remark that crocodiles are no longer in water; they have become land-based, disguised as highway patrolmen and police officers.) We have a shaky present due to the uncertain future ahead of us with the steep increase in the prices of basic commodities (like the once lowly onions) and fuel, which translates to higher prices of other goods as well. Informal workers, many of whom are paid way below the standard daily wage as required by law, feel this deep pinch in their existence: their daily income of P300-P400 is certainly inadequate to feed their hungry families.

But Philippine society is quite diverse, and extremely so, especially in terms of the socioeconomic locations of communities.

While many people reel from deprivation all their lives, even more during and after the pandemic, some members of our national elite, starting from the current occupants of Malacañan Palace, are splurging like there is no tomorrow.

The recent five-day presidential junket, which brought 150 members of the presidential entourage to Japan last week, is one such splurge. It is like celebrating a fiesta amid the deprivation of many Filipinos. Apologists have argued that this trip (just as the eight others before) will bring forth pledges of billions of pesos to jumpstart our sagging economy (once again, this has become a popular refrain). But all these are pledges—no real development moolah has been deposited to our national coffers yet. And how will all these benefit the poor in the urban and rural areas?

Perhaps, splurges like presidential junkets will convince benevolent spirits (aka rich countries) to make our economic boat rise, thus, benefiting everyone? Brace yourselves then, for more presidential splurges to come.

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