I Rest My Case…
I have a 5-day weekend – thanks to PGMA’s upcoming SONA – starting today.
Ange and I were supposed to go to the hearing of the Subic Rape Case today at 1PM, but she had a report on EL50 she couldn’t afford to miss. We were planning to see Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Fab5 pa naman after the hearing. Sayang.
I chanced upon the personal website of my adviser, Sir Danilo Arao. I learned from my Journ100 professor that Sir Arao met his wife on Friendster. They were classmates in one of their classes during their UP days. Astig! You can visit Danny and Joy: A Wedding Special to know more about their “weird” love story.
And because of this blog entry, I’m quite sure he’s one of the professors who have read the essays of shiftees/transferees for the current term.
Anyway, I’ve read Sir Arao’s article, Illusion as GMA’s Poverty Solution, in Bulatlat.com, an online weekly magazine. It’s really, uh, unrealistic. If your family earns Php12,309 or $234.94 a year, your family is not poor. That means you only have to earn Php34/day or Php1,025.75/month for your family to survive and not be considered poor. No wonder Gloria keeps on telling the people that her administration is successful in battling poverty.
The NSCB defines poverty threshold or poverty line as “the minimum income required to meet the food requirements and other non-food basic needs.” [source]
Uh-huh. So there’s a great possibility that in the near future, people in Hacienda Luisita, who used to earn as low as Php9.50/week (That’s as of last year and early this year. I don’t know how much it is nowadays because last I heard, something has been worked out between the workers union and the admin), can be considered not poor by the government. Oh, yes, if you didn’t know about how low the HL workers get for their hard labor, you do now.
Congratulations, Madam President! The Philippines sure is making progress, isn’t it?
hmm u sure know your news. I havent watched the new in i dunno… in 11 months. Nyehehe. But before I used to… I kinda want to again especially since I’m taking the college entrance exams… they say they might give out essays about news.. eep..
so yeah.. i really dont know what to comment here. hehehe but i do love reading your entries. they’re very informative and enlightening! heheheheh
and about your comment on my site.. about the PACEs.. yeah thats true.. you really have to be masipag to excel in the school.
Phoebe
21st July 2006 at 09:45
i will never be able to understand how the government can set a standard for being “poor” or “not poor” … at 34$ a day (considering you have a FAMILY), you are just surviving .. i recently saw documentaries on that … people are living paycheck by paycheck … they’re considered “middle-class” .. not poor .. but, when they don’t get their paycheck 1 month … they’re kicked out of their home!
Noelle
21st July 2006 at 14:22
hay naku ewan ko lang. hello eh yun sweldo ko nga eh mukhang kulang pa din sa pamasahe, pagkain at mga gastusin. sa lagay ko nga na ito, am still wishing i can earn more (as i dont want to give web hosting and website developing…hehehhe…)
Ems
21st July 2006 at 14:27
Hey Shari! I’ll respond back to your comments the next time I blog… I’ll either e-mail it to you, or I’ll e-mail you telling you it’s up! Hehe.
Anyways.. Ooh, awesome, a 5 day weekend! I get a 5 week weekend… LOL. After class, which is in about an hour or so… LOL.
Hmm… I’ll read about that weird love story after class… Hehe.
Ok, I have to get going, so take care, Shari!
Chau
21st July 2006 at 14:49
I don’t know pero as I have observed many “poor” FIlipinos are very materialistic. You’ve seen those peddlers in Baguio, right? Even the illegal ukay-ukays at night(meron in as early as 6 AM, may ukay ukay stall na sa sidewalk ng upper Session Rd). Kaya many are “poor” because of wrong priorities. Mga peddlers na ito, text ng text samantalang yung mga nasa palengke na legal na nagtitinda business nila ang pinagkakaabalahan. Cellphones? Load? Many text just because they want to! Para in. That’s the mentality of Filipinos. Kaya maraming artista na dating sikat na sikat, ngayon nasa poverty level. It’s a sad reality. =(. We need to change our mindset
Getting rid of poverty is two way(since I believe everything is two-way). The gov’t help the poor, the poor help themselves.
I happen to stumble upon an article written by a female Indian expat in Manila. She had a Filipina maid. Kinukuwento niya dun na yung suweldo niya(yung maid) pinambili niya ng cellphone niya. Inuna pa niya ito, hindi niya inisip yung naka niya..wala pa man ding trabaho yung asawa niya. 0_o
I don’t know pero maraming Pilipino kasi ang social climers. Sa HS na pnanggalingan ko, maraming uutang(tapos hindi babayaran) para lang makapaglakwatsa.
In Baguio, it is not a secret to many old-time residents that many squatters are actually rich. Many come from other Cordilleran provinces who owns land there but they put up a barong-barong here in the city. Yung kapitbahay ng friend ko sa Pinsao, barong-barong yung bahay pero may dalawang kotse(sosyal diba? samantalang ako nagcocommute). Marami kaming kapitbahay dito, magara ang bahay pero in reality squatter lang pala sila. Tawag nga namin “bonggang” squatter.
If the people want to elevate themselves from poverty, they sould work their asses of. Look at out tycoons(talking about the Chinese tycoons), they immigrated to the Philippines without money but they now control huge chunk of our economy? Why is this? They know how to spend money wisely. Given the fact that they were not citizens that time(therefore alienated by the government), it’s really amazing how they got rich trhough hardwork and frugality.
I don’t know but I think if many of our poor kababayans don’t have the self-pity mentlaity, baka nakaahon na sila sa hirap.
Tam
21st July 2006 at 17:42
Subic Rape Case? What is it about? I never heard about it.. Arrh i can’t find the nice story on your professor lol. woah 9.50 per week is considered not poor? hmm. wonder how they will survive..
michelle
21st July 2006 at 18:21
wowowow! im never up to date with philippine news [or american or saudi arabian, ugh. i suck]. i really do hope the philippines would recover from poverty and corruption! go philippines!
hmm..about your comment, yeah. you’re so right. i used to debate a lot in the buhay abroad section in the old PT. i liked it sooo much but then i got disappointed when PT fucked up suddenly. argh. i don’t like how this girl attacked my friend’s [you probably know her as donna karen. she never came back either] thread about filipinos in america that she [my friend] was starting a fight or some kinda shit with her thread. i was like, NUH-UH! she was stating a debatable point! and it’s true! it’s a frickin forum, for crying out loud! people are supposed to discuss things and other people are supposed to listen and be open-minded about such things. im not totally blaming this on everyone on PT. just some. i know a lot of people there are somehow nice and all. but the board’s just developed some kinda clique composing of the top 10 or 15 people with the most number of posts. but whatever. im sticking to bebedawl. haha. btw, if you ever decide to join, my username there’s just the same as my user in PT.
wow. i didn’t know people who worked there earned P9.50/week! argh! that’s..so little. compared here, target [a supermarket] offers $9.50/HOUR to their employees. sorry, i was kinda shocked. i was expecting it to be like, P300/week or something, at least a hundred per week…wow. i really hope PGMA would do something about that..
e-twin
21st July 2006 at 19:12
Lucky you for the EXTREMELY long weekend. I’m not even sure if we’re going to have classes on Monday. I kind of doubt that the principal is cancelling anything but I’m very, very sure that we’re going home early. But still.. I have to get up at 4:30 in morning. Gaaah.
Some of my friends from other schools get to enjoy their morning while I have to put up with teachers. Annoying!!!
Lindsey
22nd July 2006 at 03:55
hello Shari! nakapunta ka ba sa Glorietta to see the Fab Five? Nandun ako at super daming tao.
NiCa
22nd July 2006 at 07:21
I wish I had an extremely long weeked like you did. =/ I need a rest from everything at school. Anyways, my Aunt met his husband online. Haha, she’s actually a widow and yeah they got married last year.
About the poverty thinger, I honestly do not know what to comment. My mind is blank. But then, what does the gov’t consider as ‘poor’ anyways? x__x It’s weird. Let’s just see what PGMA has to say on her SONA. /bounce bounce
Carla
22nd July 2006 at 07:30
shari, alam mo ba, di kami sinipot nung prof ko sa EL50! waah. we could’ve gone to the subic rape hearing and then watched the fab five in glorietta. life is so unfair. i wanted to see carson! waah.
Ange
22nd July 2006 at 07:42
hahahah. magaling mag duktor ng data si gma. binago nila ang 1992 methodology three years ago. karamhan ng stat nila grossly underestimated. lalo na sa poverty. hahahaha.w/c begs the question… who are we going to trust then. nso, underestimated; ibon foun., exaggerated; sws/pulse asia, subjective. adb kaya? kaya lang sbi ng prof ko, kinukha din daw nila ung ibang datos nila mula sa gobyerno. hahahaha. oh well. kainis, mron pa kaming klase sa umaga sa lunes! argh. kayo ba? ^^
!van
22nd July 2006 at 08:47
How could you say that to Gloria???
She’s the woman that gave us the responsibility of making he more rich while every single filipino toils for her family’s and families’ yayas trip to HK!
Lynder
22nd July 2006 at 09:16
ate shari, you transferred na pala. Buti na anbg you tagged me.
I will watch Gloria’s SONA para naman marinig ko ulit ang mga pangako niyang napapako.
Monalisa
22nd July 2006 at 09:35
I didn’t know there was gonna be a SONA until my uncle mentioned it last night. I need to watch the news more!
Haay, the Philippines is gonna go down faaast if we don’t get sincere leaders. Making up things like that to save their butts is not the answer. T_T
Aravis
22nd July 2006 at 09:59
basta i wanna know kung ano ang i-didiscuss ni madam president sa monday! hehe.
Laarni
22nd July 2006 at 14:25