Photo Courtesy of Coconuts
In this time of Covid-19, aside from the poor, even middle class and rich people asked for relief goods. That was funny. While it may be necessary for a time, some will want it indefinitely. This is abuse. So the thrust after the lifting of quarantine should be getting back to work, which should be the real normal.
Sure, there are people worth helping, but there are people worth snubbing. Some people will call it cruel, saying, why snub them, have you no empathy? Wait, what is empathy? Understanding how people feel. But empathy does not always mean agreement. It means you will also understand what people need, not what they want. Emotional commiseration is not enough. You should hold people to their responsibilities.
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Part of that is self-responsibility. That it’s a harder world after Covid is a poor excuse. In a harder world, you have to work accordingly.
I’m pretty sure the woke “advocates” will rise to the occasion again. One of the worst things they could do is go around and see if someone is supporting themselves and not anybody else, and then try to force that person to provide for others. Even if you force someone to do good, it is not necessarily good. It is force – you disregard an individual’s right to self-determine.
The wokes assume supporting forced redistribution is a way to save the world. But it isn’t. They assume if they force redistribution from the rich to poor, it will work and the work will thank them for it. That’s a delusion of grandeur.
The fact is, people are limited, and any form of help has a limit.
I don’t mind though if people do their own efforts to distribute goods and efforts. Even Ligo Sardine’s effort to provide goods is OK (taking a snipe at the government was perhaps needless). If it’s a voluntary effort, it’s all good. If charity is made compulsary, it no longer becomes charity. You need that voluntary element to make charity real and sincere.
People complain about tyranny and human rights because of Duterte, Marcos, inept barangay people beating up quarantine violators, and other criminal things happening around us.
But forced redistribution is also tyranny.
In a post-covid world, individual responsibility can’t be more emphasized. We need to build the world again after a disaster lays waste to it. And permanent ayuda-seekers won’t contribute to building. They’ll increase the waste.
All these moral police wannabees who support permanent ayuda better wise up. They’re only in it for the glory, and probably wouldn’t care if others they claimed to help didn’t receive it. They either put their money where their mouth is or lock themselves in their bedrooms and cry a river because they didn’t receive ayuda. Perhaps the latter is more well-deserved.
ABS-CBN and the Ayuda attitude
And since ABS-CBN is the hot copy of the moment, let’s look at the flaccid emotional appeals by their actors. Kim Chiu especially is in the hot seat, and her argument is that ABS-CBN is a hope of poor people to escape poverty. But as Benign0 said in his article about the issue, that’s a huge exaggeration of what really happens. Only a select, really minute few make it to Kim’s level right now, while everyone else’s dreams get smashed when rejected at the auditions – so how could that make the station a hope for people in poverty?
Let’s look at it then from her case. She became famous because of Pinoy Big Brother – that voyeuristic program that originated from the Netherlands where people show their crass behavior for the entertainment of the world. In the foreign Big Brother, the participants were poked fun at. That was their purpose. And they became infamous, rather than famous, for it. PBB tried to sanitize this, but the basic premise remains the same.
Viewers watch bad examples, then they assume, hey, it’s easy to become famous. So they attempt to just become famous by showing assholeness, or doing anything nonsensical for stupid pride’s sake. One example: the Pabebe girls (where are they now?). Another, that teen in a viral video who went into a 7-11 store and bit hotdogs, then put them back. I bet if ABS-CBN hosted a hot coil challenge, people will bite (and burn themselves).
I agree employees of ABS-CBN have it hard, since I know at least one former colleague from RPN-9 who is an employee there. Ayuda for them for a while would be OK. But in the first place, they are suffering because of the greed of their employers. One of my relatives had been an employee of ABS-CBN Digital, and he left because he couldn’t bear with the assholes he had to work with. By now those assholes are probably among those screaming for ayuda after their Starbucks allowances went kaput.
National artist F. Sionil Jose accused ABS-CBN of being a promoter of communist ideals. Also, some may recall the “conspiracy theory” that the network’s content encourages people to stay poor so they could be voter fodder for politicians. For me, the network executives just want to see the ratings go up and don’t care whether the audience is poor or not.
Some wokes (Rigoberto Tiglao said many former NPAs found work in media) in the company insert their moral policing into their work, and encourage people to seek permanent ayuda. Put that together with shows that encourage revenge and going around the law, as well as the “wanting to be famous through crassness” attitude above, it points to ABS-CBN (and other companies, even in other countries) spreading a false sense of hope. The company is profiting on false values, and it is should raise the ire of people who value public morals.
The rich of our mass media may support forced redistribution, but will not include their own wealth in it. They don’t put their money where their mouth is. Hypocrisy is the name for it. But I do hope this fracas on ABS-CBN will lead to a wider discussion of those issues and perhaps lead to changes in local media that will correct these false values.
But yeah, who am I kidding?
I believe, as my cohorts here do, that what Filipinos embrace as their culture is what actually pulls the country down. And those who seem to be anti-dictators, who may also believe themselves to be “heroes,” are the real dictators.
i dont understand! What is amelioration from your perspective?
If “forced redistribution” is tyranny then taxation is also tyranny. Do you also want to get rid of that too?
From what I can read in your article you are a plain follower of status quo. am i right?
I separate amelioration from taxation. I’m sure the wokes and commies want to embark on a “special effort” to scout around on who’s rich according to them and force-collect their goods or money for redistribution. Barring that, they’re just spouting vitriol online at people they perceive to be stingy.
But I am leaning towards libertarian ideas these days.
i still dont understand what you mean by amelioration? According to dictionary.com it means making something better or improve. Does that mean that you do not want to make the human condition better? It baffle me much.
It’s the term used by DSWD for its hand-outs, namely “social amelioration.” I’m basing it on that part-misuse of the word.
You do realize that the country has been living on “libertarian ideas” for as long as i know its past history. Low taxation and high individual freedom. So that means that you are a status quo-follower!?
The Philippines, libertarian? Doesn’t look like that to me. Status quo follower, that’s your interpretation, not mine.
Then what is libertarianism in your view? Maybe Im the one who is wrong about libertarianism.
I understand libertarianism as holding up individual rights most of all, and that even groups have no authority over an individual. I do not embrace or understand all of it myself, but groups being prohibited from pressuring me to give or do their will appeals to me.
So you are advocating for a free-market, laissez-faire capitalism and strong private property rights?
Strong private property rights, yes, but not really taking over public property. On the market, not really laissez faire, I prefer the right kind of regulations. Though on the 2008 crisis, I heard that even regulators just didn’t do their job and that helped the crisis on.
“…a harder world after Covid is a poor excuse. In a harder world, you have to work accordingly.” – Emphasizing working equally hard, if not harder, to recover what was lost during the quarantine, ASAP. As few economists predict, it will definitely be tougher times after Covid-19. However, Filipinos in general must keep in mind that countries like Japan and South Korea came through a similar challenges after World War II. And where are they now? Wealthier than the Philippines. How did they do that? Well, from what I heard it is their citizens’ individual desire and motivation to work hard. Doubt the claim or not, but it is undeniable that individual motivation to work hard (or smarter as some may want to put it) is key to economic recovery.
And I don’t see how Filipinos in general will be able to realize that if ABS-CBN’s influential dominance will be allowed to continue.
Social amelioration should never be a normal. Not now, not ever. If it is being implemented now, well, good for its recipients. But it would be more advantageous to the national treasury and the country as a whole if this will be cut short as immediate as possible. Instead of distributing SAPs, the government (and the Filipinos themselves) should now look for ways to train its citizens on how to be self-reliant and look for alternatives to the system of labor and employment before the “Covid-era” which most of us are used to.
As I understand it, this virus is not gonna be away for quite some time. Instead of thinking how and making efforts to put things back the way they were, the new normal should be a life living with Covid-19 and properly dealing with it each day until its gone.
Lastly, a life without ABS-CBN is also a new normal that I have welcomed. Unless they change their ways of broadcasting, I’d cherish each day without them.
The Filipinos doesn’t need SAPs & “ayudas” from our government and in spite of that, they’ll wasted to the pockets of corrupt officials, the drug lords for buying shabu & gambling lords for illegal gambling like sabong, tong-pats & jueteng instead of saving their money coming from SAPs.
And instead of extending ECQs in Metro Manila & some parts of our country, those informal settlers should go back to their respective provinces via “Balik Probinsya” scheme but in order to do that we must change our constitution first from unitary/presidential form of government to an “Asian Way” constitution & federal/parliamentary form of government & also remove the 60/40 quota restrictions on FDIs which is found on the current Yellow constitution in which the foreign companies couldn’t invest their businesses to the far flung provinces in our country so that the Filipino people would work hard & earn more money in their pockets without going to Metro Manila to find their work here. So this is the ONLY way to make our country to become an industrialized one just like Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia & Singapore. Of course we also need discipline in order to do that as what former Singaporean Prime Miniter, Lee Kuan Yew said that we need that one instead of focusing more on liberal democracy!
Interesting. You could not identify the same thing if the names change. How does self-determination fit into that? How do you balance an economy that disregards (or maybe desecrates) the inherent value of resources? If the old normal was a good system there wouldn’t have to be an “unfair redistribution” or whatever crap you want to call it.
I don’t go for old or new normal, or frame it that way. Let’s just say nature has its way of showing that we need to work and stop depending on handouts.
I had forgotten to mention Greece when it defaulted as an example of something we should avoid. Benign0 and Ilda have articles on it. There was a lot of “amelioration” – hand-outs programs, while the productivity to balance it seemed inadequate. People wanted free stuff, so their economy crashed because of it.
https://www.getrealphilippines.com/2015/07/we-must-learn-from-greece-and-stop-relying-on-the-government-to-save-us/
Their economy did not crash because the people wanted free stuff. It crashed because the productivity to balance the “free stuff” seemed inadequate. Or maybe that was what you meant by it.
I would say: irresponsible governance was the cause of it.
I think the solution must be to have universal healthcare and invest much much more in education by having higher taxes. Your solution which is to make filipinos work harder is not that simple to do… let alone feasible without the help from the government. Anyways how do you imagine the filipinos to work harder than they already are doing?
Sweden had the highest taxes with 70% rate that it allowed them to have a better healthcare system. You know the rest.
Working not just harder, but smarter, which Benign0 made into an article, is best initiated at the groundroots, with culture. Government here isn’t really much help in that.
So you wish to change the culture? how?
I don’t expect to do that myself, but I point out that it is needed. If I want to influence others, a repository of views like this blog is my attempt so far. But I don’t expect anything grand.
Filipinos have pandering mentality. They want freebees. They send family members as OFW, hoping that family member will support them.
So, they want the amelioration to become permanent. They want to sit on their asses, while they receive free goods, for their daily needs. No need to work…all of us will become, “pensionados”.
The ABS CBN is a morally bankrupt network. It is a source of : fake news; biased political opinions; and a mouthpiece of crooked and corrupt politicians. The Lopezes got very rich by hitching their political fortune to the Aquino Cojuangco political axis. Those show biz people defending the ABS CBN, are nothing but stupid people, who are protecting their interests; and not for the welfare of the whole Filipinos !
@Chino-“the”-FOOL
It’s a good thing POGO get a pass right?! All to please our CHINA overlords. How dumb do you have to be when Coco Martin makes more sense than you. LOLS
https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/tv/260426-coco-martin-kim-chiu-question-abs-cbn-shutdown
ABS CBN does a lot of charity and good for the ordinary pilipino. WHat exactly has GRP ever done for the average pinoy?! (besides benign0 teh TURDs whining and bitching lolz)
I bet benign0 the TURD, who hates filipinos, and lives in Australia has not given 1cent of those Aussie dollars that he earns to help poor filipinos.
What kind of TURD do you have to be to HATE on charities and donations?!?!
Let them eat CAKE right benign0?!?!
Yes, yes, keep on your ad hominem and red herring streak and you’re gonna get banned in no time!
And using Rappler as your source made me laugh my ass off.
Lol. What about my comment didn’t you like exactly? huhuhu
I usually don’t really to benign0’s small brain SHEEP but I’ll bite.
@DIO – why am I not banned now?
@Thouser – Better than benign0’s tantrums?! I’m not the one who made a blog to bitch and moan about a country I don’t live in anymore
@Jin – You need better english son.
@DarkSlayerPhil – My priority is to expose benign0 for the HYPOCRITE that he is
@G4 – Does Maria Ressa secretly turn you on?
Meh, as long you keep this up, you will. You’re still throwing on tantrums in order to make yourself relevant and you’re a bigger hypocrite because only losers would think that any argument is won by hurling labels and insults.
And no, no one is secretly turned on Maria Ressa. You are since you’re just an attention whore like she was. I mean, you’re gonna believe of her claim of ABS-CBN’s 11 million employees? C’mon, it’s 11,000. And she did it with malicious intent.
And please don’t call anyone who disagree with you as ‘sheep’ because 1.) Some of them never personally attacked everyone like you always did and 2.) some of them knew that facts are more important than feelings.
In fact, Filipinos are too emotional for their own good. Remember that.
“I usually don’t really to benign0’s small brain”
Now that’s laughable English, haha.
Why not you use a better username that fits you. Like, Darth Fart.
Name fits your personality quite well, haha.
Dart Fart. Dart Fart. lols.
THIS is why we should never let kids use the internet.
I never thought throwing tantrums was this cool.
I wanna ask: how old are you? Five?
You’re too weak and too insecure to act like a child while writing those nonsensical rants.
Says the guy who said “it’s noble to go against bad ideas” when the reality is that he only attacks PEOPLE. You should know that only small minds do that. And you’re an example.
Set your priorities for once.
Why should we believe you when you’re just a lying cunt like Rappler CEO Maria Ressa who lied about ABS-CBN having 11 million employees? “Honest mistake” my ass.
Nope, it was intentional.
the people are asking for relief because it was the government who locked them in their houses and locked their places of work. remember?
Also, if you’re serious you have to expound what you mean by forced redistribution this is something you just made up and not found in any economics book so please define it
It’s fair enough to ask for some assistance under lockdown. Once lockdown is lifted though, people had better try to get back to work, as lifetime hand-outs can’t be maintained. The problem with social amelioration is, to borrow the saying, you can run out of other people’s money. So when they look for more of other people’s money to fun hand-outs, and reach the point of forcing people and doing things such as shaming them online, or probably even try to make a law to force people to give to “poor,” that is asking for trouble.
ChinoF, you think so little of the filipino people.
What I said can apply to anyone, not just Filipinos. So I guess I think little of humanity, really.
Yeah, we’d rather have people do back breaking work than make improvements. So easy to call it as handouts when you’re in a better place.
This is basically the crux of GRP and benign0 the FOOL’s “ideas”
benign0 the TURD, who lives the comfy life in Australia regularly disparages the ordinary pinoys just trying the get by. How high and mighty you must feel , right benign0 ? He has not given 1cent of those Aussie dollars that he earns to help poor filipinos.
Meanwhile the TURD actively celebrates the demise of a philippine cultural icon like ABS which does charity and entertain people. ABS CBN provides millions of jobs now lost at a stroke of a pen. (Yes, millions. It has 11,000 employees but provides millions of jobs via contractors, suppliers, etc. Learn basic economics you SHEEP).
What about the poor filipino who lives in the bundok or mangahan who relys on ABS-CBN?!?! There are millions in the province with no access to cable or internet. You want them to get Netflix benign0!?! Freakin EAT CAKE? Get off your fuckin high horse you TURD! Not everyone can live the fancy Australian life like you.
That’s some ABS-CBN fanboyism right there. And you’re buying into Maria Ressa’s lie about the ’11 million employees’ in order to support your ad hominem/made up shit nonsense. So yep, YellowTURD confirmed.
Oh yeah, the said ‘Philippine cultural icon’ had darker shades since time memoriam (its Yellow Propaganda, its questionable business practices, and its treatment of employees), aside the fact that it owned by the Lopez family. I can never forget about how they used a ‘Philippine cultural icon’ for their successful smear campaign against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo back in 2008 when she had plans to put MERALCO back to government ownership in order to end its monopoly and finding a way to deal with electricity rates. Some idiot tried to tell that she can sue the network but we know what happens next: Arroyo sues and ABS-CBN will make a spin on it, calling it an ‘attack on press freedom’.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you would call Jay Sonza, Mel Tiangco, and Weng Orejana as ‘turds’ since they are former employees of the network. Sonza endured labor abuse from ABS-CBN when he and Tiangco were suspended w/o pay in 1995; they also suspended their talk show ‘Mel and Jay’ and the so-called ‘Philippine cultural icon’ filed a TRO on Sonza in order to prevent him to work elsewhere, until he won the case when he made a move to GMA-7. Tiangco also endured the same abuse, saying “Feeling ko parang akong ipis nun” when she was interviewed by Gorgy Rula of PEP.ph. She was even asked asked if ‘Magpakailanman’ (which is one of the best weekly drama anthologies today) can make a life story about the host then she answered “it will be my time at ABS” then she joked, “baka mademanda tayo!” Orejana also experienced the same abuse that it led her to migrate to New Zealand along with her family. So yep, you can add her in your list, you commie leftist scum.
And this make me laugh my ass off since how much of a self-entitled ‘turd’ you are:
Nope. ABS-CBN isn’t the ONLY TV station in the country. And million are still using free data where they can afford through mobile phone load. There are things called iFlix, Cignal Play, etc aside from Netflix. If anyone should get off your fucking high horse, it’s you. Everyone can live the smart yet resourceful living like every single human being in this world. It’s just because you’re a lazy, whiny, self-entitled piece of shit, that’s why.
BTW, you should follow your own advice. Besides, you always spend your time faking your life on the internet so you’re playing the internet tough guy but in reality, you’re just a softie. Face it.
I’m curious: why are you keep on accusing the owner as a ‘China-loving commie’ while you’re a commie yourself?
Fact: anyone who had leftist and left-leaning beliefs and ideals is a commie. Both socialism and communism are aligned in the left of the political spectrum.
The more you know.
Thanks for exposing yourself for being a SHEEP because this is both as ridiculous and a half-truth, which is dangerous. You’re becoming a bitch to Maria Ressa so you ended up being gullible, which is sad.
Half-truth is that ABS-CBN provided millions of jobs through contractors, suppliers, etc. And those you are referring to are independent and freelance contractors, suppliers, etc. In fact, they’re technically not direct or official employees of ABS-CBN. My brother is a sales agent and the company he is working with is an independent supplier and one of his clients are URC (Universal Robina Corporation) in Libis, Quezon City. So according to your logic, he’s an official employee for URC. Right? Haha, no.
Ridiculous is the 11 million employees claim. ABS-CBN themselves said they only have 11,000 employees. They are OFFICIAL employees. Maria Ressa said they have 11 million. Netizens slammed Ressa for it; one even said “Daig pa ang Walmart!” And another one said, “Hiyang-hiya naman ang CNN w/ only 3,000 employees worldwide.” In other words, ABS-CBN is not and never was a global corporation nor a multinational company to handle such a workforce. She was caught lying on camera that ABC News Australia took down the interview.
If you want to make yourself relevant, please be careful. And never forget to look yourself in the mirror. Perhaps you should take your own advice because you have no idea how businesses and companies work.
People who strive to not depend on handouts tend to be in a better place.
Lol @Chino the FOOL
Care to explain HOW EXACTLY would a poor kid born in tondo who is starving and has no education “lift themselves from their bootstraps” ?!?!
Concrete ACTION steps please. I’m waiting…..
Check your boss’ Australian privilege please. Ungrateful swine.
Victim mentality at work right there. Everyone is responsible for taking “concrete action” — except the poor.
Victim mentality or not… if you do not know what concrete action these poor kids must do to improve then you have no right to say that it is just up to themselves.
Maybe you do have the right, but you do have a cold heart, if so…
Says the actual ungrateful swine who is not only a fan of victim mentality but he wanted the poor to become poorer than ever by being more self-entitled and irresponsible.
Look at some of the idiots who used the SAP just to buy drugs or even complained that the Php 6,500.00 is not enough for one week.
If you think personal attacks are “concrete action” for you, then you’re already losing this argument.
Here’s the problem: those poor kids have this what we call self-entitlement. How can they have self-improvement if they don’t know how to be wise and even responsible themselves?
People here ignore the fact that some of these so-called ‘poorest of the poor’ are using their SAPs for less important things (hair rebond, etc.), or doing something criminal (drugs, etc.) or even complained and asking for more (Aling Alma said, “Hindi sapat ang 8,000.00 sa isang linggo. Walo ang anak ko.”
You can’t argue with that.
@Don Revie
you said it yourself: “some of them…”
but you lump them all together as if all of them are irresponsible with their entitlement. Thats essentially unfair on their part to advocate that these entitlements should be removed from them all when it is only some of them that uses it on less important things.
@Don Revie
“You can’t argue with that.”
Are you saying that these rascals truly REPRESENT the ‘poorest of the poor’? If so, what makes you think EXACTLY? Please be more SPECIFIC!
https://www.facebook.com/turningtito/photos/pcb.561140637878952/561152817877734/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/turningtito/photos/pcb.561140637878952/561152817877734/?type=3&theater
You do not provide an answer! What convinces you that he represents the poor? Who do you represent?
The links I have provided aren’t enough?
Whether poor or rich, we should be smart and resourceful.
If you’re demanding how we define who is poor and who is not, then it probably means you have your own definition. I think you know the answer then to your own question.
What we emphasize in this blog is, be careful of “pretend poor.”
@Don Revie
“The links I have provided aren’t enough? ”
Ofcourse its not enough. Showing off one poor man committed crime with that money does not show that he represent the whole group of people that are poor.
ps. no one is pretending, you are just over-analyzing things!
I’ll add, perhaps the ones who may deserve social amelioration long-term are the ones who needed it even before COVID-19 struck, such as certain people with disabilities and elderly without pensions. But if you’re an able-bodied person fit to work, or already have a pension, then there’s no reason to ask for social amelioration.
@ChinoF
Sorry, I’m trying to digest what you guys are trying to suggest.
I’m not demanding anything. I’m not even asking for a definition of the ‘poor’ but I’m just asking if the given examples in the discussion are truly representative of the poor.
You see, smart people who regard illiteracy (those who don’t know how to be wise) as ignorance rather than educational deprivation isn’t actually smart enough.
If the social amelioration program is an instrument designed for socio-economic upliftment which include the middle-income earners and small businesses why would the smart and resourceful- those who tend to be in a better place, somehow, push and argue for the exclusion of the marginals and refer to it as handout?
A society which seek to exclude Grp’s supposedly entitled low-life offenders and uneducated social outcast delinquents from the social processes cannot be anything more than a society of privilege. It is not a society of opportunity.
Though I fully understand the intention, the reactive arguments sometimes put a blur towards that goal and some cited parallels tend to deviates into relative inconsistency.
It seems the higher one’s place is, the smaller the circle he deals with. Can you honestly talk about this striving with, say, frontliners at this time?
I’m not talking about frontliners.
By mentioning responsibility, you do know it suggests an act that affects the whole, right? If I could afford to buy a huge land, I have a responsibility to put it to good use. Which means I am expected to apply better judgment. Of course this is not always the case.
why is it not always the case?