‘One Dream’ nation

It occurred to me that we must be a really gullible people to fall for scams over and over again. I thought about that as I listened to the SONA. I was thinking of that as news about the One Dream scam and the INC crisis unfolded.

It broke my heart to listen to common folks who lost a substantial amount of cash to the One Dream scammers. Many of them claim they borrowed the cash, sold some property or postponed some needed medical procedure in the hope of making big money via One Dream.

News reports say some 20,000 people lost about P3 billion in the One Dream investment scam. The victims found it difficult to resist big earnings in a scheme where their P888, which is equivalent to one slot, gives an investor access to an exit or pay-out window of P1,300 after four days.

In a complaint filed by the victims, they accused One Dream of committing fraud… “the act of telling ‘rags to riches’ stories, the absolute guarantee that it will only take four days to profit, the continuous assurance that our hard-earned money will undoubtedly earn profits – are clear indications of deceit and false pretenses and fraudulent acts executed prior to and simultaneous with the commission of fraud…”

I can only pity the victims as they related their tales of woe in interviews with television reporters. Only heartless scoundrels would defraud such people who are very obviously in no position to lose even a peso of their financial resources. Those One Dream people deserve to be tarred and feathered first, and slowly tortured for taking advantage of poor people.

It is easy to say the victims fell for the scam because they were greedy and financially illiterate. They were easy pickings for the scam artists of One Dream perhaps because they were so needy and they dared to… well, dream. One Dream turned out to be One Nightmare.

But the poor and financially illiterate are not the only ones victimized by scams. Some eight years ago, rich folks were victimized by a Singaporean scam artist. I had less sympathy for them because they are people who should know better, yet suspended their intelligence and participated in a similar get even richer quick scheme.

Eventually, the NBI filed syndicated estafa charges against 32 officers and employees of the Performance Investment Product Corp. (PIPC) and PIPC Corporation (PIPC Corp.) before the Department of Justice for allegedly duping their rich investors of about P6.47 billion at the then prevailing exchange rate. It ranks as one of the biggest losses to a scam in the country, mainly due to the relative affluence of the company’s clients. I doubt the case got anywhere.

Then there is organized religion. There are those who say it is the biggest scam of all and people buy into it because it is difficult to say no to eternal happiness in the hereafter.

I guess that is why I am myself part of organized religion. But I also believe my God has given me the power to discern and has never asked me to suspend my freedom to think.

The INC problem was to me, at least initially, an internal matter for them. But it is turning out to be more than a family quarrel. INC is significant to the rest of us because their massive political influence affects the quality of our governance. 

The news report about corruption and the misallocation of church funds seems par for the course for many churches. What caught my attention was a report on supposedly excessive luxurious living on the part of INC officials. If this is true, it has serious implication on how the state should treat churches, notably their tax free status.

If we are reading the same Bible, I know Jesus Christ or Cristo told his disciples to live simply. Indeed, he told them that on their pastoral journeys, they should not take any gold or silver or copper in their belts, take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff… 

For sure, Christ will not look kindly on religious ministers who claim to speak on His behalf but who travel like Middle Eastern oil sheikhs using an ostentatious Airbus 330-202 and a Boeing executive jet that cost the Church billions of pesos. According to Rappler, these private planes allegedly owned by the INC are being used by INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo in his pastoral and personal trips abroad. An INC spokesman could neither confirm nor deny it.

Even the Pope who travels around the world a lot, only charters commercial planes for his trips. And part of the cost is shouldered by the media for the privilege of having their reporters travel with the Pope. The Pope also goes around Rome in a Ford Focus, not a Mercedes Benz or some luxury car.

This is probably what the younger Manalo brother meant when he denounced the “luho” in the use of the church’s funds which are replenished by forced tithing of members. Extravagant spending of tax free church money is definitely questionable.

As a taxpayer, as many of us are, we have a right to comment on this extravagant use of any church funds because all religions are tax free in this country. If a church has so much money as to allow their leadership to live in absolute luxury, maybe they should start paying taxes. And this observation applies not just to INC, but to all religions being given tax free privilege.

 But we all know religions will never be taxed. Our political leaders are beholden to many religious leaders. It is not just INC but another influential leader from Davao whose name I don’t recall is also living in absolute luxury. I saw a picture of his house on Facebook some weeks ago and it puts the so called Hacienda Binay in Batangas to shame.

Besides, how can politicians do the right thing in dealing with religious leaders when they too are in the business of selling the people dreams to get their votes? The SONA is a good example of how our top leader sells a list of promises at the start of his term and then rationalizes away his failure to achieve them.

There was some intellectual dishonesty in how P-Noy presented some of his SONA figures. Ate Glue must have taught him in their economics class in Ateneo that a peso many years ago is not the same peso today. Yet he made it look like inflation didn’t matter. And while FDI increased pretty well over the last year or two, the figure should be compared with regional peers to be significant.

The way it looks to me, politicians, some religious leaders and financial scam artists are all alike in the sense they promise us dreams so they can fulfill their own dreams. They have made our desperate people a One Dream nation, always being taken for fools.

Is there a sociological explanation for our gullibility as a people? Or is just human nature to hope and dream for better times?

It may seem Pinoys are more susceptible to One Dream scams. Other than skeptical journalists, most of our people are trusting and optimistic.

Last May, SWS said the net personal optimism score among Filipinos of all socioeconomic classes was “very high” after it reached a record-breaking +37, meaning 42 percent were optimistic the quality of their lives would improve, while only five percent said it would be worse.

Year after year people’s optimism is high. Disappointments over the outcome of the previous year go up in smoke as we greet the New Year. Maybe it is our coping mechanism, because otherwise we will need to put anti depressants in our water supply.

In the end, the only ones who can look after our welfare would be us. God has given us the gift of discernment and we are obligated to use it. Otherwise, charlatans in government, religious ministers and shysters in our neighborhoods (as the Lipa residents found out too late) will continue to take advantage of us.

As we listen to speeches of politicians this election season, as we listen to the messages of our religious leaders from their pulpit and as we listen to financial proposals that sound too good to be true, let us use our God-given power of intelligence to discern good from evil.

Matthew 7:15-17 sums it all up: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits…  So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.