The root causes of poverty among Filipinos

It has been said many times, and not without good reasons, that the Philippines is a rich country with too many poor people. Fertile land, rich marine resources, excellent weather except for the occasional typhoons, well-educated people and with too much democracy that proves to be a bane than a blessing, after all is said and done. And so, the question is: why are there more than 60 million poor people and 10 million extremely poor in a population of 110 million? It does not require an astrophysicist with a very high IQ (like that of Marilyn vos Savant) of 228 to figure out the reasons why.

If we are observant and consciously aware of the socio-economic realities in this country, we can easily arrive at a scientific conclusion that the root causes of poverty among Filipinos are: first, overpopulation; second, lack of forward planning and strategic thinking among individuals and families; third, not enough hard work and perseverance; fourth, too much reliance on government for basic needs; fifth, lack of frugality and calculated austerity; sixth, lack of financial literacy and discipline; seventh, exhausting one's own means to help other members of extended family members who are perennial parasites; eighth, too much reliance on employment, especially foreign employment and less on enterprises and entrepreneurships; ninth, lack of discipline; and tenth, keeping up with the Joneses.

First, on overpopulation, this is primarily the problem of the individual and the family and less of the government. Each Filipino should not give birth to children that they cannot afford to bring up well and are assured of quality education, decent housing, sufficient healthcare, and a bright future. Families should not shift these burdens to the government. Malaysia is bigger in size than the Philippines but its population has only been 32 million for a decade now. The Philippines has 11 million and each year, a million is added while our resources are dwindling. Second, Filipinos do not plan at all. They believe in "Bahala Na”, and tend to delegate to the "Bathala” their destiny. They do not take ownership over their own lives. Third, unlike the Chinese and the Vietnamese, Filipinos were greatly infected by the Spaniards with the “relax-relax”, “siesta-siesta”, and “fiesta-fiesta” mentality. Too much spending, too much, eating, and too much drinking,

Fourth, the American Democrats taught the Filipinos to rely on the government for housing, health, education, and social welfare. In times of emergency, we line up for ayuda, but in times of harvest and abundance, we spend all our money as if there is no tomorrow. Fifth, we do not save for the rainy days. I lived in Taiwan as a diplomat for two years. I saw how ordinary Taiwanese divide their monthly income into four: expenses, savings, investments, and emergency needs. Even janitors have millions in the bank. Filipinos are not “isang kahig, isang tuka”. Before they do the “kahig” they already spend it for “tuka” by borrowing left and right, in and out. Filipinos are “loan rangers”, they beg, borrow, and some do steal too. Sixth, we do not know how to handle money. We spend more than we earn and we end up borrowing from usurers. Seventh, we tend to help many family members who are lazy and irresponsible. They get married without means and we end up supporting their many kids. Actually, we are not helping them at all. We perpetuate mendicancy.

Eighth, unlike the Chinese, we send our kids to school only to become employees, virtual slaves of the Chinese who send their children to become businessmen and employers, masters, and taipans. Worse, we educate our kids to become slaves in the Middle East to be raped by rich masters and to Europe to become servants of the white people. Ninth, Filipinos lack discipline. We throw away garbage as if the environment is not yet too polluted with dirt, filth and waste. We do not follow traffic rules. We do not respect the authorities and we insist on our rights as if the others have no rights too. We are hard-headed, we do not follow safety and health protocols then complain when the virus spreads like wildfire. Tenth, we are all rushing to keep up with the rich and the famous, although we simply cannot afford it. Thus our poverty is our own making. We should accept all these and start to renew our lives.