Luxury is inspiring, not ostentatious

The first time I encountered the phrase “ostentatious display of wealth” as more with legal impact than just of literary or poetic significance was when I tried to comprehend the total weight of Republic Act No. 6713, otherwise known as the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees”. Senator Rene Saguisag was recognized as the principal author of this law and his uncle, Senator Jovito Salonga, as his co-author. Written in Section 4 (h) of the law is this provision: “Public officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income. They shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form." For our guide on its statutory direction, a dictionary definition of the word ostentatious, taken from Oxford Languages, says that ostentatious is characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.

In that particular relation to our definition of ostentatious, this law, RA 6713, governs public officials and employees and their families, a rather limited coverage. The Civil Code, a comparably much earlier law, however, has a much broader scope in addressing the concept of "shameless display of wealth" when it provides that “Thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display xx may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institution.” This code thus covers all citizens of the Philippines and therefore not just “public officials etc”.

I recall these laws in connection with the ongoing Senate investigation (supposedly in aid of legislation) on the announced flood control projects of the government. This inquiry was spurred by the announcement of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., himself, that billions of pesos of peoples’ tax money had been lost due to some corrupt systems in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The president announced that about three-fourths of these “questionable projects” (my words) were allegedly cornered by 15 contractors. The president, without pulling punches, identified these contractors including among them Alpha and Omega Construction St. Timothy Construction Corp. although I was not sure that these firms carried the faces of those whom he called “mahiya naman kayo.”

By curious quirk of circumstances, noted television personality Julius Babao released a very eye-brow raising Facebook post. Babao apparently interviewed spouses Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya and Rowena “Sarah” Discaya, known brains of Alpha and Omega Construction St. Timothy Construction Corporation. Babao captioned his podcast as “inspiring”. While I don't know when this interview was done, here, obviously, is why the Discaya ascent to the billionaires’ world is inspiring.

The opening part of the  interview showed more than 40 luxury cars parked in a manifestly-opulent garage. Sara proudly guided Babao to each of the expensive cars mentioning the reason for their buying the vehicle. Didn't she say that she bought the Rolls-Royce because she liked the umbrella that was specially placed in an uncommon spot on the car? It's indeed inspiring to know that she forked out millions of pesos because she liked not necessarily the Rolls-Royce but an umbrella in it.

Babao was correct. It should be an inspiring thought to our impoverished people that the Discayas could drive a different car each day for more than a month without having to ride one car twice in a month. It should be inspiration enough for our countrymen who had to fall in line to ride, packed like sardines, public utility vehicles.

It's inspiring to note a report that the Discaya construction companies bagged government projects worth more than seven billion pesos. I write this amount in figures so that you will be inspired to note the number of zeroes - P 7,000,000,000.00!

The most inspiring declaration of Sarah in the  interview was her answer to the his urging: “ano ang naging gateway para gumanda ang buhay ninyo?" Discaya’s four words were most inspiring- “yung nag DPWH kami."

Here and now, I must say that the Discaya’s display of incredible luxury shouldn’t be ostentatious in the context of the RA 6713 and Civil Code rather it should be considered inspirational.