Rubbing salt on wounds

Perhaps it may have been too much to ask of the Marcos administration not to rub salt on the already bleeding wounds inflicted on the Filipinos under its watch. I can only imagine the despair of those who have been ravaged by one disaster after another. To make matters worse, their plight has seemingly been forgotten by the rest of the country.

After all, resilience is a double-edged sword. A virtue we cling to, for fortitude in times of great hardship. It’s a convenient excuse for government to be complacent in its response and a justification to move on to other things.

Meanwhile, those who have lost their homes and loved ones are left to pick up and rebuild their lives from scraps and measly doles. And since the strongest typhoons usually hit close to the end of the year, this means a bleak Christmas for many families south of imperial Manila — where business as usual thrives.

Never mind that the first to feel the economic downturn are those in the already depressed and impoverished areas of the country. This administration has downplayed the economic impact of the corruption scandal that has shocked (and repulsed) the nation to its very core.

We might wonder: why aren’t more people out in the streets protesting against the government?

Because life is already too hard as it is. The struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads has taken the front seat leaving little energy for political protests. Filipinos are simply exhausted.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Secretary of Trade and Industry Cristina Aldeguer-Roque claimed that P500 was enough for a decent Noche Buena spread for a family of four. SMH (read: shaking my head). Seriously?!?

Yes, we are all too familiar with the line that Christmas is not about the food and the gifts but a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ celebrated with family. But the sad reality is even more dreary with many families having to make do with even less than P500 for their meal. But that’s not really the point of why people are up in arms. Some are offended, others insulted.

And the fact that they (the administration that stood by the P500 Noche Buena budget) do not understand (or they refuse to acknowledge) the insensitivity and tactlessness of the statement is even more telling.

More than the math and the practicalities of the P500 Noche Buena budget, it reveals the tragic lack of empathy and compassion the government has for the worsening plight of the ordinary Filipino.

To have to hear that “you should be able to make do with P500 this Christmas” from the very people who have been given the mandate to make their lives better is simply unacceptable, especially when billions in taxpayer money was pilfered from the government coffers into the pockets of the greedy and corrupt under this watch.

The truth is undeniable. The Marcos administration does not have the moral ascendancy to tell people to make do with P500 this Christmas — not until it has actually earned that right. It can start by holding to account all those complicit in the flood control and budget corruption mess.