LA SOLIDARIDAD: The Philippines: A Country of Plunderers

It’s amusing how the mainstream media aims to portray Arroyo or Marcos as having a monopoly of plunder. Get over it folks – most Filipinos are PLUNDERERS. There’s the plundering rich consisting of public officials, lawmakers, and their cronies. And then there’s the plundering poor – the people who vote the plundering lawmakers into power, so that they too can share in the loot of the plunderers.

Plunder – The violent and dishonest acquisition of property.

Miriam Santiago’s statement that senators are just out to make money – is a truism. At least she is being honest about the fact that she and her ilk are out to make money. That’s how the RH bill came to pass in the lower house, that’s how the CCT subsidy came to pass, that’s how the impeachment of Corona came to pass. But who isn’t out to make money anyways? The question boils down to the the manner in which the money was made. Was the money made through voluntary exchange or was it made via coercion? The former is good – the latter is unacceptable. More Filipinos however, believe that coercing others is justified – but when they themselves are coerced – they get into a hizzy fit.

The Filipino Plundering Rich

The plundering rich are well known. These are the people who became rich via legislation. They come in many shapes and sizes. A list of the categories of the plundering rich is presented below. Try to identify under which category or how many categories your law makers, public officials, and friendly bleeding heart negosyante belongs to:

1. Elected public officials who pilfer the budgets of public programs.
2. Elected public officials who award the budgets of public programs to corporations owned by friends and family.
3. Lawmakers who pilfer their pork barrels.
4. Lawmakers who award their pork barrels to corporations owned by friends and family.
5. Appointed/unelected public officials who pilfer the budgets of public programs.
6. Appointed/unlelected public officials who award the budgets of public programs to corporations owned by friends and family.
7. Corporations, partnerships, proprietorships, NGOs who are awarded the programs coming from the pork barrel or budgets of public programs by virtue of kinship or friendship.
8. Corporations, partnerships, proprietorships, NGOs that are subsidized by public funds.
9. Corporations, partnerships, proprietorships, NGOs that are protected by regulations from foreign competition – whether in the form of equity restrictions or import/export tariff controls.

The Filipino Plundering Poor

Now if you think only the rich are plunderers, you are greatly mistaken. The poor are just as plunderous sons of bitches as the plundering rich. Just because they are poor does not mean they are not plunderers. These are people who are just biding for their time, waiting for their turn, or aspiring/dreaming to become part of the plundering rich.

Who are the plundering poor? Try to spot and identify how many of the people you know are part of the plundering poor. The list below is not exhaustive, but it’s a start.

1. The “poor” who works for the plundering rich – the alalays, the support staff, the body guards, the chuwariwaps, the “deputies”, the “admin assistants”, the “consultants” – anyone on the payroll.
2. Any “poor” person who avails of and supports the programs of the plundering rich – CCT subsidy, RH bill
3. Any “poor” person who votes for the plundering rich and takes “gifts” for doing so – who enjoys the lechons and gifts given during holidays; who takes donations from the plundering rich for any fundraising – pageants like misis of the month, lola of the month, little miss philippines, mutya of whatever.
4. Any “poor” person who gives bribes so that the plundering rich will give them a favor – whether it be a job for theirselves or their relative; a project for theirselves or their relative.
5. Any “poor” person who believes they are entitled to squat on someone else’ property.
6. Any “poor” person who believes they are entitled to steal from their employer because the employer is rich anyways.
7. Any “poor” person who believes they are entitled to squander company resources because the employer is rich anyways.
8. Any “poor” person who believes they are justified in poaching from someone else’s farm, fish pond, store because they are “poor”.

The Kettle Calling the Pot Black

When the Filipino poor complain about the greedy rich – they forget that they too are party to plunder.

Frankly, the complaint isn’t so much about fairness or about ceasing the plunder – but it’s about getting a share in the loot. When the poor complain that the government is spending too much on the wrong items – they mean that the money should have been spent on them – their education, their health care, their entertainment, their clothes, their food, their house and whatever.

The plundering rich who depend on the plunderous poor to legitimize the continuation of the plunder will throw the poor some crumbs from time to time – enough to keep the plunderous poor from going full force and doing a wholesale grab of the assets belonging to the plundering rich.

False Philantropy

The plundering rich and the plundering poor are united by the common thread of false philantropy.

The original meaning of philantropy is “love of humanity” – caring for, nourishing, improving, and enhancing the quality of life of human beings. It also refers to private initiatives for the good of people. The narrower modern usage of philantropy makes it mutually exclusive (cannot occur at the same time) vis-avis business and government. Philantropy belongs to the realm of private and voluntary initatives and is incompatible with government which is anything but voluntary nor private.

Treating the government as a philantropic entity negates the premise of love of humanity because government does not have any money. In order to provide for goods and services to one group (i.e. “the poor”, government has to take the money away from another group. The money taken from one group can be used for anything that endears the plunderous rich to the plunderous poor. For instance – guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes, public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works.

By taking money away from one group via legislation backed up by the coercive power of the state, the government ceases to care for, nourish, improve, and enhance the quality of life of the people from whom it took the money away. In doing so, the government creates injustice and becomes party to legitimized plunder.

Unfortunately, most Filipinos view the government as a philantropic entity. They also view the government as an extended household. The public officials are “kapamilya” who can divvy up the loot ala “hating kapatid”. This mentality makes it easier for a perpetual state of plunder to thrive. Filipinos have perverted the law and are now parties to plunder.

The Price of Plunder

Plunder comes at a price. The groups who have their properties taken away from them can react in so many different ways.

For one, they will no longer be motivated to innovate and create wealth because it will be taken away.
They might also just opt to join the ranks of the plundering poor and live off on other people.
Or they might just vote with their feet and leave for other areas where their assets are better protected from plunder.

In the process, more poor people are created and poverty becomes more widespread because wealth creation has been stymied.

Recall from your neighborhood, how many companies have folded up because workers felt entitled to benefits and went on strike if these benefits weren’t given? For short , pera na, naging bato pa – the literal English translation being “from money to stone”. The closest context would be – “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush”.

Is there an alternative to plunder?

Government is like a stagnant pond full of mosquitoes. To eliminate the mosquitoes – a swatter is not enough, a mosquito net is not enough, mosquito coils is not enough, mosquito spray is not enough – you have to drain the pond and remove the obstacles which keep water from flowing through.

As long as Filipinos believe that government is the solution to their problems – there will always be plunder.

As long as Filipinos believe that the world owes them a favor – there will always be plunder.

As long as Filipinos believe that they are victims of circumstance and are powerless to change these circumstances – there will always be plunder.

As long as Filipinos do not believe in their capacity to think for themselves, to choose for themselves, to work for themselves, to live for themselves, to live their lives for themselves – and be comfortable in their own skin – there will always be plunder.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to freeing the Filipino from thinking for himself is the belief that by thinking for one’s self – one is beng “greedy”. In these circumstances, I am reminded by Thomas Sowell’s statement “I have never understood why it is “greed” to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”

As long as the Filipino mind remains stagnant in its belief that government is their savior, donor, ninong, ninang – there will always be mosquitoes that plunder their well being and bring illness to their lives.