By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

Society comprises two classes:  those who have more food than appetite, and those who have more appetite than food.  — Sébastien-Roch Nicholas de Chamfort, Maximes

The headline of one of the nation’s leading daily papers said the Filipino rich grew richer with Henry Sy as top grosser thanks to the “booming stock market”. Sy is in his fourth year as top billionaire according to Forbes magazine. His net worth is 7.2 billion not in Philippine peso but US dollars. The last in the said list’s net worth is pegged at $1 billion.

A low wage earner, an ordinary worker, can say that Sy and other business tycoons got rich and became even richer thanks to his hard labor. The workers have the right to claim that because their wages are pegged at meager amounts; the rights to organize into unions, to negotiate for higher pay and more benefits are suppressed. The government of the yellow-ribbon president does not give a damn for workers welfare, so the rich business owners continue to cut their pay checks and accumulate bigger profit.

These few business tycoons remains in the list of the richest while more and more Filipinos adds to the lengthening lists of debtors. Due to their meager income, they have to borrow money from the “bumbay” or list their name in the neighborhood sari-sari store list of “utangeros”.

While names of Sy, Tan, Cojuangco, Ayala, Zobel and a few others comprise the smallest percentage of Philippine society who live comfortably, most of the Filipinos who are largely workers and peasants comprise the bigger chunk who suffer from the rise of prices basic commodities and services, and the commercialized backward Philippine education.

As this elite group are warm and secure in their mansions and palaces, the Filipino poor are always nervous and worried when typhoons and heavy rain come. Just like the traumatic experience when typhoon Ondoy lingered in “the Philippine area of responsibility”.

What would the world be where the rich elite give a portion of their wealth to the poor, not only to feed them but give them the right to partake equally in the country’s riches, where they cooperate with the government to look for ways to uplift the lives of the poor masses? But this is just wishful thinking because it will not happen under this present system. These few rich are the real bosses of this administration and not the poor whom the yellow-ribbon president assumed that the“wangwang” was among their big problems.

The list of people fed-up by the unfair government system is gettting longer. The list of people who seek real change and not just words and promises is getting longer. The list of reasons why social transformation is needed is also getting longer.

Soon, the lessons from this decadent society will just be noted for the people of a new one to learn from and build a world that would benefit the majority. # nordis.net