Drowsy

At last, policy makers are awakened into the reality that currently bites the Philippines. Economic planners are trimming growth targets. It isn’t these targets, however, that ordinary Filipinos find mind-boggling. The planners and policy movers have always had a penchant for making targets anyway, elevating the effort to the level of a sport. It looks, though, that they had been making plans either in slumber or in a half-awakened state. Being in climate-controlled luxury cars and excellently airconditioned homes and offices can, indeed, induce a narcotic, numbing, and trance-like effect.

The ordinary Pinoy finds sick humor in television ads and cinema ads where the president of his country is seen smiling from ear to ear (to match a professionally done make-up and expertly coiffed crowning glory that projects a beaming leader) in cross-fade frames along with animated graphs and statistical figures that visualize a smiling, swimming, and swooning economic upturn (constant and consistent) in the past few months. Along with these images are a series of shots of government institutions that have supposedly been furiously addressing, albeit just recently, the country’s economic blight.

To the ordinary Pinoy, this is not only sickening; it makes his heart sink. But because Filipinos are wont to just laugh off their problems (probably, out of an attitude of being resigned to the fact that is, in turn, an after-effect of centuries-long subservience to colonial rule), the sickening images are merely taken as sick humor. Those images and statistics are lost on the ordinary Filipino because from the time he opens his eyes in the morning till the minute he rests his weary body at night, he knows a different set of facts.

He only knows lower-digit numbers in his economic realities, not ones that can be exponentially configured into statistics. Being destitute, he does not know that far.

Long before the price of rice went up, the ever-dependable instant noodles have also become staple food for poor Filipinos. A pack of instant noodles comes at about 5 pesos. A poor family of five people will have roughly about four packs a day. The taxicab driver will have to ask his passengers for a few extra bucks additional to the metered fare because it has become impossible for him to recoup his gasoline expenses. To the passenger, this means the equivalent of 30 to 40 pesos to show his generosity. Many primary and high school students, in both the countryside and urban poor areas, are forced to quit school because their families can hardly come up with financial requirements needed to sustain schooling. The school I.D. and other seemingly necessary requirements will come up to around 200 pesos more for low-income families.

While the country’s economic planners speak in terms of inflation, export, import, Dubai crude oil prices, and strong peso, the ordinary Pinoy can only utter the price of rice, price of canned sardines, price of instant noodles, cost of public jeepney fare, additional financial requirements in public schools that are supposed to give free education, and the ridiculously escalating price of gas partly due to an imposed 12% expanded value-added tax over and above the ridiculously escalating cost of foreign oil.

It would do a world of good if all Filipinos call a spade a spade. But I am not sure which is more expedient for the sake of having a unified country: for the poor to understand economic terminology or for the ones in power and authority to have their ear to the ground.

Drool, Anyone?

Forbes.com is a treasure trove of lists about material things we mere mortals can only salivate over. Going through the lists on uppermost wealth can be an entirely pleasurable time to while away a vacant hour or rest from a harried moment. Here are some of the things that only the moneyed gods and demigods can afford:

The world’s most expensive home rests on six and a half acres in Beverly Hills, California and costs $165 million. The estate has six buildings, three swimming pools, and a movie theater. There are 75,000 square feet of living space on three storeys, housing 29 bedrooms and 40 bathrooms. Is this making you hungry already? You can opt to dine at l'Arpege, obviously one of the world’s most expensive eateries where lunch costs $500 a pop.

Material acquisition can be fun if you can get your hands on the world’s most coveted things. The Chanel "Diamond Forever" Classic Bag, with 334 diamonds totaling 3.56 carats and set in 18-carat white gold hardware, goes for $261,000. You can hurry to get one if you’re able because there are only 13 such totes available worldwide. The Tulip E-go laptop with a gem-encrusted logo starts at $50,000 apiece. Prefer to have additional diamonds to spruce up a personalized design and your payout can go as much as $300,000.

Groceries may be cheap but a meal can be expensive if cooked on the Le Cornue stove that costs $40,000. This cooking equipment, dubbed as the "Rolls Royce of stoves,” belongs to a hand-assembled line that is available in 16 colors, crafted from porcelain enamel. The Sub-Zero refrigerator, called the "monument to food preservation," automatically adjusts defrost patterns and sends off an alarm when a drawer or door has been left open. You can have all these conveniences for $12,000 per refrigerator unit.

Make your posh home a showcase of luxurious style and expensive taste. The Zuber wallpaper that lines the walls of the White House can be had for $31,845 or $42,000 at its most pricey. Made of pure crystal, the 14-inch tall Lalique flower vase comes at only $7,200. Your guests can be assured of sound sleep on Léron linens made of 600-thread-count Egyptian cotton that cost $4,375. Baccarat champagne glasses are $267 each, while Gracious Style napkin rings of 14 karat gold or platinum and embellished with Swarovksi crystals, semiprecious stones, and enamel come at $125 for a set of four.

I nudge myself back to reality as these figures confront me:

The United Nations World Food Program reports that as much as 25,000 people die everyday because of hunger or hunger-related causes. Close to three billion people or half of humankind today live on less than two dollars a day. 640 million people live without adequate shelter. The world’s homeless population has reached the 1 billion mark. 400 million have no access to safe water. 270 million have no access to health services.

One billion children or half of all children in the world live in poverty, millions of them dying before they reach the age of five. According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die everyday due to poverty. That means one child dies every 3 seconds. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

According to the 2007 Human Development Report (HDR) of the United Nations Development Program, the poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income, while the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.

Would you care to daydream about those delicious goodies, too? Unless, of course, you have one or some of those already stashed away somewhere.

World's Most Expensive Household Items

Global Poverty

Homelessness

Life On A Banana Leaf

One in three Filipinos are now living in poverty despite the purported modest economic gains in recent years.

The number of Filipinos living on just one dollar a day rose from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006, according to a survey released by the country's economic planners.

Oil prices have been rising (22 percent over the last three years). So have the cost of transport and basic food items. Wages have barely moved in the past few years. Inflation has been rising steadily (5.4 percent in February, the highest since October 2006).

Poor personal income in the face of soaring cost of living equals a desperate country.

"Let's move to Australia," my husband says, lost in thought.

I shoot back nonchalantly, "The opportunity for this country to go up is available only when it's down."

"You're philosophizing Reuters. You wax everything poetic," he retorts teasingly with a silly grin.

"At least my life does not revolve around pairs of Nikes," I snap back only half-jokingly.

He grabbed to hug me, as if to say I win the argument hands down.

Yes, I am hopeful for this country. It's the only one I have. I had made a definitive choice a long time ago to not be part of the statistics of diaspora. I probably think this way because I happen to be in a childless double-income family. The thoughts might not be the same with those coming from families of large broods and a myriad of needs.

But making dreams in a place like this can only be put on hold. I pinch myself each time I say that things will be okay in this desperate land. In the meantime, we merely dream of moving out of our city-center dwelling and set up residence in the suburbs where we can have a garden (planted on land, and not in pots), keep a dog and cat (that can procreate their respective lines till they can), and inhale unadulterated air (as well as exhale unadulterated carbon dioxide). We can also almost see our little adopted Aeta boy from Pinatubo with a mop of hair in very tight curls.

The Fable of Foibles (The Fallibility of Knowledge)

While global economic experts debate on such real considerations as Gross National Income (GNI) Per Capita, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP$), Actual Final Consumption Expenditure (AFCE), etc., the typical Filipino rural child does not even think if the water he drinks from the communal shallow tube well is safe, whether his parents will allow him to still attend classes this coming planting season when his manual help in the farm is absolutely needed, or if he can still manage to walk the muddy roads to school at daybreak because a mudslide is surely to occur again this year. It may not even cross his mind that he is very rarely able to drink milk because his father would rather pump up the gamecock with multivitamins.

Knowledge is lost on those who are truly informed.

A little knowledge, indeed, is a dangerous thing.