Why Filipinos feel poor despite an era of plenty

Read the survey below. It shows that 77% of Filipinos perceive themselves as poor. 46 percent of Pinoys said their situation is worse. Only 6 percent of Pinoy said their livelihood was better than last year.

Obviously, this is a far cry from the Philippines the President pictured during her last SONA. What Arroyo told the patronizing crowd in Congress was a country pushing forward with democracy and economic growth.

It seems that most of us consider her speech as bull.

But, if we are to be objective about it, the economy is indeed, stable and growing. Compared to previous years, our economy right now is really on the rise. Foreign companies are entering the country in droves. They see a lot of potential in our economy. They are investing heavily. Thousands of Foreigners are arriving in the Philippines to see its splendour.

What surprises me is that Pinoys themselves don't see the potential of their own country. They still see themselves oppressed, destitute and poor. Why?

I think this survey shows one thing---there's a communicative disjunct between what is really happening in the macro level with that of the micro level. Truly, our macro economic fundamentals are definitely strong, stronger than other ASEAN countries. And contrary to what detractors say, the economic windfall is trickling down to the lower economy. That is pretty obvious. But, why do Filipinos still consider themselves as poor?

The answer lies in Filipino aspirational values. For Filipinos, being poor means just having three square meals a day and not having the extra money to buy the aspirational things like jewelry, new clothes, etc. For us, this is the definition of being poor. In other countries, being poor means not having the means to even eat 3 square meals a day. That is poor. Here, being poor means not having the means to buy the things others have, like cars, new clothes, etc.

So, this survey does not really reflect the true economic status of Filipinos. It is a perception survey. Its different when people perceive themselves as poor when in reality, they are really not poor.

Solving the communicative disjunct

Admit it, the reason why we think ourselves as poor because we are disillusioned. We have low morale and low self-esteem. Why? We see government officials in their flashy cars and sparkling gems and we compare our lot and immediately say we are poor. Why? Because unlike these wealthy people, most of us do not have the means to "keep up with them". This is a race. And in this race, these people have the advantage because they are in power and politics and they can ascend the social ladder easily compared with a lowly private employee.

And since we can't keep ourselves in the race, we see our poverty.

We must have a social revolution. A revolution that would once again put the embers of self-respect in our hearts. We must be once again, be proud of ourselves as Pinoys. The first EDSA did it for us. That event gave us the chance to be proud as Filipinos. What makes us proud? Because we were able to retrieve our "hiya". We, as a people, are honest people. We like to live in an equitable society. A society of meritocracy and promoting fair play. Pre-EDSA situation was not like that. That's why when we revolted and successfully ousted a strongman, we regained our hiya. That gave us reason to be proud of ourselves, because we were able to rise up to the moral challenge.

Now that we are living in a government under an illegitimate ruler, we again lost our hiya. We think ourselves as poor because we are helpless and powerless against this illegitimate leader. We know she cheated. We know her minions rob us of our hard-earned taxes, and because we are unable to fight them and oust them from power, we feel as if we are poor.

We will only regain our self-respect and our hiya when we again rise up as one nation and oust this proud pretender from her seat of power. When that time comes, we will think ourselves as a rich people.

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IBON: Majority of Pinoys say they are poor

Majority of Filipinos see themselves as poor despite government claims of significant improvement in the country's economy, independent think tank IBON Foundation said Wednesday.

According to the July 2-13 IBON quarterly survey, 76.8 percent of Filipinos see themselves as poor, up from 69.3 percent in the same period last year. The survey was conducted nationwide with 1,488 respondents, the foundation said.

A total of 64.4 percent of respondents said their income was enough for their needs while 34 percent said it was not enough, IBON said. Only 46.8 percent of respondents said their livelihood was the same compared to a year ago while 46 percent said it was worse.

Only 5.5 percent said their livelihood was better than last year.

The IBON survey showed that 44.4 percent of respondents said there were livelihood opportunities in their area, but these were not enough, while 32.7 percent said there were none.

A total of 72.45 percent of respondents said they had trouble paying for their electricity and/or water bills; 71.2 percent said they could not meet the costs of medicine and medical treatments; 67.7 percent said they experienced difficulty paying for their children's schooling; 67 percent said they had trouble meeting food prices; and 65.3 percent said they could not meet transportation costs.

The foundation said it conducted the survey to determine the people's perception of the economy, their livelihood and income, government performance, and issues relevant to the country's economic growth.

Rosario Bella Guzman, IBON executive editor, said the result was not surprising "considering that there are still insufficient livelihood opportunities in the country."

The result downplays President Arroyo's claim in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the government, through the business services sector, has generated 400,000 jobs.

"The business services sector has become the fastest growing in the economy providing 400,000 jobs compared to 8,000 in 2000. By 2010 the forecast is one million jobs earning $12 billion, the same amount remitted by our overseas Filipinos today," Mrs. Arroyo said in his speech during the opening of the 14th Congress last month.

Mrs. Arroyo also claimed that the government was able to strengthen the economy due to fiscal reforms adopted by her administration, which she admitted were the reasons for her low public approval. "But I would rather be right than popular," she said.