Joc-joc time!
While waiting for their boarding call at an airport lounge, a Chinese, an American and a Filipino chatted up about the respective state of their country’s finances.
Chinese: Our government is opening up a $600 billion loan facility for the workers of the world to better cope with the financial crisis.
American: You crazy Reds! Why bother with the workers? Our $700 billion bailout plan is for the real money-makers—the multinational corporations.
Filipino: You slowpokes! Our government officials already pocketed P700 million earmarked for farmers!
I know I am being corny here, using the classic Hapon-Amerikano-Filipino joke template that always shows Filipinos getting the better of anyone. Never mind that, in these jokes, we often appear to be the biggest jackasses of all.
There is really nothing funny about the current global financial crisis, of course. I myself am not laughing. Our family’s livelihood is dependent on foreigners having enough dispensable cash to volunteer with our NGO. And we are getting less application for 2009. Belt-tightening, here I come!
What I wish to underscore here though is how different governments deal differently with the impending global meltdown.
The Chinese government, eager to show the world they have not betrayed their Socialist ideology, is saying they wish to help embattled workers worldwide. I don’t know if they are sincere as it remains to be seen how this amount would eventually be used. But I like the idea.
The Americans, well, their instinct tells them to save their greedy and grossly-mismanaged giants before anyone else. Today, I read about how the Big Three car companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler) are asking for $25 billion golden parachute. It’s like saying, “Hey, thanks for fucking up the global economy.Take this moolah, go yatch-sailing and drink up on Piper Heidsieck!”
The Philippine government? Well, gma and her officials do not care about the people.In fact, based on their actions, they want us all dead. They hardly ever care about Pinoy companies either—at least the honest and tax-paying ones. All they care about is how to line up their pockets. So we have these stealing and lying phenomena called Joc-joc Bolante and the Euro generals.
And we have all this talk about gma trying to extend her term of terror beyond 2010. This is not as far-fetched as one may be excused to initially think. How else should be interpret Juan Ponce Enrile’s shocking rise to the senate presidency (sworn in by Gregorio Honasan, no less?) I am hard pressed to think of a stranger thing happening with this government.
I feel like crying sometimes. I am worried to death about this country’s collective future.
But I am not one to commit suicide over these turn of events. Pinoy yata ako. So I turn to our old reliable.In times like these, I try to find humor in the events as they crash around me like fat raindrops under a menacing cloudburst. I am so desperate to be able to laugh. Pinoy nga ako.
Yes, I try to laugh about these things. But I am not saying I’m not doing anything about them. Ika nga ni kumpareng Peter Ustinov, “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” I maintain that in this tragedy called the Philippines, there is no business as serious as humor.
