An Honest Look at Poverty and Paradise in the Philippines
I cried when I read this piece by Paolo Mangahas. He titled it “Between poverty and paradise“. I find it to be a honest, honest look at the reality of life in the Philippines.
Paolo writes about what’s ugly in the country, the things that we’d rather not talk about, or that we want to gloss over. Yet he also writes about what’s beautiful, what makes overseas Filipinos want to come back home, what draws us and warms us.
I cried for sadness over the harsh poverty in the streets. I also cried with pride and love for what and who the Filipino is.
Paolo ends his piece with this:
A beach is a beach and a volcano is a volcano anywhere in the world, but it’s the people who make the difference. I learned in that moment that I may not know the geographical features of my country all too well, but I sure know its heart and its soul because it’s who I am.
The real poverty lies in not knowing this.
Do you know the heart and soul of the Philippines? Read about it here.
via Global Nation; Images: Our World Travels, Wikipedia; Jeff Lopez
Tags: Philippines, Filipinos, Philippine culture, poverty, Philippine paradise
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POSTED IN: General: Philippine Culture
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
a very beautifully-wrtten piece. naiyak din ako!
February 24th, 2007 at 4:28 am
Hi, I prefer the halo-halo, but I guess that wasn’t a choice. I’m hungry now, too. So maybe I’ll have to fly to Makati tomorrow, or in the near future. :)
February 24th, 2007 at 11:29 am
We can shed tears about the plight of the poor in the Philippines and the blatant truth about our leaders. If only there’s a magic way to turn the buckets of tears we all shed into medicines, food and shelter whenever we hear sad stories about poverty in the Philippines. Photojournalism will suffer a great loss for human interest pictures of street urchins begging for alms and scenes of desperations in the search for a living in the dump yards of Manila.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:20 am
Noypetes, what have you done to help alleviate poverty in the Philippines?
April 14th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Thanx for the piece. I missed the brightness of life.
here is something not so bright though—iwrote in response to paolo mangahas
—————————————————-
i have had it sometimes with bleeding hearts filipinos who indulge in drama and sentimentalism—i watched the movie rizal again, and boy, it was so full of bleeding heart images that we need to outgrow.
remember guys, ginatake akon yahoo mail account tunggod sang akon views and discoveries. i hope you all read this and send them out–just leave my name blank. the guys at echelon or whatever might have already tagged my account na. but i guess, they’ll see i am nothing but a nosy lightweight. here it all goes….pls read carefully and read it all. you might miss a detail.
———BACKGROUND…
the philippines is in this “artificial poverty” as has the rest of the world with the main culprit being the institutions that promote poverty and the consoidation of material wealth into the hands of a few.
who are these few? these are the silent but powerful clique of business and banking interests–oil, automotive, energy, etc…the big corporations. who owns them? these are still fronts of the most powerful, well, powerbrokers of the world.
It is a confluence of events and shared values and sentiments of greed, power and lust. There is no single entity to pin the blame, but institutions that benefit from all these coalesce into action to increase their wealth and control further. And these are not “shady characters scheming in dark places” [maybe in secret they meet, but not caricatures of villainous characters]. These are people like you and me, who cannot stop their “high” of controlling power and wealth.
WHAT ARE THEIR TOOLS?
1. Currency manipulation
2. DEBT-BASED CURRENCY! the real culprit.
3. Privately owned central banks that make money out of nothing.
4. Military that imposes the will of the “global government”.
5. Media [bought by this manufactured wealth] to trump the official government[also a puppet of these masters] line—READ:PROPAGANDA
6. OPIATES of the people - holywood or any mush to divert attention and keeping people from asking the real questions.
7. INFORMATION WARS - CREATION OF MYTHS and ILLUSIONS - illusions of democracy like the “trial” of ENRON executives, MICHAEL MOORE who made Bush look like an idiot to disprove any scheming on his part, and of course, the destruction of the world trade center buildings by exposives- “SHOCK AND AWE”.
8. STRONG ARM TACTICS to influence Foreign government policies to
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) “IN PERIODS OF ECONOMIC CRISIS, WEALTH IS NOT DESTROYED, IT IS MERELY TRANSFERRED”
Let me emphasize that again—-wealth is not destroyed in an economic crisis;IT IS MERELY TRANSFERRED! So, it begs the question, transfer to whom? and the most obvious—WHY IS THE PHILIPPINES IN CONSTANT ECONOMIC CRISIS? Where did/does all these transfer go?
We are not alone—-in the US, the middle class is facing extinction. 300,000 people outearn 150 million others! thats 1.5% on the other scale, and 75%+ of the population on the other. The Philippines shares about the same distribution or, i might think, lower than this. But why is the US different? why do they not feel the same poverty as we do? It is because the dollar is manipulated to lower the value of the outside world’s currencies artificially.
HOW? I will give you a case study—THE PHILIPPINES.
We are a tiny and insignificant country in terms of influence to world events. But we are important because we are one of the TRAINING GROUNDS for EXPERIMENTATION. The Philippines is vunerable. And I mean literally. We do not have an airforce to protect our skies, navies to patrol poaching chinese vessels, and international infuence to look out for ourselves and stand in the way of our expoitation.
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL—WE ARE ALL MISDIRECTED, I think, to other concerns [disunification] in order to hide the real manipulators of our economy, hence our poverty.
We are not also alone in this. The US is not supposed to be federal. A quote from the:
GERMAN KAISER [1st leader, or Fuhrer, in the 1st world war]
“The division of the United States was already agreed to by the HIGH FINANCIAL POWERS OF EUROPE…[before it was known to them]…” [They–paraphrasing now] cannot afford a strong and united america. [funny huh? even the term “united states” was an illusion of the population being “united” to keep them from actually uniting!]
Now, when the powerbrokers had effectively controlled america, they had tried their experimentations with controlled foreign governments with mass media providing an “illusion” to that country to believe the official line that the Philippines is free.
Filipinos were started to be brainwashed
1. —disappearance of atrocities by American Forces in the Philippines
2. —undermining of psychological spirit - focusing on RIZAL as the national Hero who advocated peaceful change, and relegating Bonifacio to the oblivion [WHEN AMERICANS PLANNED THE CITY OF BACOLOD, THE SHORTEST STREET IN THE CITY WAS OF COURSE–BONIFACIO STREET!!! even dito, napulitika si boni]. Making the maya as the national bird. Referring to our struggle against the americans as “rebellion” instead of a free people at war with a foreign invader. etc etc etc–you fill in the blanks…napapalayo na ako.
RESOURCES:
In the eary 20th century, the philippines had strategic importance - access to china, timber, copper, gold, etc.
All these were already taken and consolidated into the hands of a few in the global arena.
GOLD AND ROBBERY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS
America suffered the same fate-we, at least, the rest of the population, when all their gold was forcibly bought by the government through a legal order at rock bottom prices. it was supposed to be stored in fort know. then when all was bought, the prices soared, and foreign buuyers were allowed to buy. Thereby instantly consolidating wealth to a few foreign buyers, and making the rest poor, and unable to become wealthy on their own efforts. ARTIFICIAL POVERTY - The powerbrokers are starting to become organized and deeply entrenched in American government.
NOW, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO TO THE PHILIPPINES?
The simplest argument is—IF THEY HAD DONE IT TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY WITHOUT ANY CONSCIENCE, WILL THEIR GREED NOT STOP THEM FROM DOING IT TO OTHER COUNTRIES?
Well, the weak and disunited Philippines suffered a similar fate.
HOW?
There were a lot of adventurisms and interventions by foreign governments to dominate the Philippines.
The trick is to see them all into one big picture—weave them into one simple story where the connections are visibe.
———BACKGROUND…
the philippines is in this “artificial poverty” as has the rest of the world with the main culprit being the institutions that promote poverty and the consoidation of material wealth into the hands of a few.
who are these few? these are the silent but powerful clique of business and banking interests–oil, automotive, energy, etc…the big corporations. who owns them? these are still fronts of the most powerful, well, powerbrokers of the world.
It is a confluence of events and shared values and sentiments of greed, power and lust. There is no single entity to pin the blame, but institutions that benefit from all these coalesce into action to increase their wealth and control further. And these are not “shady characters scheming in dark places” [maybe in secret they meet, but not caricatures of villainous characters]. These are people like you and me, who cannot stop their “high” of controlling power and wealth.
WHAT ARE THEIR TOOLS?
1. Currency manipulation
2. DEBT-BASED CURRENCY! the real culprit.
3. Privately owned central banks that make money out of nothing.
4. Military that imposes the will of the “global government”.
5. Media [bought by this manufactured wealth] to trump the official government[also a puppet of these masters] line—READ:PROPAGANDA
6. OPIATES of the people - holywood or any mush to divert attention and keeping people from asking the real questions.
7. INFORMATION WARS - CREATION OF MYTHS and ILLUSIONS - illusions of democracy like the “trial” of ENRON executives, MICHAEL MOORE who made Bush look like an idiot to disprove any scheming on his part, and of course, the destruction of the world trade center buildings by exposives- “SHOCK AND AWE”.
8. STRONG ARM TACTICS to influence Foreign government policies to
Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) “IN PERIODS OF ECONOMIC CRISIS, WEALTH IS NOT DESTROYED, IT IS MERELY TRANSFERRED”
Let me emphasize that again—-wealth is not destroyed in an economic crisis;IT IS MERELY TRANSFERRED! So, it begs the question, transfer to whom? and the most obvious—WHY IS THE PHILIPPINES IN CONSTANT ECONOMIC CRISIS? Where did/does all these transfer go?
We are not alone—-in the US, the middle class is facing extinction. 300,000 people outearn 150 million others! thats 1.5% on the other scale, and 75%+ of the population on the other. The Philippines shares about the same distribution or, i might think, lower than this. But why is the US different? why do they not feel the same poverty as we do? It is because the dollar is manipulated to lower the value of the outside world’s currencies artificially.
HOW? I will give you a case study—THE PHILIPPINES.
We are a tiny and insignificant country in terms of influence to world events. But we are important because we are one of the TRAINING GROUNDS for EXPERIMENTATION. The Philippines is vunerable. And I mean literally. We do not have an airforce to protect our skies, navies to patrol poaching chinese vessels, and international infuence to look out for ourselves and stand in the way of our expoitation.
MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL—WE ARE ALL MISDIRECTED, I think, to other concerns [disunification] in order to hide the real manipulators of our economy, hence our poverty.
We are not also alone in this. The US is not supposed to be federal. A quote from the:
GERMAN KAISER [1st leader, or Fuhrer, in the 1st world war]
“The division of the United States was already agreed to by the HIGH FINANCIAL POWERS OF EUROPE…[before it was known to them]…” [They–paraphrasing now] cannot afford a strong and united america. [funny huh? even the term “united states” was an illusion of the population being “united” to keep them from actually uniting!]
Now, when the powerbrokers had effectively controlled america, they had tried their experimentations with controlled foreign governments with mass media providing an “illusion” to that country to believe the official line that the Philippines is free.
Filipinos were started to be brainwashed
1. —disappearance of atrocities by American Forces in the Philippines
2. —undermining of psychological spirit - focusing on RIZAL as the national Hero who advocated peaceful change, and relegating Bonifacio to the oblivion [WHEN AMERICANS PLANNED THE CITY OF BACOLOD, THE SHORTEST STREET IN THE CITY WAS OF COURSE–BONIFACIO STREET!!! even dito, napulitika si boni]. Making the maya as the national bird. Referring to our struggle against the americans as “rebellion” instead of a free people at war with a foreign invader. etc etc etc–you fill in the blanks…napapalayo na ako.
RESOURCES:
In the eary 20th century, the philippines had strategic importance - access to china, timber, copper, gold, etc.
All these were already taken and consolidated into the hands of a few in the global arena.
GOLD AND ROBBERY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS
America suffered the same fate-we, at least, the rest of the population, when all their gold was forcibly bought by the government through a legal order at rock bottom prices. it was supposed to be stored in fort know. then when all was bought, the prices soared, and foreign buuyers were allowed to buy. Thereby instantly consolidating wealth to a few foreign buyers, and making the rest poor, and unable to become wealthy on their own efforts. ARTIFICIAL POVERTY - The powerbrokers are starting to become organized and deeply entrenched in American government.
NOW, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO TO THE PHILIPPINES?
The simplest argument is—IF THEY HAD DONE IT TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY WITHOUT ANY CONSCIENCE, WILL THEIR GREED NOT STOP THEM FROM DOING IT TO OTHER COUNTRIES?
Well, the weak and disunited Philippines suffered a similar fate.
HOW?
There were a lot of adventurisms and interventions by foreign governments to dominate the Philippines.
The trick is to see them all into one big picture—weave them into one simple story where the connections are visibe.
Here are some significant happenings:
1. ESTABLISHING THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK/& CENTRAL BANK
2. SCHOOLING/SCHOLARS TO AMERICA TO BE TAUGHT THE MANTRA OF THE BENEFITS OF ECONOMICS, BUSINESS CYCLES/MARKET FORCES [which are a lie actualy, and i so want to have an audience with solita monsod], INFRASTRUCTURE/POWER/WATER INVESTMENTS, etc
3. FORCING MARCOS TO LOAN MONEY [which actually came from nothing]
4. FORCING ECONOMIC ZONES AND EXPORT ZONES
5. AFTER BEING DEEP IN LOANS-DEVALUATION OF THE PESO - THRU:
a. so-called market forces. like stockmarket
manipulation or business cycles[but are actually
artificially induced - THE CIA HAS A REAL-TIME
MONITORING OF WALLSTREET, ask why]
b. POLICY RECOMMENDATION THRU “EXPERTS” but are actually
referred to as “economic hitmen” who paint a picture
that the Philippines needs this infrastructure
but actually do not, then provide loans, then
devalue the peso so that the Philippine Government
is forever in debt, and thus, forever subjugated
and vulnerable ti dictates.
CASE IN POINT-PRESIDENT RAMOS - was deluded by the
forecasts of power consumption needs of the Philippines
when power was privatized. These “economic hitmen”
actually do this:dangle “EASY INTEREST LOANS, etc” to
entice. and once the government is mired in these loans—
DOWN CRASHES THE STOCK MARKET,
UP GOES THE DOLLAR!
HITTING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE:The host country-US
satisfies the need of the rest of their poor population by
enabling cheaper imports or cheaper stocks of foreign
companies, thus hiding their “real” poverty; and ensuring
the enslavement of the Philippines forever paying its
debt.
c. COERCION - Forcing the Phil govt to take out a loan
thru other means like
—BLACKMAIL: US: WE WILL NOT GIVE YOU MORE
LOANS UNTIL PHIL GOVT IMPOSES VAT
—FALSE POPULAR PRESSURE:
ARROYO ANNOUNCED– THAT PHILS WILL NOT TAKE OUT ANY NEW LOANS BECAUSE WE ARE FINANCIALLY OKAY.
WORLDBANK press releases: PHILS MUST TAKE LOAN, EASY PAYMENTS AND WILL BE INCREASED TO $600MILION CIELING
-didnt work, next press release: PHILS MUST USE ALL AVAILABLE LOANS TO CONTINUE RECOVERY
-didnt work again, next press release becomes obvious: PHILS MUST FOCUS ON SPENDING PROPERLY, AND NOT ON STOPPING LOANS
-didnt get too far, out comes the blazing backmail guns of the world bank[emotional blackmail/propaganda, call it whatever you like]: PHILS MUST STOP POLITICAL KILINGS!!!!!
-GMA didnt get the whole picture, then comes : PHILIPPINES MOST CORRUPT IN ASIA!!!!.
- then it all stopped quietly when i saw this small item on the news : PHILS TO CONTINUE LOANING, INCREASING ITS PORTFOLIO BY $600MILION A YEAR!
WHEW! We are a tiny nation who cannot go against the vulture, este, eagle.
6. POLITICAL/ECONOMIC/MILITARY DEPENDENCE IS ENSURED.
RUBBING SALT TO WOUNDS-FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING
THOMAS JEFFERSON: - “BANKING INSTITUTIONS ARE MORE DANGEROUS TO OUR
LIBERTIES THAN STANDING ARMIES”
When the Federal Reserve-[PRIVATELY OWNED CENTRAL BANK–THIS IS NOT, NOT NOT GOVERNMENT], CREATES MONEY, IT IS A DEBT BY THE US GOVT.
FOR EXAMPLE, IT “HAS”[most of the time none] $10Million, IT CAN CREATE A CAPITAL OF $100MILLION. [only 10% of a bank’s capital is real, the rest is money from nothing].
THEN IT GIVES IT TO THE US GOVT, FORCES THE PHILIPPINE GOVT TO LOAN THIS MONEY FROM NOTHING — THEN FOREVER COLLECTS INTEREST ON IT!
Let me say this again—-..THEN FOREVER COLLECTS INTERESTS ON MONEY FROM NOTHING.
BINAON SA UTANG ANG PILIPINAS! LAHAT NG PILIPINO BABAYAD SA UTANG NA GALING SA WALA, PROYEKTO NA D KELANGAN! KUMONTI LALO ANG MABIBILI NG PISO!
———————-THIS IS WHERE ALL MODERN POVERTY, ESPECIALLY IN THE PHILS LIES—-WEAK PURCHASING POWER, BY FORCING OUR COUNTRY TO FOREVER PAY A CURRENCY THAT IS RARE AND HARD TO COME BY!
———————-THIS IS WHAT MAKES THE FILIPINOS POOR, AND FOREVER POOR——A RARE AVAILABILITY OF THE CURRENCY THAT WE ARE FORCED TO PAY FOR LOANS OF UNEEDED PROJECTS AND DEVALUED PESO.
———————-AGAIN, WAANG MABIBILI ANG PILIPINO SA PISO NIYA KASI KINOKONVERT ITO SA DOLYAR NA PAMBAYAD SA UTANG NA ANG PERA AY GALING SA KATHANG ISIP LAMANG.
———————-INSTEAD OF A GOVERNMENT ABLE TO SPEND FOR CREATING INFRASTRUCTURE ON ITSELF—–ROADS, ports, bridges,etc, WE ARE FORCED TO REVALUE OUR PESO TO THE HIGH DOLLAR BEFORE WE CAN SPEND IT ON OURSELVES.
-SIMILAR TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WHEN THE COLONIAL SCRIPT WAS ABANDONED [which ushered an era of prosperity, but was money beyond the control of the powerbrokers] TO FORCE THE COLONIALS TO PAY THEIR TAXES TO BRITISH IN THEIR CURRENCY!
——————-SO, what actually causes PROSPERITY? Not the advice of experts, not the infrastructure, etc, BUT ONLY ONE THING:
THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF MONEY SUPPLY!
The right amount of money supply enabes transactions to be done. enables growth, enables spending.
BUT THE PHILIPPINES IS IN THIS SITUATION NOW: WE CANNOT SPEND TO BUY A HOUSE, OR BUY A CAR, OR AFFORD ECONOMIC ACTIVITY BECAUSE OUR MONEY SUPPLY IS DICTATED BY THE DOLAR - THRU ITS ARTIFICIAL IMPOSITION OF VALUE!
Kaya, madaming beggars, madaming underemployed, kulang mabibili na groceries ang madami, o pang tuition.
kasi, and produkto sa bukid, masyadong mura, kasi dito nangaling at ginawa—at d makabili ng delatang gatas sa ang presyo ay base sa panlabas at artipisyal na haaga ng piso.
THE PHILIPPINES IS CHAINED.
THE PHILIPPINES IS CHAINED FOREVER IN ITS DEBT.
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
I HOPE WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
THIS ARTIFICIAL INFLOW OF MONEY SUPPLY BY OUR OFW’s ACTUALLY SPURRED ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. Suddenly, people can transact, for there is more money to barter. IT is not in SHORT SUPPLY
——-
3 US Presidents were assasinated : Garfield, Lincoln, and Kennedy, because they tried to take the power of making money from private hands to government, which they are supposed to be in the first place.
Only Old Hickory who lives in the Hermitage won that battle.
Venezuela did the right thing, but is paying dearly—they established a fixed currency rate-the Bolivar. China fixed its yuan for the longest time, thats a big factor of its prosperity—al sorts of pressure were laid to bear, from intellectual property rights to human rights violations to denial of entry to WTO.
but when the powerbrokers got a great dea, al charges are in the backburner—-the daughter of the chinese premier had even her biography published by media giant____ in the US. Al Gore’s daughter too, is now married [like the lopez and ejercito wedding] to the circle of the powerbrokers.
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. I SIMPY KNOW THAT DISUNITY AND MISDIRECTED BLAME [intrigues and all], ARE QUIETLY BEING USED TO KEEP THE PHILIPPINES IN BONDAGE.
BEYOND THIS, I KNOW, IN MY LIFETIME, THE GREED OF THESE POWERBROKERS KNOWS NO END, SO I CANNOT SEE THE DAWN FOR MY BELOVED COUNTRY.
MAHAL KITA PILIPINAS, SANA MAGISING KA
—————————————————–
Video References:
[download them on torrent, some are in google video]
1. Moneymasters, how international banking gained control of america
2. The oil factor
3. Rupert Murdochs war on journalism
4. Alex Jones Martial Law
5. Orwell rolls in his grave
6. Barry Zwicker News Special
7. The corporation
AUDIOBOOK:
Confessions of an Economic Hitman -
WEBSITES:
http://www.rense.com/general44/exec.htm
http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/eo/eo2.htm
books-dami na, from environment to poverty to econ to political to history.
i hope you all start to open your eyes—start from watching more than what the established media produces.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
[…] struggles personally and as a country, still the Filipino shines through our core. Though this has circulated and made its rounds, this was the first time I read it. It both hurts and heals at the same time. […]
October 24th, 2007 at 3:09 am
Kay…
Just wanted to drop you a quick note to say thank you for a great resource.There is nothing else like your site on the net today. My friends are just going to love this site once I let them know about it….
December 25th, 2007 at 6:58 am
wow! thats very informative and educational. and u r right. all facts were laid down. the big question is what can we do as a citizen just to uplift poverty. u mentioned “disunified”theres a truth on that and am not even surprised by using that word. someone or somewhere has to do something, something that is very very realistic.
but u cant do it without any resources then. am pretty sure theres a lot of filipinos who wld like to do something for their country but they cant find the right person or the right organization who is willing to sacrifice and do all the leg works. ive met a lot of pinoy who are just good on talking things just for the sake of talking no actions at all. and u why. . . coz they lost their trust. . . but if someone who is willing to embrace all the hardship to make a better programs for our own people they are willing to share and participate.
December 25th, 2007 at 6:59 am
MERRY XMAS TO ALL