Jonas Burgos And “The Middle Class Way Of Living”

Written on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm | by chuck

It’s been one year since Jonas Burgos was abducted from a Mall in broad daylight. I for one, don’t believe that this despicable act can just be blamed on a few bad elements in the military (or even the government). It takes a certain kind of Society to make this possible, one that is populated with individuals who possess a mindset that is on full display in this fortright (but anonymous) comment over at Expectorants:

“It’s a simple question of the lesser evil. Who are the aggressive power brokers/stakeholders in the Philippines ba? Military, CPP/NPA, oligarchs.

Pick one. How you might say? Well, let’s stop picking on Arroyo for one and start supporting her. She’s killing the commies and bribing the soldiers. So stop those middle-class rallies against GMA and support the parliamentary referendum to prolong her and her party’s rule.

If the communists or military sweep to power tomorrow and be a little less corrupt than the oligarchs, I would have to agree that there would be an exponential improvement in the lives of the hungry and destitute.

But if helping a lot of poor means that the new military or communist overlords would take away the accumulated wealth of the present rich, then I’m afraid I would have to side with the evil oligarchs.

As much as I can sympathize with the predicament of the poor, I wouldn’t allow a power shift that would uplift their standard of living while at the same time lower mine, that is, my middle class way of living.

It may sound selfish, but I’ve thought this through. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life “starting over” to accumulate again the real estate, big savings account, stocks, and bonds from which my I derive my (rent, interest, dividends, coupons) income from. At the moment, I don’t work, but I live like semi-royalty because of that accumulated wealth. I’m afraid if commies or military take over then they’ll tax me to the hilt or be forced to go overseas where I’ll become a common tao (my wealth would be worth less if liquidated, converted to foreign currency, and moved overseas).“

The banality of evil, alive and well in 21st Century Philippines.

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About The Author: chuck is a veteran Information Technology professional with almost two decades experience in the Industry. He is currently based in Singapore. He blogs at The Placeholder.

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4 Responses to “Jonas Burgos And “The Middle Class Way Of Living””

  1. Lester Cavestany on April 30th, 2008 7:05 am

    That’s why I hate anonymous commenting. People get “keyboard courage” and say things that can be viewed as irrational.

  2. chuck on April 30th, 2008 8:53 am

    Lester, i beg to disagree. Anonymous commenting sometimes expresses honest (and widely shared) sentiments that cannot be revealed otherwise, and what struck me about his line of reasoning was how rational it is given a certain framework that values his (or her) ‘Middle Class Way of Living’ over other considerations. That’s why I believe this anonymous commenter’s kind of thinking explains a lot of the tacit support for Arroyo (and lack of outrage for human rights violations against communists and suspected communists) in a more straightforward fashion. He (or she) put on record one of the Philippine Middle Class’ dirty little secrets.

  3. Pumpy on May 1st, 2008 8:46 pm

    Unfortunately, your thesis is marred by one major error: the military is not supposed to stand for some “banality of evil.” It is supposed to stand for what is right and true, should challenge both Communists and oligarchs, and should protect people like Jonas Burgos.

    What is happening now is that those who are disappearing are being labeled as “Communists” while the oligarchs use the military to continue control of society.

    This is fine as long as you are part of the middle class. But what happens when food and oil prices keep going up, leading to more members of the middle class becoming poorer? What will happen then?

  4. spliceanddice on May 3rd, 2008 1:34 pm

    The anonymous commenter sounds like close to being an oligarch, with “real estate, big savings account, stocks, and bonds”. No wonder he’s afraid to lose the wealth he/she has amassed. No wonder his/her apathy grew larger than him/her. It’s enough for one to say to brazen the houses of these oligarchs. Easier said than done, of course. But the thought of it is tempting.

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