Suddenly everyone claims to “have been poor”.

Suddenly it’s the best campaign slogan.

Suddenly being “poor” is “cool”.

You might actually think that the world has changed. But no, it hasn’t.

You might think that Philippine politics has changed. But no, it hasn’t.

On the contrary, it hasn’t changed nary a bit.

It’s always been like this during election period. Jingles. Slogans. The works.

The “vote-for-me-because-im-your-savior” sort of campaign posters haven’t changed in many, many years. And each time election nears, it only reminds us how bad our politicians fared before — how bad all of us somehow fared too.

Someone once said, we get what what we deserve — that we get what we give. If that is true, I wonder what sort of abominable creatures we have become to deserve such incompetent and devilish leaders. I wonder what kind of miser we have become to get these parasites cum predators. I cringe at that thought.

And so every time a squeaky clean, well-bred, royal “gened” politician hugs and carries a poor child — specially the “really” poor ones, I wonder what goes on in that politician’s mind.

I wonder.

There are those too smart to assert that one need not be “poor” or “have been poor” to know poverty. Wise guy, read this: You are so wrong.

But I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt that you say that with good intentions, so sure, I’d give you that.

However, don’t expect everyone to just swallow your well-researched data and polished ruminations and shove it to minds that have once been empty save for the thought of the miracle of sustenance.

I speak for the 24% or so people who think of themselves poor because they have at least once in a month’s period gone hungry because they have nothing to eat. I speak for those people who pin their hopes eternally on a well-run government who will make life a little easier for them — and by easier I mean they won’t go hungry unless they’re just plain lazy. I speak for them because I was once like them. I speak for them because they cannot speak for themselves, because they can’t blog, or even write — because most of them as I write this are delirious in utter hunger.

They’re not the kind you see on TV or infomercials. They’re not the kind who join the ranks of those in armed struggle like that lovely, brave girl Kimay. They’re not the kind who march under the unforgiving heat of the sun holding up placards that try to
express on a small square space the kind of suffering and injustice they endure. These people have means of expressing themselves. They either have time or talent or both. I do not speak for these people.

I speak and write for those who suffer hunger silently, without a tear on their cheeks, without a sound or hint of the incomprehensible pain they feel, without a glint of desperation in their eyes, without a word from their dried lips. To them, living life “a day at a time” is no mere motto. To say that they “die trying” is not figurative.

Senator Manny Villar’s latest campaign jingle “Naging Mahirap” is under fire and derision from a whole range of people.
They don’t get the message because it’s not “cool”. They have no plans of wearing a “Naging Mahirap” shirt, oh no sir. It’s way cooler to wear a shirt with that iconic yellow ribbon that says “change”. Now that — that to them is cool. They sneer at the commercial because it’s “uncomfortable” to talk about “swimming in a sea of garbage” or spending Christmas in the streets because you don’t have a home or that the streets just happen to be your home.

They do not want to talk about the message. They’d rather throw mud on the “have been poor” and now real-estate billionaire Manny Villar saying he’s never been “that” poor. Maybe they’re right. As far as I know, Villar didn’t swim in a sea of garbage or spent Christmas on the streets because he didn’t have a home — he had in fact, a house, albeit a small one, a complete family, but then, he grew up in Tondo, Manila, a poor among the poor — poor enough if you are to compare him with the rest of the well-bred and inbred candidates. And if only for that, he does talk about and campaign about the kind of poverty he lived — the same kind he understood. The same kind he hopes to solve.

I am not saying you should vote for Villar. I tried to do that back then but ended up being disappointed, thanks to WowoWillie.

But I am saying do not be so insensitively smart to spread as gospel truth your presumed logical assertions that one need not be poor or “have been poor” to understand poverty.

Poverty is an abstract concept. It does not have the probability and exactness of Mathematics or the intricacies of other sciences. Poverty is a concept well-understood only if “lived” or experienced. After all, even the sciences are anchored on and necessitated by experiences.

You say you see the poor and feel pity for them? That’s not understanding poverty. That’s no more than sympathy.

You say if you were in their shoes, you’d know exactly how they feel? That not understanding poverty. That’s nothing but empathy.

If telling the truth is so convenient, why do most people lie? Because, guess what, it’s not.

So I will tell you this, and all you smart people who never knew poverty through a growling stomach or a skull-cracking
headache, read and understand: YOU NEED TO BE POOR OR HAVE BEEN POOR TO TRULY UNDERSTAND POVERTY. Statistics don’t even come close to describing what it’s like to live in dire poverty. Words cannot even be minced enough to come up with a better and comprehensive description of poverty.

I may not know a lot, but this I’m sure. I know because I have been one myself. And I can tell you one thing: Poverty is not cool. It never was.