Ordinary Filipino lang

Their biggest sin is being Ordinary Filipinos.

For not being children of a lesser God, for not being a social tisoy or having the acceptable pedigree from one taipan or typhoon clans, the Ordinary Filipino must suffer the casual betrayal of government.

For not being a Dollar, Euro, Yen, or Rial earner the OFL or ORDINARY FILIPINO LANG must carry on being treated as a worker ant.

Treated by their foreign trained and therefore not Ordinary fellow Filipinos as bodies and "an intellectual waste of space."

Because they are not the OFW heroes that have created the consumer economy that SAVED the shopping malls and enriched the telecoms, they MUST pay withholding tax even before they see their pay slip as well as income tax come April.

Since they’re not the new version heroes we call NURSES who have given the provincial real estate and construction industry a new lease in life, they’re not entitled to regularization. Perpetually recycled, never recognized as good enough.

Because of their Ordinary education, they are supposed to be paid a minimum wage but even that can be debated, rationalized and justified depending on which company, investor or politicians have to pay the salaries.

I myself have experienced being a TALENT which is media’s glorified version of being a casual.

For seven years I was dependent on whatever and whenever there was a show or a program that needed my TALENT. I had no medical coverage, I had to pay for my own SSS contributions while the SSS negotiates or settles with companies that don’t pay contributions instead of giving them jail time.

I have to pay VAT for using my voice, my face, and my brains to talk on TV because US-trained – formerly no ordinary Filipino and now former Finance Secretary Lito Camacho wanted to help the government of Not very ordinary Filipinos get money from us.

I was not entitled to any perks such as company car or a Christmas bonus. I don’t think I was even entitled to 13th month pay. And before readers fantasize about salaries, it was entry level manager maybe?!

Sadly the unspoken justification was you get to be on TV, you become a celebrity, and you can use celebrity to get other jobs such as hosting. Which of course no longer makes you an Ordinary Filipino LANG. Naging utang na loob ko pa (Which I should be grateful for).

Somehow people lost sight of the fact that it’s a job, it’s a profession, and you get to school to get a degree so you can be a journalist or a broadcaster for that matter.

But what about the millions of OFLs that the Department of Labor and its string of Secretaries have ignored. The Ordinary Filipinos Lang who work 8 to 12 hour shifts, get paid ADJUSTABLE Minimum salaries, and are terminated every 5 and 3/4 months.

THEY ARE FILIPINOS.

One OFL pointed out that the price they pay for water, electricity, food and fuel are the same. Out in the provinces fuel prices are even higher because of transport costs, vegetables are higher, clothes are higher.

So who are the total imbeciles who formulated regionalized wages?

Are they the congressmen who want to perpetuate the profit interests of their so-called farms that are nothing more than feudal estates?

Are they the investors who apply for pioneer status out in the Bundoks so they can get tax breaks, importation privileges, complain about the high cost of doing business so they can pay adjustable wages and then fly business class around the Philippines or in Asia?

Who are the promoters of casualization? The people who spend P5,000 on a bottle of what they call an "average wine from the new world". Or media organizations that want to have the biggest STABLE OF TALENTS as if they were breeding horses.

Sadly it’s FILIPINO SELLING-OUT FILIPINOS.

Notice how we will haggle down or barat a lowly vendor in the street but automatically erase any notion of haggling inside the malls because it’s not appropriate.

"Ok lang to make barat in the street . . . di bah?"

Notice how government and legislators come up with every imaginable incentive to get investors to put up shop in the country even if we have to loan them some of the money.

The Department of Labor has obsessed on job generation and under-employment. Unfortunately nuances of government dictates that the sitting administration dictates priority and policy. Somehow it’s always about numbers but rarely on rights and long term effects.

As I pointed out to my friends who are heroically trying to create a million jobs through the GO NEGOSYO program, a million jobs quickly disappear if Filipinos don’t learn to buy products made in the Philippines or patronize Filipino establishments over foreign franchises.

I am told that casualization is the smart solution against unions, paying 13th month pay, medical coverage, promotes efficiency. These jokers have obviously never been in factories under the stewardship of the Iglesia Ni Cristo or some Born Again businesses.

Accountability is high, responsibility and integrity is ideal, and commitment is visible. Who needs laws when it’s a lifestyle?

Time and again, we have been told that casualization only benefits the businessman, never business.

Because of their uncertain status, the Ordinary Filipino Lang cannot make any long term plans such as aspiring for a "Cave pretending to be a house". Circumstance may force them to save or live minimalist lives, buying CHEAP and or installments.

But because they are casuals, they don’t go to banks because of rejection rates; they go to dealers who are actually lenders who are actually loan sharks who actually borrowed the money from the bank.

Look around you folks. What goes around comes around. More and more kids go to public schools; Ukay-ukay is now fashionably justifiable, more and more people are driving motorcycles and scooters which will ultimately crowd out your fancy cars.

Government hospitals are collapsing from the burden of medical care forcing towns and cities to put up their own which takes away funds that could help promote and improve the business environment.

But before this piece becomes a "To whom it may concern" column, allow me to throw the blame squarely at Selfish businessmen and women who think it’s "the right strategy" to declare high growth rates, profit margins at the expense of their casual employees.

How you have sacrificed the comfort and quality of life of casual employees while you go around town receiving awards and commendations from your cohorts in government.

And to our legislators and people in-charge of this matter at the Department of Labor, do not think yourselves wise; don’t dismiss this matter as casual betrayal and following policy. Remember even in the courts of law, accountability and punishment is the same for the mastermind as it is for the accomplice.

Silence and blind obedience is as much a sin as your casual betrayal of the Ordinary Filipino.