Slow burn

Why do people engage in the ostentatious display of wealth? Most likely because they think it will earn them admiration and envy.

Maybe it feeds a need to feel superior. They see conspicuous consumption as a status symbol.

Not too long ago, people calling out those who flaunted their wealth were told: Inggit lang kayo. Eat your heart out. What’s the use of wealth if you can’t show it off?

We should be genuinely grateful for this mindset, because now people are getting leads on who might have enriched themselves at taxpayers’ expense. Suddenly, online posts of the uber rich flaunting their enjoyment of luxe, from wagyu beef to designer bags, vehicles and first-class globetrotting are being taken down.

Spotting and recording luxury items used by public officials started in earnest last year with the scandal over then Bamban mayor Alice Guo, clad head to toe in designer stuff.

The public dismay was apparently lost on lawmakers. Scrutiny jumped over to the House of Representatives when photo collages surfaced, featuring then Marikina congresswoman Stella Quimbo toting her collection of Hermes and other designer bags.

Last month, reacting to the results of the midterm elections that proved disastrous for the administration’s Senate slate, there was an order to tone down ostentation during the State of the Nation Address of President Marcos.

There was obviously some confusion among the lawmakers and their wives, many of whom had already ordered their expensive gowns for walking down the red carpet.

Que horror, the red carpet was pulled out! By way of toning down the annual fashion show, most of the ladies opted for white (but still pricey) gowns. Several were still caught with designer shoes, bags and wristwatches.

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It’s been a slow burn for the public, but finally, the outrage is there, as the impact of corruption sinks in. Defective or non-existent flood control projects can kill, destroy property and livelihoods, and trap motorists in traffic for half a day.

Some of the suspected crooks look like deer caught in the headlights, stunned by the sudden public attention. Others are scurrying in panic, like rats flushed out of the sewers, looking for safe havens.

As confused as the direct participants are their children, who until the “mahiya naman kayo” speech thought ostentation was normal and even admired, with no one bothering to ask where their ginormous wealth came from.

Again, thanks to this mindset, the nepo babies’ flaunting of their riches is providing clues – and possibly evidence – of ill-gotten wealth and their parents living beyond their means.

A nepo baby now refers to anyone who inherited wealth, renown and social standing from the parents. By this definition, nearly all current members of our dynastic political establishment can be described as nepo babies, including President Marcos, Vice President Sara Duterte, Cabinet members, lawmakers and local government executives. There is no meritocracy in our society.

Opprobrium, however, is currently focused on one particular type of nepo baby: the children of public works contractors and their cohorts in government, both in Congress and the executive branch, who have been flaunting their wealth.

Generations of Filipinos have forgotten the tacky ostentation of Imelda Marcos. For many years after the 1986 people power revolt, the butterfly-sleeved Filipiniana gown long associated with Imeldific’s excesses fell out of favor in Pinoy society. Not surprisingly, it’s back with a vengeance under Marcos 2.0.

More recently, you’d think lessons would have been learned from the public reaction to images of Alice Guo decked out in designer stuff, beside a McLaren 620R race car that she denied owning, although she admitted once owning a helicopter that she said she had planned to rent out as a motor taxi.

Over a decade ago, the daughter of pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim Napoles, Jeane Catherine, drew public opprobrium as video of her lavish 21st birthday party at the Beverly Hills hotel in the US came to light, featuring a fashion show and her mommie dearest greeting her: “I love you, baby girl!”

Adult “babies” who enjoy ill-gotten wealth should be included as accomplices in plunder and punished accordingly. They are often used as dummies and dirty money is parked in their bank accounts.

Jeane Napoles’ online posts about her parents’ gifts to her, including a Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Boxster, triggered revenue probes in both the Philippines and the US.

This season’s nepo babies should have sensed the public mood from the reactions to the accessories of Guo and Quimbo. Criticized along with Quimbo at the time was Kitty Duterte’s penchant for Hermes and other designer brands, which netizens said belied her father’s claims of a modest lifestyle.

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This outrage at the shameless and their MO or kalakaran could last for some time.

Each time people’s lives are disrupted by floods, the scandal over corruption in flood control comes to mind. Since flooding isn’t going to be fixed overnight, the outrage is more likely to grow deeper instead of easing in the coming months.

There are people who earned every cent of their wealth legally and want to enjoy it, and flaunt it. For such folks, conspicuous consumption and ostentation are a matter of taste.

What matters is that the wealth did not come from criminal activities and other questionable sources.

People’s outrage over money pocketed at the expense of public suffering is a welcome development.

The question is whether the public outrage can be sustained, at least until 2028 when the ranks of the crooks seeking elective office can be drastically reduced.

Perhaps people will then know enough not to elect, for example, morons who think journalists getting his side on a controversy are engaged in a paid media spin. Taxpayers pay congressmen an average of P300,000 a month. Apart from murder, corruption and betrayal of public trust, stupidity should be a ground for expulsion from Congress.

Are we seeing a sea change in public attitude toward corruption, a social transformation like a tsunami that can’t be rolled back?

And will the sea change in attitude be complemented by structural reforms, to prevent a return of the systematic thievery?

If the answer to these questions is a yes, there’s hope for our country.