EDITORIAL - Why the middle class also needs help

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to make some people famous, for better or worse.

Another public figure who gained notoriety recently is Senator Cynthia Villar who the other day questioned why middle-class income families should get aid from the government during the quarantine period.

“Bakit bibigyan ‘yung (middle-class)? Eh may trabaho sila, kahit lockdown, nagsu-sweldo sila. Sa gobyerno, kung employed by the government. Kung employed naman ng local, ng mga private, nagsu-sweldo din sila,” Villar said during the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing.

Naturally, her statement drew a lot of criticism and yesterday Villar apologized for her statement. It’s good that she has done so, so let’s let that be.

It’s so easy to attack Villar for her statement, blaming her ignorance and lack of appreciation for the middle class on her current position in society and privileged upbringing; after all she was born into wealth and never experienced the lack of it.

However, let’s not do that and instead focus on why the middle class should be given aid.

First, no one is taking care of the middle class. The rich are managing fine on their own in this crisis since they have money stored away. They can afford to go for a long period without work. The poor? The government is taking care of their needs through cash and distribution of goods. The middle class is left to fend for itself.

Second, it’s safe to assume a lot of government money going to beneficiaries comes from taxes. And the middle class pay their taxes. Not to disparage our less-fortunate brothers and sisters, but the fact remains that many if not most of the people who don’t have jobs, who don’t contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of the country, and who don’t pay taxes to the government are getting aid from the same government.

Third, the assumption that all middle class are receiving payment during quarantine isn’t correct. Many of them are on “no-work, no-pay” arrangements and are suffering just as badly as their less-privileged brethren.

It’s the middle class that provides the workforce that runs the nation, they make up the biggest market for a country’s goods and services. Most often, it is also from this class that leaders and entrepreneurs rise.

The weakening of the middle class will practically spell the death of this country, which is already at risk of economic decline.