Santo Muerte’s Dyslexic Rhetoric

Felipe Natanio aka “Mang Pandoy”, the man who symbolized millions of poor, struggling Filipinos, has died. He gained “celebrity” status in 1992 during President Fidel Ramos’ State Of The Nation speech when he vowed to make the lives of people like him better. Guess what, Mang Pandoy was still poor when he died. While it’s true that the government didn’t do enough to improve the lives of poor Filipinos like Mang Pandoy, I think they’re just partly to blame for the problem of poverty in this country. Mang Pandoy was just earning 50 pesos a day yet he had eight children. You don’t need the government to tell you that having more children than what you’re actually earning will give you financial woes. I think this is the problem in general with most poor Filipino families. It’s also the reason I’m totally for birth control which the Catholic Church, in all its infinite wisdom, is vehemently opposing, but that’s another topic altogether. Having a College degree greatly increases someone’s chances of having a better life, but you won’t be able to give that kind of education to your children if you’re earning below minimum wage & you have twelve of them. So if you’re a minimum wage earner who has twelve kids & constantly blames the government for all your problems, remember this: While it’s true that we get screwed by the government on a daily basis, they sure as hell didn’t screw your wife & made her give birth to your twelve children.