FEBRUARY TRAGEDY

By Reymundo Salao

Three days earlier, at the start of the month, the government imposed the R-VAT. This means, another increase in the tax burden of the Filipino people. While many government heads assure that the tax addition is very minimal, this still is undeniably very very heavy for the poverty-stricken masses of this country. Many are still aching the pain of the E-VAT, now R-VAT has made the worst, horrific. With the non-transparency of how the government would use these additional funds, the agricultural funds exposé, the missing Marcos money, and the unresolved Garcillano scandal, among many other unresolved government anomalies, it is a virtual addition of insult to injury; vinegar on open wounds. If the crippling effect of the tax burden can even be felt by the middle class, how worse can it be for the ones down the poverty line.

It is a grim fact that some may resort to crime just to free themselves and their families from utter misery. These people will do anything for survival. Desperation is an understatement for what the poor citizens of this country is experiencing. But still, there are many who have the decency enough not to cross that line of morality just to have that redemption. Many still just work hard, and depend on a decent way of life to live on and survive. But as one may prove, the fruits of hard labor sometimes feel insufficient for one to attain real redemption. Inevitably, many will dream of that easy road to redemption, as they wish to win the lotto, the sweepstakes, and the noontime TV game shows that give out millions of pesos.

One such show is ABS-CBN’s “WOWOWEE” which is a game show where many of our masses would go to, with humble wishes to win, maybe even for some mere consolation prize. In a country where poverty is something shared by 90% of the citizens, Wowowee is a show that symbolizes as something that people would look up to, where their simple wishes can come true. Wishes that are nothing more than a little redemption from the miseries of poverty.

After the R-VAT has grown to terrorize the pockets of the Filipino people, many naturally look up to Wowowee to save them from the tsunami of this new tax burden. On the scheduled big Saturday First anniversary of the show, a great number of people have brought themselves by the overwhelmingly large numbers, all headed to the ULTRA complex where the show would be held. But tragedy struck as a stampede killed around 79 victims and left many more wounded and hospitalized.

Is it the fault of the security and gate personnel? Is it the fault of a couple of people who allegedly started a panic by shouting a false bomb threat? Nobody knows for sure. But what I do know is that this is the result of desperation. Desperation not of people who wish to be rich like kings, not of people who desire to own and drive fancy cars, not of people who wish to be business tycoons who own various businesses, not of people who wish to be influential like the gods of their provinces. In these times of increasing prices of taxes, of commodities, of education, and of medicine, these people simply wish redemption from their poverty miseries. These people are victims murdered by desperation and poverty. There is nobody to blame but poverty itself.