Taxes, Taxes, Tsk, Tsk, Tsk

I pay my taxes in full. Unlike corporations, about 30% is deducted from my basic pay before I can even budget for my expenses. The Philippine tax system is one complicated animal that only few people managed to fathom and work their way around. I am not among those few "tax geniuses" because being a regular employee does not give me much choice. The wiser ones will counsel people like me to build my own business so I do not become slave to paying government taxes. I was almost convinced to work hard towards getting there.

Until this. Gross unspeakable "garapalan" (preposterous) swindling of Filipinos' hard-earned money. 

Credits: manilamommy.com

How could my fellow Filipinos do this to me? I work hard and live within my means to manage my finances and still be a responsible citizen. Then I will find out about grand mansions,  high-end collections of cars and bags, and lavish lifestyles of someone who supposedly earned all these through legitimate businesses while doing non-government work with un-honorable lawmakers on the side. 

As I quietly prayed for safety amidst the raging Maring typhoon and Habagat, I learned that this family who smugly countered questions from the press people weeks ago had gone AWOL, probably under the basement of one of their grand mansions while toasting to thousand-peso cognacs, pillowed on Louis Vuitton papillons and blanketed with Hermes scarves. Lavish lifestyles which I COULD have helped fund based on what the "Napoles pork barrel scandal" whistle-blowers alleged? Ten billion pesos? I didn't know we had so much money. We had been made to believe of budget deficits for the past years and are now being led to celebrate the 7% gross domestic product growth? But what's the truth in that deficit and supposed growth? Worse, 10 billion may just be one-tenth (or much less) of the HUGE loot these pigs stole from us !!!

I hope that we can go beyond this gathering of angry netizens condemning the gross and disgusting allegations of misused public funds. We have seen and attended a number of protest rallies in our lifetime. Where did that take us? Saan patutungo ang usapang ito? A question worth answering before we pitch in our two cents. And before we push for real action.