Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Bautista: What would you do with P250 million? By Sam Bautista Tea Leaf Reader
I COULD not imagine P100 million, much less P250 million. The most money I ever held in my two hands was a staggering P50,000 when I had to pay for a machine a former company told me to buy.
That was way back in the 1990s when the peso was P27 to the greenback. So I supposed at today's standards I had with me something like P100,000.
But back to the P250 million. Last night, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office was raffling off more than this amount in its Superlotto draw. Before the Holy Week break, the pot was already more than P162 million. With the two weeks allowed for the pot to grow, everyone was expecting more than 250 million.
That's a lot of money and it got Filipinos from all corners of the country queuing up at the closest lotto outlet to bet their hard earned P10 on the off chance last night was their lucky night.
I'm a betting man, there is no doubt about that. But I don't trust my chances to Lady Luck, we all know just how finicky that woman can be. No, I try to hedge my bet by using whatever skill I was given by God. Thus, the games of chance I put my money on are card games where my ability to read the situation could spell big bucks or big busts.
Anyway, I went around town asking those I know the same question over and over again ad nauseaum: "What would you do with 250 million?" The replies ranged from the very practical, "bibili ako ng house and lot," to the absurd, "bibili ako ng lechon araw araw!"
From these two answers, it is easy to see just how low the Filipino has found himself in economically. In the United States, anyone with a job could dream of owning a house through easy financing terms with the local bank (which by the way is the cause of today's financial crisis in America -- housing).
Anywhere else lechon, or any feast food, could be had for just a small investment. But not in our country, for why would anyone dream of eating lechon day in and day out once he makes his millions. That's not only unhealthy, it's nakakasawa.
The most practical replies were those of Pinoys looking forward. Like this, "pagagawa ako ng apartment." Or "I-invest ko sa stock market, bibilhin ko ang entire stock ni Henry Sy!" Building for the future.
Still there are those who would rather indulge their basic instincts. "I'll get me a harem of blond haired women who will open up to me whenever, wherever I want!" this from an obvious sex-depraved individual. "I'll go on a world tour and never come back home," said another adventurist who obviously is innocent of how citizens of other countries treat Filipinos -- as workers willing to grab a job others would pass up.
The dream of making a lot of money from a game of chance like lottery are for people like these, simple, down to earth (if sometimes whacky) and wishing for a better life. The lure of lotto is very big for Filipinos who toil every single waking hour to drop into bed either drunk or too exhausted to care for anything else. Giving hope in a country where citizens have given up.
Me? What would I do with P250 million? I would probably set aside 10 percent for the church (no kidding!), two percent for drink, finish some degree somewhere (either I buy it from the school or, heaven forbid, actually study for it), get a small house with a large lawn, and invest the rest in a push cart business, probably fishballs.
