VIDEOS of actual interviews and parodies of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries complaining about not having enough cash grants and requesting the government to augment them just so they can survive Covid-19 crisis have dominated social media in the last few days. Netizens across demography were so quick to criticize the said people and laugh about them.
While the video clips are funny, such humor leaves quite a bad taste on the mouth especially for those who could relate just how hard life is on the other side of the fence. Making fun of the poor people’s outrageous wish is a cheap shot of stripping them with what little dignity and respect they have left for themselves.
For one, a remark from one or a few 4Ps beneficiaries about wanting for more aid does not really represent the cry of the whole marginalized, and it buried the issue on how vulnerable they really are in this crisis.
Two, it also plants the seed of hatred from among the lower middle and upper middle-class sectors who worked hard, who also needed help this time but were not the government’s priority today because it’s presumed, they have more chances of surviving with minimal help.
Such humor is no different from making fun of a disabled person - so cheap and of poor taste.
Yes, they are jokes and they are funny, in the same manner that we make fun of “conyos” and “sosyaleros” but the only difference was that these jokes against the poor are robbing them of their sense of self especially in their situation now. I mean no one in his right mind would ever want to rely on the mercy of the government or of other people if they can still help it.
Instead of inciting anger, rage and division in an already very polarized nation, the higher calling in our trying times is to be compassionate. What the marginalized sector most need now are our sensitivity and our helping hand.
Let us try to win this war together with no one left behind.
Happy Easter!