I retired in 2019 and since then I have been struggling with what my friends call “poverty of the pocket,” considering the amount that the Social Security System or SSS gives out to pensioners. I recently talked with a friend in college who retired a few years ahead of me and he admitted that he has been struggling, too, with his meager pension. It’s good that the monthly spending of his family is being propped up by the pension of his wife, who retired from her teaching job. The Government Service Insurance System or GSIS has long been trying to beef up the pension of retired teachers.
What I am saying is that I am struggling this year as far as the holidays are concerned and the coming New Year’s Eve is no exception. Unlike when I was still working when money was less of a problem, I have to be good at budgeting a limited resource this time around. Even for fares and spending on eating out. My only consolation is that I grew up poor and spent time in the countryside when I was younger. I am not a stranger, therefore, to living within my means.
So what will New Year 2026 be like? Years of living underground taught me not to look too far ahead. Besides, I am not really good at predictions, although I really do hope that 2026 would be good not only for my family but for the nation as well. I don’t really like some of the things that happened in 2025, which again showed me that government corruption will never go away and that has made me apprehensive about 2026 as far as governance is concerned.
Frankly, I have long tried to steer clear from politics because of the realization that the topic is not good for my health. But I could not get away from that considering my past as a journalist and columnist. I am always opinionated. I have been trying to focus on sports but there are issues I could not run away from, like the death of former Department of Public Works and Highways undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral and those anomalous flood control projects.
I actually find Cabral’s death tragic but considering her involvement in government corruption, my feeling has become ambivalent. At least investigators seemed to have ruled out foul play in her death, which made suicide as the more apparent cause. What I do not like in the reporting on Cabral’s death are the conspiracy theories. I was amazed at how some sectors would raise the possibility that she faked her death. Yet, some people initially believed in it, which just shows the kind of environment we are currently in wherein theories, no matter how preposterous, can be thrown around and some people will buy them.
Incidentally, the environment in 2026 may not be different from 2025. Bongbong Marcos will still be president and Sara Duterte the vice president. Marcos loyalists will still be around and so too the so-called diehard Duterte supporters or DDS. This means that their brand of thinking will continue to prevail next year. Even then, I would still wish everyone a happy new year.