“There are people who have money and people who are rich.” Coco Chanel
By Alex P. Vidal
We beg to disagree with the claims of some
politicians that public service will only make them poor if they are already
rich, or will make them poorer if they enter politics as poor.
We also don’t buy it hook, line and
sinker that most of them run for public office during the elections because
they are motivated by a robust philanthropic desire and commitment that “we sincerely
want to serve the people and are willing to make sacrifices to ensure that
our constituents get the kind of service that they deserve.”
The opposite is what is actually happening.
In fact, most of them became rich while
in public office. The poor became rich and the rich became richer in their ranks.
Their statements of assets and liabilities (SAL) show their wealth has increased
by leaps and bounds while in public office.
Their sudden transformation from rags to
riches has become eye-catching and head-turning.
BUSINESSES
Unless they have other businesses or huge
sources of income other than their salary in government, it’s mind-boggling how
many of them became millionaires overnight.
Many aspirants for public office, in
fact, were adamant to pursue a career in politics for fear that they would only
end up as milking cows of their poor constituents who will badger them with cash
assistance for funeral, hospitalization, barangay basketball tournaments, among
other forms of solicitations and financial requests.
They feared that their salary in government
would be no match or not enough to sustain these gargantuan financial needs of
their poor constituents on a daily basis, thus many of them shied away from
public service.
We know a lot of elected and appointed
officials in government whose lifestyles have changed dramatically while enjoying
the pelf and privileges that go with their positions in both local and national
offices.
EXPENSIVE
Their expensive and sophisticated lifestyles
and hobbies are far cry from the ones when they were not yet in government. Even
the way they laugh in public has alarmingly changed, the tone of their voices
is now smeared with arrogance, pomposity and conceit.
Their egos bloated, power and money have
intoxicated many of them. Their feet are no longer planted on the ground that
even ordinary members of the hoi polloi can no longer reach them or sit alongside
with them for a brief tete-a-tete.
And they call themselves “public
servants.”
There is a famous saying that if we want
to know a person, let’s give him power. Once they have tasted fame and glory
and their whims and caprices have been satisfactorily taken care of, they will
cling to political power like leeches.
They will become regular clients in every
electoral exercise mesmerizing gullible voters and taking them for a ride. Old
habits die hard. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so goes
a popular adage.
