The Ele-VAT in the Room

Credit: UNTV

Philippine politicians are a weird bunch. Take for example Sen. Ralph Recto, who seems to be trying to garner cheap goodwill by authoring a law that raises the tax exemption levied on 13th month paychecks. At face value, the 36.1% of the working force that comprise the non-underemployed segment of that group (presumably those that are guaranteed a 13th-month pay) would be absolutely ecstatic upon hearing the legislative move to take less from their Christmas bonuses.

Seen On Taft Avenue [PSA-cum-Anecdote]

Some random Taft Avenue photo. Credit on image itself.

I finally saw one of those you-bumped-me-now-pay-me scammers in action. I absolutely would've wanted to take some visual evidence of some sort, but alas, I was kinda slow to take my iPod out and the bus kept moving.

And no, I didn't really want to alight because I had an absolutely good seat, which I won't be able to get if I got on the bus from that area.

So I'll just try my best to put the scenario in words.

Country =/= Corporation (Among Other Things)

I actually have no idea what photo to put here, so I settled for
something related to comments. (Credit: AttorneyMarketingProfits.com)

I promised a friend that I'd expound on a general thought I commented on a Facebook post of hers. She originally shared a post from some other guy (see here) where the latter was pretty fed up about how Filipinos were becoming belligerent and disrespectful with their complaints and suggestions, not to mention how they seemed to know better than the president (more on this later). He offered up an analogy in doing so, painting a picture of a company wherein the hypothetical president said the same Aquino catchphrase "kayo ang boss ko" and was now subject to suggestions from every worker under him.

The analogy falls flat for me. In trying to make the scenario more accessible to the poster's audience (I think), he oversimplifies, if not misses, the relationship between a democratic country's government and its citizens.