It seems the number of poor Filipinos is not going south and a “protest rally” at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) by an estimated 1,000 people early this month jolted the central bank, not because the “protesters” were accusing Gov. Eli Remolona of corruption but because they want a share of the country’s hidden wealth estimated to be P100-trillion.
Thousands also converged one time to “collect” on what they said was money to be dispensed by the Marcos family to its loyal supporters, and the poor souls went home empty-handed as they could not cadge a meal, let alone wads of cash. Some other time in Pasig City, thousands also waiting for a generous payout from a wealthy family ended up in hospitals as victims of food poisoning.
These are the people who believe that we are a country pretending to be poor, and that there so much cash lying around somewhere like the “Yamashita treasure,” which can be found using 134 or so maps, and the 4,500 metric tons of gold that Imelda Marcos supposedly owns. The figure is bigger than the actual volume of gold produced in the Philippines in any given year. There are probably hundreds of treasure hunters seeking the precious metal covered by those red Burmese gold certificates and many of them already lost their shirts, along with the skin on their backs. Filipinos should stop thinking that there is a quick buck for everyone and they should not labor or toil to earn their keep.
The World Gold Council (WGC) has estimated that 212,582 metric tons of gold have been mined throughout history, of which two-thirds has been mined since 1950. In short, since the onset of gold refining in Europe 4,000 years ago, only 84,195 metric tons (MT) were produced until 1950, with 138,388 (MT) being mined and refined after 1950. WGC believes only 54,000 MT are left to be mined, making the total volume of the precious metal to be retrieved from the bowels of the earth at 244,040 MT. WGC says all the gold produced on earth could fit a cube 71 ft and 3 inches long, wide and deep. The value of gold at 2017 prices was $7.5 trillion.
For Larry Gadon, the anti-poverty czar of the Marcos Jr. dispensation, those who are demanding a share of the P100-trillion “hidden wealth” in the BSP must be a bunch of bozos since poverty in the Philippines is an “illusion,” a “haka-haka” that is debunked by the most scientific metric of prosperity—foot traffic at the malls and late-model sedans and SUVs that ply Metro Manila roads and create the worst regular traffic jams on the planet.
By Gadon’s pompous declaration, the country’s economy must have enjoyed a boom since 2022, when the new administration took over, but this boom was never enjoyed by the poor, including those demanding a share of the $100-trillion hidden wealth, those who had food poisoning for lunch and the thousands who were told of a “back pay” that were to be doled out by barangays.
Gadon also touts the foot traffic in fast-food outlets as a gauge of prosperity, never mind if those who pay are pensioners, persons with disabilities (PWDs) or that the diners really enjoy Dutch treat. Gadon surely knows the value of money since he has just been fined P150,000 by the Supreme Court (SC) for lying in one of his filings for the impeachment of former Supreme Court chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Incidentally, Gadon had been disbarred.
To put Gadon back to earth, he must look into the plight of the 5,100 garment factory workers who lost their jobs, or forced to go on leave as their companies suffered low demand from overseas, worsened by the US ban on Xinjiang cotton. The Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (Conwep) said nine factories have been affected, including Luenthai Philippines, the biggest exporter of textile goods using cotton. The impact affects 3% of the 182,600 workers employed by Conwep members. Luenthai alone retrenched 2,000, or 60% of its total work force. Moreover, more than 1.601 million workers lost their jobs in agriculture, fisheries, mining from March 2023 to March 2024.
