Stop making us heroes

Oil prices continue to increase, with last Tuesday’s double-digit increase that led to diesel costing as high as P172.9 per liter and gasoline up to P119.9 per liter. Public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, who have long been calling for fare increases, have been ignored by the government and instead have been promised “ayuda.” It is not known whether the frequency and amount of ayuda will be enough to offset the financial losses, especially as oil prices continue to increase, and along with them, our general cost of living. I watched a transport spokesperson on the news, who seemed despondent at the government’s lack of action, explain that whatever ayuda they receive now is no longer to pay for today’s fuel but to pay the debts they have incurred in the last few weeks. Her remarks highlight the inadequacy of the ayuda strategy, in that it is insufficient to keep PUV drivers ply their routes. Commuters, therefore, will continue to struggle to get to work as fewer and fewer PUVs are on the road. There are beginnings of a contract service program, specifically in Manila, though Mayor Isko Moreno admits they are not sure if they have the funds to sustain it through the oil crisis.

The Department of Finance responded to the multisectoral call to suspend the excise tax by expressing concern that doing so would decrease the government’s revenue by at least P121 billion. It is hard to sympathize with this, as they have allowed—and continue to allow—hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to be siphoned off by corrupt officials and contractors. Surely, they can spend this much energy on recovering the funds stolen by their government colleagues to spare ordinary Filipinos from further suffering at the gas station.

Once again, in a crisis, it is the regular folk who have to bear the brunt of keeping our system afloat. It is the jeepney and tricycle drivers who have to continue absorbing the cost for the sake of the commuters. Commuters, in turn, have no choice but to keep going to work despite difficulties in getting there. Establishments continue to run and provide services, thanks to such commuters. It also happens to be tax season, and we, taxpayers, have the burden of doing our duty to keep government programs running.

The government has a habit of calling us heroes. They celebrate overseas Filipino workers as heroes while they trap them in a tiresome paperwork and administrative process just to be able to work abroad. They called medical and economic frontliners heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic even as they withheld hazard pay and other merited benefits.

The term “heroes” is unfortunately used by the government as a misdirection, lauding someone’s sense of responsibility to hide their own lack of action and accountability. It also creates the illusion that the “heroes” have the superpower to solve our national problems when, in fact, it is their powerlessness that forces them to sacrifice.

It is easy for the government to ask jeepney drivers to sacrifice their income because the drivers do not hold power over them. The government holds all the cards: permits, licenses, taxes. Even if jeepney drivers decide to no longer work, they still need to find another source of income. They cannot afford to wait this out. They are also the ones who have to face the tired commuters daily, and so their sense of responsibility is hard to ignore.

It was the same during the pandemic with nurses and other health providers. Despite not receiving back pay, their sense of duty to their patients kept them from walking out. Government agencies are the most egregious employers; they can delay the release of salaries for many months simply because they can.

The government cheers on the “hero” so that it doesn’t have to do the work. The public tightens their belt so that some public officials can continue to ride their helicopters and steal from coffers to fund their lavish lifestyles. They glorify our self-sacrifice so they don’t have to.

There is a Filipino psychology concept called “tagasalo,” coined by psychologist Dr. Lourdes Carandang. It is a personality type, usually within the family, where a family member becomes the tagasalo and carries the burden of caring and solving problems for the family. They become the primary caretaker, the breadwinner, and the emotional babysitter of the family. Expanding her concept to the nation, the regular Filipino citizen has become the tagasalo of our society. We bear the burden of keeping our nation going, even as our public servants actively work against us, creating dysfunctional systems that cause the problems to begin with and exploiting loopholes to enrich themselves at our expense.

In this oil crisis, I sure do hope that the government won’t try to make us the heroes. This time, I hope they do their job.