Joe The Plumber : The Imported Mang Pandoy

“Joe The Plumber” became an overnight success when his name was dragged into the US presidential campaign of lolo McCain while demonstrating how Joe will be most affected by Obama’s tax proposals. When I heard about Joe, I could not help but remember Philippines' very own Mang Pandoy. For those who don’t know him, Mang Pandoy was considered the “face of Philippine poverty” during Ramos’ administration and just like pareng Joe, Mang Pandoy became an overnight sensation as he was dragged into the selfish programs of our politicians. During Mang Pandoy’s “fame” he appeared on local TV shows posing as the inspiration for "the poor who dreams of having a better life".

Sad to say, I guess Mang Pandoy and Joe The Plumber’s commonality ends at being used by politicians for their pogi-points-propaganda. For one thing unlike Joe, during Mang Pandoy’s time, he never had to pay Philippine taxes with his meagre P50 daily earnings. Paying taxes would have been unheard of in Mang Pandoy’s world. Plumbers in the US, on the other hand, earn at least $23 a day, equivalent to a month’s earnings for Mang Pandoy. With earnings like this, no wonder Pinoys like Mang Pandoy go after the Great American Dream.

To show that the government was "really serious" in helping the poor, Mang Pandoy was given a job as a government worker. Unfortunately, after Ramos ended his term as president, we never heard of Mang Pandoy again. A few years and more corruptions later, Mang Pandoy, just like poverty alleviation, was forgotten . Last August Mang Pandoy's name appeared on the news again when it was reported how died at the age of 73 after battling tuberculosis. After being given a stable job, how can he still die a poor man ? Obviously there’s so much more to a better life than having a job.

So what happens to the dreams of the poor? In our country, if you were born a poor man, you will most likely die a poor man. Unless you work your a** off, win the lotto, become a movie star, a politician or --- the hottest craze today-- a police general. If you beome a police general may bonus pang Moscow trip at P6.9M ang bulsa mo. Come to think of it, if Mang Pandoy saved his P50 a day and not spend a single centavo off of it, he would have saved P6.9M after 378 years. Yeah there’s hope for the poor.