Portrait of Poverty Fades Away

Sixteen years after the “portrait of poverty” was made popular by former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos to the Filipino nation, the portrait is now ready to be buried and be gone forever. The portrait that the former President literally saw from a colony of squatters in the infamous Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City actually was a poor and uneducated family man of eight.

The man called Mang Pandoy by name became popular when he was used by the former president for political propaganda in 1992. Mang Pandoy was portrayed as a symbol of poverty by the then Ramos administration. The former president promised that he would do everything to improve Mang Pandoy’s lot in particular and the nation’s poverty in general.

Decade and a half later, the 73 year old Mang Pandoy met his creator. He died of tuberculosis last Sunday October 31, 2008. His death bring back the issue of “portrait of poverty” immortalized by Mang Pandoy as placed on him by Ramos. The attention given to Mang Pandoy was then expected to change the poverty incidence in the country.

But it was WRONG. Mr. Ramos himself deliberately abandoned his promises and pledges to Mang Pandoy and the nation. Mang Pandoy brought with him the ‘portrait of poverty” to his grave. He was born poor and died poor. He symbolized poverty until his death which he literally fought to the last breath but suffered defeat.

That defeat is the same thing happening to the million of poor Filipinos struggling to get out of poverty. While in stark contrast, politicians like Ramos and the present Philippine leaders are winning in their fight in enriching and amassing wealth by hook or by crook.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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