AN ordinary mortal may still believe that corrupt people have a conscience. They don’t. That’s why they’re able to steal gazillions from the national treasury.
The ordinary mortal has to accept the fact that for as long as corrupt people have no conscience, the stealing from the national treasury will continue. They don’t believe in bad karma, they don’t believe in repercussions, they don’t believe in boomerang effects.
What’s a boomerang effect? Hmmm. The flood control project they built didn’t work, and their mansion was washed away by the floods. They cut all the trees to build that mansion, and their mansion was washed away by the floods. They paid off building officials to allow them to build the mansion on a cliff, and their mansion was washed away by the floods.
They believe they’re above it all. Only to realize they’re not.
Cash, by the way, can disappear in 3, 2, 1. Spend a million pesos per day in casinos and after a month, P30 million is gone. After a year, P365 million is gone.
Cars, no matter how luxurious they are, depreciate the moment they leave the casa. Upon learning that the Discayas have a luxurious car collection, my initial reaction was, bad investment. They should have bought real estate instead. Which would, of course, require dummies for unexplained wealth.
The Anti-Money Laundering Act is supposed to catch unexplained wealth. Try depositing or withdrawing P500 thousand from a bank and surely the teller will ask who, what, where, when, why, how. It’s like applying for a U.S. visa. If you can’t answer with a straight face, be prepared for more questioning.
I think I had written about this in a previous column. Many years ago, a friend called me up about a bank vault door he was selling. I was like, Whaaat?! What will I do with a bank vault door?
He: For your money, documents, land titles, and jewelry.
Me: …
He: Where do you keep your precious stuff?
Oh. My piggies and miniatures — in the cabinet. My notebooks and newspaper clippings — in storage boxes. My books — in bookshelves.
But that was a Realization 101 for me: He has a bank vault door in his house, and hidden behind that are his precious stuff.
He’s neither a corrupt government official nor a corrupt contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways. He’s simply a wealthy business owner who most probably doesn’t trust banks anymore. But he does have a checking account for business transactions.
Wealthy people live in a different world that I couldn’t relate with. When they say, 50, they’re not referring to P50 or P50 thousand. They mean P50 million. 100 is P100 million. 500 is P500 million. In other words, a Hermes bag, which can cost millions, requires only petty cash fund from them.
When I was still managing an automotive spare parts store, I had to to get used to 50 as P50 thousand and not 50 pesos. Ah, no, I had to be an auto spare parts manufacturer to make 50 mean P50 million. Haha. And I had to learn how to use Chinese words for money because there were Chinese suppliers who simply refused to discuss that in Pinoy cash lingo.
