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Netnet Camomot .

NowThis News posted a video on Facebook last Tuesday about 22-year-old Akash who “pushed a BMW his parents gave him into a river” in India “because he reportedly wanted a Jaguar” for his birthday, and “felt the car was too small for him and his friends.” Wow. Talk of rich people problems.

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Tax payments can also be considered as rich people problems since taxes mean you have properties and businesses that you’re, well, paying taxes for. But owning properties and businesses does not always evoke an image of Scrooge McDuck swimming in money in his humongous vault since rich can have many levels. There’s the gazillion rich, the trillion rich, the billion rich. The million level is not exactly rich in the eyes of those with billions.

Basing a person’s relevance on his financial statements and bank balance is the usual practice of those who want to have a share of his millions. Once those assets are gone, the wannabes will also disappear as they look for other people whose assets they can siphon.

Young people like Akash may look up to their parents at first for guidance. Now that he’s convinced that a Jaguar is better than a BMW, an outsider may start to suspect he was brought up by his parents to believe he deserves nothing less.

Children do begin to have a mind of their own as they constantly change their answers to, Anong gusto mong maging? Those answers can range from soldier to doctor, with the child ending up in a finance course in college, and eventually working in a bank. And there’s the happy and proud parent saying, Who would have known? But the parent already knew even way before, when he saw how determined that child was in learning baby steps.

At the age of 18, young ladies are usually celebrating their debut, a grand celebration that somehow serves as an appetizer for their wedding in the future.

And then, there’s the daughter who, at the age of 18, has allegedly joined a leftist group, and her own mother could not even convince her to go back home.

In the US, 18 is the age when a child is expected to leave the comforts of home and find his place in this oh so cruel world. His parents will then heave a deep sigh of relief as they begin to adjust with their empty-nest syndrome.

The 18-year-old Pinoy, on the other hand, may tend to live with his parents even after his wedding day, with his children now having grandparents as their part-time nannies. That’s the Pinoy tradition. Thus, when an 18-year-old Pinay decides to leave home and not heed her mother’s advice, it becomes news, because it’s not the usual.

But I think it’s easier for a mother to let go if she knows that her daughter is safe and sound in a secure place. Otherwise, she will have sleepless nights as she constantly worries about where her daughter is. The solution is to meet halfway, with the daughter not going to extremes in finding her way in this oh so cruel world.

I had classmates and dormmates who joined anti-Marcos rallies in the ‘80s. They would return to their homes or to our dorm drenched in water from fire trucks, which was still better than tear gas. Whenever we attended the Thursday novenas at the St. Jude church near Malacanang, we had to pass through Mendiola’s barricades. We joined the 1986 People Power and somehow became Edsa heroes.

One look at Hong Kong’s protests, and there’s the Pinoy saying, That looks so familiar.

A parent today will probably allow his child to join rallies but beyond that, the parent is understandably afraid of what will happen to his child.

In an ideal world, there’s no graft and corruption, and everyone enjoys the perks of free education from preschool to college, and free health care. But Pinas is not an ideal world, thus, the struggle to make it ideal, with equal opportunities for all.

As long as Pinas has its ultra-rich and ultra-poor, it’s easy to convince the youth to fight for the ideal world. Because they can see the wide gap between the rich and the poor with their own eyes, and have even experienced the effects of that gap. How to convince them that the ideal doesn’t exist especially after they’ve visited countries where it’s possible? That’s the question.

Gap tooth is easier to fix, and Dakota Johnson has fixed hers, prompting her fans to mourn for its demise.

Gap is also closing many stores this year as shoppers switch to online shopping.

Yup, there’s constant change in dental care and in shopping, but Pinas seems to always have its share of anti-administration protests, no matter who’s occupying the throne in Malacañang. It’s about time for the Pinoy to ask, Bakit ba ganyan?

It’s called the 1986 People Power because it happened in 1986. It has been 33 years. And yet, the Pinoy can still be convinced to join an anti-administration movement. It has obviously become a hard habit to break.

And then, the non-protester sees one reason why by simply reading the title of a Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) piece: “COA report: P254M went to ‘error-filled’ DepEd books.”

In case you’re not familiar with some terms, COA is the Commission on Audit, M means millions, and DepEd is the Department of Education. And there you are, with your jaws on the floor, exclaiming, P254 million wasted in error-filled textbooks?! Well, yup, that’s what the COA discovered.

The textbooks were for Grade 3 pupils for their Araling Panlipunan, Science and English.

The “Araling Panlipunan Learner’s Material,” for example, had 1,308 errors. Juice colored! It referred to the Philippines as an island when it’s an archipelago. Oh, my.

The “English Learner’s Material” had 430 errors, and “Science Learner’s Material” had 317 errors. Whoa. Errors pa more.

It was former Education Secretary Armin Luistro who approved the P254.253-million contract for the books which were then delivered in 2015-2016.

I wonder if those textbooks have the Magellan 1521 details, otherwise, those students would never understand the term-sharing for the position of House Speaker: Nganong 15-21 man, 16-20 man unta.

Yikes!

But there’s good news. The COA also discovered an “alarming number” of 3.4 million books that have remained in DepEd warehouses, with a total amount of P113.708 million. That would save students from more error-filled knowledge. Still, P113.708 million plus P254.253 million, that’s a total of P367.961 million. Such a waste of government funds and taxpayers’ money.

Meanwhile, Akash must be still awash with cash as he waits for his parents to give him a Jaguar already, now na.

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