Luxury and extravagance amid public suffering
Economists agree that work – physical, mental,or moral – makes wealth. Inequality in social classes may result from the amount of work each member in the class has contributed to the good of the community. While being wealthy is not a crime, there is a consensusthat more than a usually vulgar and ostentatious display of wealthin times of crisis is like salt that adds pain to the wounds of those who suffer.
Under the Civil Code, thoughtless extravagance in expenses for pleasure or display during a period of acute public want or emergency may be stopped by order of the courts at the instance of any government or private charitable institution.
The ongoing Senate probe on the use of the COVID response funds exposed some outrageous anomalies. The contract to supply personal protective equipment was bagged by a company that is by no means financially qualified. While the company lacks the capital to fulfill its supply commitment to the government, its officers live in luxury and extravagance as they amassed huge profits from a government deal believed to be overpriced.
Sadly, many honorable men and women in the front line died in the battle against COVID due to a lack of adequate protection. But a few who are privileged to bag this juicy contract have indulged in the sinful pleasure of owning a super sport utility vehicle, a 2021 Porsche estimated at P8.5 million, a 2021 Porsche Carrera worth P13.5 million, and a 2021 Lexus RC F valued around P5.9 million.
Granting that the money used to buy these vehicles comes from hard work, driving them during this pandemic when manylost their jobs and livelihood is thoughtless extravagance. It is even more outrageous when your company, with no sufficient capitalization, raked in money out of the current crisis.
Vaccine manufacturers deserve reasonable compensation for investing in research and development due to their extraordinary skill or ability to produce the vaccines. However, an undercapitalized company that supplies commonplace face masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment does not deserve a multibillion contract. Unlike vaccine makers, the company does not have superior physical, mental, or intellectual capital. It may have something else, and that’s what the Senate is digging.
But dare not tread into this mess. Or else, you get no less than a spew of invectives from the country’s top blabbermouth.