Todays Exactly100: P500 Noche Buena: Governance from the Penthouse

When Sec. Cristina Roque said that ₱500 was a good Noche Buena budget for a small family — ham, spaghetti, everything — I was generous, for this is common in government: downplaying the bad, insisting things are “not too bad.” I have long argued that officials need communications training.

But when she doubled down, I realized this was no longer careless phrasing. This is ivory tower thinking. She revealed a face government should never show: uncaring.

What she needs is a different kind of seminar — activists call it immersion: live with the poor for a week, learn the gravity of their lives. /Vincent Pozon