HOTSPOT

I’m quite sure many have seen the memes, cartoons and short essays about it. The younger set from the Gen Z are up in arms over what they sense is being considered as “retirement funds” of their parents and elders.

In their thinking, that is unfair and flatly wrong. They want to break the cycle of dependence on children. If the arrangement continues, the younger generation won’t be able to chart their own destiny, and marshall their resources for their aspirations.

In truth, many families and children nationwide have faced this vicious cycle for decades now. But this is less about the disinformation that “people don’t save for the future,” or that “it is the poor people’s fault that they’re poor.” These are the fake news peddled by big corporations, economic managers, congresses and presidents who run away from their obligations to workers and to society, and who pass on these obligations to citizens.

For instance, the nerve of those who accuse working people of being lazy, when industries are unable to provide secure and stable jobs and living wages. How can workers who are given less than half of the living wage and are on perpetual “Endo” set aside any amount for savings? Lest we forget, the government itself is the biggest employer of contractuals in our country.

Workers don’t ask for much: They ask for secure and stable work, and a living wage that’s adequate for their family’s basic needs, and a just share of the value or wealth they create while at work. That both industry and government refuse to give both consigns millions to poverty.

There’s also the basic services of shelter, transportation, and health care. Government policy is two-pronged: privatization and austerity. These are given to profit-seeking companies who don’t know or share the public’s needs, while at the same time government refuses to invest in these services that people need to work, study, survive and thrive.

Government has refused to raise the salaries of teachers and health workers. It is a stretch to even imply that they’re lazy, right? They’re not well-off and cannot keep pace with inflation and rising costs of living because the government has not given them meaningful pay raises.

Even overseas Filipino workers cannot enjoy the fruits of their labor. They have to remit money back to the country, to save their families. They have to work harder, so they could send more money, because prices at home continue to rise.

It cannot be viewed as fantastic that Filipino workers expect a decent and humane retirement. They’ve worked for it all their lives and paid for it through contributions. Why the SSS and GSIS can only give either ₱2,000 or ₱5,000 in monthly pension to retirees, we do not know. Maybe we should ask the former bankers who government has appointed to lead SSS and GSIS and given multi-million pesos in salaries.

It is not so much that parents and seniors wish to be a burden on their children. That’s not their own language. Burden – “pabigat” – is the language of the system. Families are naturally the nucleus of social solidarity. If they could fend for themselves, they would do so.

This messy state of affairs – from contractualization to low wages, lack of adequate services, to measly pensions – is really what is being passed on the shoulders of children. The government refuses to spend and invest on public services; while the private sector cashes in on privatized health care, privatized transport, privatized housing, low wages, perpetual contractualization. Want healthcare? Get your own. Want to travel? Buy your own car. Even the mental health crisis caused by this sorry state of affairs is being passed on to patients: Go see your own doctor and buy your own medicines. This, tragically, is neoliberal economics for you.

I’m happy that the Gen Z are rising against this sad state of affairs. But I hope they see beyond the narrow confines of family. For the situation is shared by millions of families nationwide. It is not a family problem, but national problems that demand national solutions. Families nationwide study, condemn and destroy the neoliberal cancer that’s afflicting our economy and our families.

It is overdue for Filipino families to stand up and tell government: Own up to your responsibility to society, and not pass them on to us and our children.