Napoles' Daughter #At22 — a Thank You Letter to My Parents

#At22, Jeanne Napoles was living the billionaire lifestyle. It is decadent and depraved (RIP HST). Somehow though, this story made me proud of my parents.

#At22, my father was already preparing himself to engage in public service. A year later, at the very young age of 23, became the barangay captain of his hometown. He later on had to leave due to differences in principle with the mayor who had around 20 years of rule over the city of Muntinlupa. He then moved to the private sector as he couldn't stomach the immoralities in the political system.

My father and I testing couches for his condo
#At22, my mother was struggling just to finish her accountancy course in FEU. She would always tell me she would make 100 iced candies every night and sell them just so she can have extra money for transportation. She walked miles, at times even through floods, just to be able to save.

My mother and I in our trip to Singapore
They both came from families that are not very well-off. My father sold peanuts in the public market and so did my mother who takes pride in dubbing herself the palenke queen during those times. Through fairness and hardwork, through their blood, sweat, and tears: they were able to provide me a decent and even above-average lifestyle.

I have nothing against Napoles per se. It's more of I'm proud I was raised by parents who acquired wealth and property justly and without guilt. And I was raised with the same principles: be fair, be honest, do not cheat, do not be corrupt, be kind to others, etc. and even though I am not able to always perfectly follow these principles, I keep them close to my heart and try to always apply them in my daily life. I am thankful. I am proud of my parents.

#At22, they were paying for my overpriced education in a popular university. #At22, I had a DSLR, a Macbook Pro, a place of residence near my university, a car, a decent allowance, and almost anything I asked for. #At22, I was spoiled but the difference is that I can be proud of it.

It's so numbing to think that we are talking about values that are in billions. It's disheartening that there are those who seem to not have any sort of conscience. I guess the lesson here is: how would you want your children to view you? Would you like them to be proud of how you raised them?

I hope public servants and bureaucrats and those who have the potential to become future leaders keep this in mind. All in all, I'm just really proud of my parents and I'm so grateful.

2 comments:

  1. Makes me proud of my mom too! :) there is a weak hope in me that the younger napoles just wasn't aware of the implications of her lifestyle and that this tough time in her life might make her realise things and.. oh i dunno, maybe she'd be moved enough to sell a pair of shoes to feed a whole village in impoverished places in manila? one pair for one village, cos that's how much they cost.. one can dream

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  2. Yeah. It reminds of the Godfather where the wives and kids aren't necessarily an accessory to the crime or whatever. I guess it would depend on their knowledge of the crimes being committed. :)

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