Ñgayón namin cayó cailañgan.

A few months ago, Rappler reported that the wealth of many of our country's billionaires grew despite the pandemic. Ten or so of these billionaries are prominent, but there are actually more of them. To my estimation, at least thirty.

Now, it's back to square one for the government, with Metro Manila going back to a hard lockdown (Enhanced Community Quarantine) starting tomorrow due to a rising case of the dreaded Delta variant, a more dangerous strain of the COVID-19 virus circulating around the globe. Region IV-A might even follow suit (this according to a recent Facebook post by Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla). For sure, more livelihoods and businesses will be affected.

The national and local governments are in a quandary. They are running out of funds (if they haven't yet) for alleviation programs. Imagine if our billionaires would chip in at least ₱1 billion to government efforts. How much would be the total?

Ramón Ang
Alfredo Benítez
Mark Cojuangco
David Consunji
Teresita Sy-Coson
Robert Coyiuto Jr.
Lance Gokongwei
Andrew Gotianun Sr.
Roberto Oñgpín
Manny Pacquiáo
Manny Pañgilinan
Ricardo Po Sr.
Enrique Razón Jr.
Michael Romero
Edgar Sía II
Andrés Soriano
Elizabeth Sy
Hans Sy
Harley Sy
Herbert Sy
Henry Sy Jr.
Andrew Tan
Lucio Tan
Tony Tan Caktiong
George Ty
Cynthia Villar
Manny Villar
Fernando Zóbel de Ayala
Iñigo Zóbel de Ayala
Jaime Zóbel de Ayala

That's a total of ₱30 billion pesos. With that amount, they would be able to help millions of Filipinos who are financially suffering from this pandemic.

Baca ñga culang pa ang mg̃a billonario na iyán na nasa listahan, eh.

And believe me: even if each of them will shell out a billion pesos or more from their own pockets (not from their companies), never will they become impoverished. They will continue living la vida loca. Their wealth machines will continue producing for them tons of moolah for years to come.

The question is: are they willing to do that for their countrymen?

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