How MONEY destroys people…

Jenni Epperson's article which was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer was a pitiable rehash of Rhonda Byrne's book, "The Secret". It was as a defense to Tim Yap's new line for Folded and Hung.

Tim Yap's shirts have slogans such as

"Filthy Rich",

"Big Spender"

and Don't Hate Me, Envy Me".

Jenni Epperson dares bloggers to criticize the shirts.

Columnist Rita Jimeno writes in her column: “money has destroyed and will continue to destroy persons whose moral values are not strongly grounded. But there are a few questions that can perhaps lift them from their obsession… If only money could tell tales of how it has enslaved souls and mocked man for adoring it.

How money destroys people…

by Rita Linda V. Jimeno

If money could talk, can you imagine the tales it would tell? There would be stories of unimaginable greed; of large-scale corruption; and of man fs loss of his conscience, dignity and honor. Money may be an essential ingredient for human existence and a nation fs prosperity. But why do some men obsess about amassing more than they need?

From a macro point of view, writer Craig de Mott tells us the danger when persons want more and more money. He says millionaires want to become billionaires. In time, fewer and fewer individuals or companies own more and more. One multinational company, for instance, has bought another multinational company for more than $40 billion, an amount bigger than the Gross National Product of many nations. In time, Craig says, we will be nothing but slaves and little employees producing products or rendering service for the few families and companies which own and control practically the whole world. And because money is power, the rich contribute to all the political parties; get the laws that will make their companies richer passed and have judges in their back pockets. Thus, when the rich violate the laws, these laws can be twisted to let them get away.

The super-rich, Craig adds, are not like you and me. They may look like us, dress like us, but they think, plan and carry out things in ways we would never do. You can even say they are not human, Craig asserts. And this brings to my mind some disturbing encounters with the rich Craig speaks about.

Years ago, I met a woman who seemed very religious. She went to church on a daily basis and served the church she went to diligently. Still, there was something about her that made me uneasy. Then one day, she requested for a consultation with me together with all her siblings. It was then that I learned how very wealthy her family was. They owned many large businesses and vast real estate holdings. Their father \the one who built their empire--was old and ailing. They feared he would go any time. What they wanted to do was to avoid paying taxes on the properties their father would leave behind. They also wanted to leave as little assets in their father fs name when he died, to make sure that the wife their father married after their mother died (this was when they were young) would inherit little, if at all. Their father and his second wife had a daughter and a son who were then still minors. They wanted that only one small house should effectively be left for them explaining (in a tone of feigned concern), that the second wife and their young half-siblings would not have the means to maintain a big household. My conversation with them stressed me out as any suggestion from me entailing the payment of taxes such as donor fs taxes (if their father were willing to transfer properties to them in his lifetime); and giving what legally belonged to their step-mother and half siblings was met with vicious arguments by them. Greed ruled them. When they realized I was the wrong lawyer to ask, they left, visibly irritated. What struck me was that they did not seem bothered, or the least bit ashamed, that what they wanted done was shamefully unjust.

In another case, two of five siblings instituted criminal cases against the three others. They were co-stockholders in a family corporation established by their parents. Their parents put into the company all the real estate assets they acquired in their lifetime, which consisted of high value properties in various cities in Metro Manila. Their father had long died while their mother was old and in-and-out of hospitals. The cases filed against the three siblings were obviously harassment suits calculated to make them give up their control of the corporation. Meanwhile, their mother fs hospital bills kept piling up as no one among the siblings was willing to foot them. Their mother fs subsequent death changed nothing. Their mother fs unpaid hospital bills remained outstanding. If at all, their bitter divide as a family widened even more.

A third case involves a group of doctors who have been putting up hospitals, one after another. They have invented a scheme that proved enormously profitable at the expense of unsuspecting new doctors who buy into the scheme and the doctors f patients. First, they pinpoint a location where a hospital will be built. Then, even before registering their company, they invite new doctors to become stockholders. The price at which they sell a block of shares is ten times more than its par value. So, if the par value of shares is, for instance, P25,000.00 they sell to new doctors at the price of P250,000.00 per block of shares. They then use the money they collect from would-be stockholders to pay up their own subscribed capital in the corporation which they have yet to register. And it doesn ft end there. They also either own the construction company that will build the hospital or, choose a contractor friendly to them, without any bidding. This, of course, means kickbacks and commissions. And then this same group of doctors, excluding those they recruited to invest in the hospital, will put up another company that will handle the diagnostic procedures for all patients who get admitted in the hospital. As they are the ones who prescribe the so-called needed procedures to patients and they own the diagnostic enterprise, unsuspecting patients often undergo unnecessary but expensive procedures. What boggles the mind is that doctors are supposed to have their patients f interest, not money, at heart.

Money has destroyed and will continue to destroy persons whose moral values are not strongly grounded. But there are a few questions that can perhaps lift them from their obsession. Does it matter how much one owns when one dies? Will one fs heirs become happier and better persons by having more money than they really need? History tells us that surviving heirs lose their drive and sense of responsibility when inheriting too much wealth. Good relationships among siblings, parents and children, turn into bitter fights over money.

If only money could tell tales of how it has enslaved souls and mocked man for adoring it. Money is only a tool to serve our needs and to make life comfortable. To be happy, one has to make others happy. But a willingness to do this can only spring from a recognition that we were created by a Supreme Being not just for ourselves but for our fellowmen and for society, too. A blessed Lenten week to all.