The rich are different from you and me
What was Gen, Garcia's wife thinking when she made all those incriminating declarations of affluence? Was she on medication or what? The haughtiness was reminiscent of Queen Antoinette of France who, when told the people of Paris had no bread to eat, memorably quipped, "Let them eat cake." The queen's head was hacked off; it is doubtful whether Gen. Garcia would ever spend a day in jail.

I myself have grown jaded with systemic government corruption that my thinking now is that: If you must corrupt the government's coffers, please be at least discreet about it because I don't want to read about all the venal details on the papers. It is unnerving for proles to hear tales of grandeur.

Few weeks ago, I had the same feeling when I heard of GSIS executive Garcia's taking a loan to buy a Volvo. How would you feel about the Volvo if you were on those GSIS queus waiting for your benefits to be released for the fourth week? The gall.

Now, I don't know whether the allegations hurled against him are true, but this I know: Garcia must be incompetent. Why? Because it is a basic principle of sound personal financial management never to buy a car using a loan. A car is a non-performing asset; it doesn't earn you anything. (Even Megastar Sharon Cuneta knows this. I saw her dispensing financial advise on young stars once, telling them not to buy a car unless they are in solid enough financial situation to buy three or four of them.) Garcia is also probably married so he wouldn't be wanting to impress the girls with a brand new car now, would he?

How can we we expect Garcia to soundly manage GSIS finances when he himself doesn't know how to manage his. With his Volvo-buying-on-a-loan spendthrift ways, he would probably end up bankrupt soon.