This week, my feed felt less like entertainment and more like evidence. Netizens took screenshots, bashed posts, and uploaded videos in one of the Reddit communities about the flaunted overseas travels, jet-set lifestyles, designer bags, and yacht parties from social media influencers who were tied to political clans and government-funded contractors in the Philippines.
The backlash spread fast not only on Reddit, but also on other social media platforms, the mainstream media, and among global influencers. This caused outrage among the ordinary Filipinos, especially me, who tighten budgets, earn a living through hard work, and pay taxes, while these people show off their lavish lifestyle from the Filipino people’s money.
Why does these evidence and exposé sting?
While these social media influencers never proved a crime, the lifestyle flexing invites questions about the means on how they’re able to afford these extravagance.
It’s not that the public is envious of them, contrary to what some of these influencers have defended after this fiasco. The Filipino people’s grievance with this is about fairness. Displaying the shadow of public money is not aspirational and inspiring. It’s truly insulting.
A public counterexample on quiet power over loud spending
In the middle of all these noise, who stood out was Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. In an interview, he urged the public to challenge the culture of admiring ostentatious display of wealth by public officials, government-funded contractors, and their families. He also questioned paid interviews that seem to launder certain journalist’s reputations as he warned against normalizing “Rags to riches” stories which in reality, is “Robs to riches.”
Personally, I dislike listening to public officials and following news about our government. I’m tired and hopeless of their recurrent unscrupulous actions. Yet, I do listen when a leader argues with substance. With this, Mayor Vico Sotto’s stance on accountability and living simply is a leadership aligned with minimalist values. Through his track record, he’s able to prove this through his words and actions. As what he commented in his Facebook post, he showed a screenshot of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials to lead with simple lives.
SECTION 4(h) of R.A. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials states,
“Public officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income. They shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form.”
Minimalism as a counter-culture
Minimalism is a lifestyle that involves reducing or simplifying one’s life from material possessions that frees one to live an intentional and purposeful life. It’s not about owning the least or avoiding spending.
One of the core values I like about minimalism is not making money as a goal, but rather as a tool. In our culture that ubiquitously rewards performances and extravagance, minimalism is a quiet protest from this.
Displaying luxury is powerful. But most of the time, it’s fragile as it demands constant performance and new props like the ones we’ve witnessed on social media. On the other hand, living simpler allows one to have a peace of mind. You can sleep peacefully at night knowing that you aren’t stepping on anyone just to achieve your goal, you don’t have secret side deals in order to acquire something, and you don’t need body guards for life threats.
Valuing Integrity and Contentment
I became inactive in Instagram since 2023 and one of the reasons is to protect my mental health.
In the feeds, one will see curated posts from friends and influencers who display a performative lifestyle. I sometimes can’t help but compare myself to the content I see on the platform. As a result of this, it keeps me dissatisfied with my life and encourages me to spend more to satisfy a fleeting emotion. Little did we know, the lives of those on Instagram isn’t realistic and sustainable. What we see is only the tip of the iceberg.
Being rich is not innately bad, as long as you worked hard for it, you gave value with your products and services, and you earned the money ethically. For those “Nepo” kids, as what netizens labeled, the money they’re allegedly using isn’t a product of their hard work, but rather as a result of corruption.
Unfortunately, the Philippines still has a long way to go to fix the broken system that has gone deep in our society. Through this, personal integrity is way more important than displaying those material possessions. When we mindfully budget our finances, avoid debt for display, live simply on purpose, and earn money through ethical practices, we’re doing the same values we want the nation to achieve through stewardship, transparency, and self-discipline.
Hence, let’s stop admiring the costume of wealth and begin rewarding the work of service.
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