Ghosts

As the title suggests, supposedly, this piece should have been appropriate last weekend. However, this has to take a backseat as the equally important but more urgent concern (spent wash spill) at the North Bais Bay had to be dealt with front and center. So far, at least, while the extent of the damage is yet to be established, the Universal Robina Corporation (URC) extended some assistance. The affected families received P5,000.00 each.

- Fidel O. Abalos [e-mail]

Egregiously though, in the midst of this tragedy, some individuals had the audacity to squeeze through a phalanx of warm bodies honestly needing some help and insert their names in the list of legitimate beneficiaries. Truth be told, some of them were, allegedly, not fisherfolks and were, therefore, unqualified. Frankly, we call them ghost beneficiaries.

Indeed, gone are the days when ghosts refer to (as defined by Oxford Dictionary) as an "apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image." Metaphorically, the only acceptable one then was "ghostwriter" or a "person whose job is to write material for someone else who is the named author."

Today, however, they come in many forms. As mentioned above, though in small amounts, some are referred to as ghost beneficiaries. Contrary to the general notion, this does not only refer to those individuals (or institutions) receiving government assistance, grants or other benefits who do not exist. This also refers to those who are not qualified to receive them. Just like those pretending to be fisherfolks and are, in fact, members of the appropriate People’s Organizations but are not and, therefore, unqualified. This is fraud by any measure as these are money that went to the wrong pockets.