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IF there’s one ideal situation that could tell us if the people
have money to spare, it’s the belief that, regardless of the OFW
dollar, condominium living (and working) has become in vogue once
again.
It was not always this way. There was a
time, not too long ago, when Erap was elected to the presidency and
hundreds of thousands thought that it’s much better to leave the
country for some foreign land than invest in a condominium unit,
much more in owning a real piece of land.
By today’s standards however, condominiums
have become an ideal option judging by several attractive offerings
of companies led by Ayala Land and others, heavily promoted through
the media, which if you can imagine is worth several millions
annually.
I mean “and others” for how could these
companies beat the caliber of Ayala Land with its track record of
professionalism in the real estate business? I don’t know
who decided that they can beat Ayala in its ball game, but we normal
human beings could probably understand the situation given our
exposure to the Why Not Theory.
Ayala Land et. al. spend millions of pesos on
attractive color print ads, defined as an “activity designed to
convince people to spend their hard-earned money in favor of
narcissistic business people.”
If you think that’s ridiculous, then you
haven’t read Michael Maccoby’s book on Narcissistic Leaders
(Harvard Business School Press, 2007).
Yes, it’s what I’m reading now. To be
more precise about it, the book is my constant companion whenever
I’m stuck in this (bad word omitted) metro traffic.
As you could imagine, the book Narcissistic
Leaders is based on the term “narcissism” and derived from the
myth of Narcissus, the classic story of a boy who can’t stop
staring at his reflection in a pond and who died in the process.
The story is found in the Meta-morphoses, a
first-century A.D. epic poem by Ovid. But it was Sigmund Freud
who appropriated the term to explain male homosexuality and sexual
perversion. And so whenever we say “narcissistic,” we
often refer to someone who looks and acts a lot like Narcissus in
any form.
According to Maccoby, Freud’s concept of
narcissism belongs to a leader who can’t compete with the image of
someone whose obsession with himself is so complete it brings about
his destruction.
Now we ask the question that you’ve been
waiting for: “Is Gloria Glue a narcissistic leader or what?”
Two Saturdays ago, the Inquirer came with a news
story quoting GMA saying “I am the president. . . You’re just a
housewife” referring to Gina de Venecia who admitted being rebuked
whenever the latter talks about preventing corruption in governance.
Some few days back, Ms. Glue was reported as
having admitted in a radio interview over DZRH that she’s against
corruption just like the rest of the populace. The problem is
that she’s not doing enough to prosecute those involved in the
NBN-ZTE deal, the fertilizer scam, and many more.
Clearly, President Glue has manifested in
blatant actions and so many poison text messages designed
essentially for herself and the preservation of her presidency
rather than for the Filipino people. If that’s not
narcissism, then I don’t know what to call it.
Will this craziness ever end? I mean, and
to paraphrase Maccoby that a narcissistic character is one who
can’t compete with herself that it’s only a matter of time
before it brings her destruction.
Will Filipinos ever come to their senses?
So laugh if you want. I’m going to be rich searching for
more buzzwords so that I could buy a Makati condominium unit from
Ayala Land so that I can have a vantage position to see for myself
another “communal action” or “interfaith rally” taking
place.
That position could surely allow me to operate
an engine-less fighter plane with noises coming from my mouth.
It’s one sure way to beat a no-fly zone.
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Rey Elbo is a business consultant
specializing in human resources and total quality management as a
fused specialty. Reader’s feedback may be sent to kairoshq@info.com.ph
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