HOTSPOT
The last time the middle class “revolted” was in 2016. It was quite impossible to see the revolt in plain election results, but it was clear in the exit polls conducted on Election Day.
According to the SWS, the exit polls showed the following:
The higher the class, the more the appeal of Duterte: His lead was 26 points in class ABC, compared to 17 points in class D, and only seven points in class E.
The more the schooling, the more the appeal of Duterte: His lead was 28 points among college graduates, 19 points over those with some college, 8 points among those with some high school, and 7 points among others.
The younger the voter, the more the appeal of Duterte: His lead over was 33 points in ages 18-24, 26 points in ages 25-34, 14 points in ages 35-44, 10 points in ages 45-54, and 4 points in ages 55 and up.
Fast forward to 2026, that former president faces trial before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, the first former Asian head of state to be brought to trial. It was a costly and deadly mistake affecting a generation of mostly poor and working-class families.
The middle class is again out for blood, and looking for a new hero. From the comfort of their air conditioned homes and offices, or from TNVS rides they can always afford to take, and in between domestic and foreign trips, they are complaining about not receiving any “ayuda.” They are furious that senior citizens and the absolutely poor are receiving lifeline discounts. They are going ballistic that their ₱5,000, ₱10,000, ₱15,000 electric bills included a ₱1.00 subsidy for lifeline customers. They say it is absolutely unfair. (Neri Colmenares and Chel Diokno have correctly taken issue with who should pay for the lifeline subsidy.)
One can only hope the middle class looks at the workingclass positions on the crisis: the removal of excise taxes and VAT from diesel and gasoline, the nationalization of the oil industry, and the review of the oil deregulation law and other similar laws that cause untold hardship on the majority. It has never been a part of workingclass politics in this country to demand ayuda. They have always been suspicious of ayuda as a poor substitute to minimum wage increases and to a living wage.
Make no mistake, the middle class has a storied history in the country. It could be brilliant, revolutionary, radical, and progressive like in the Propaganda Movement, the 1896 Revolution, the Philippine-American War, the Second World War, and the anti-dictatorship resistance. It has a tradition of putting country first, proposing solutions beneficial to all, and forming invincible alliances with the workingclass.
Trouble begins when the middle class retreats to its position of privilege.
In his 1981 visit to the Philippines, Pope John Paul II spoke with Filipino professionals at the Araneta Coliseum. His words remain relevant.
“You are people who have reached your present positions as a result of hard and serious efforts, both personal and collective…
“But you are also the result of a great effort on the collective level. For your families and your nation have had to invest great material and spiritual resources in order to train and perfect ever more numerous builders of society, with a solid intellectual and technical education.
“You have a twofold calling. In the first place, you have to meet your personal needs and those of your families, through the exercise of your professions. In this you have sometimes experienced difficulties and frustrations and perhaps even discouragement. And yet you must not give up, knowing as you do that you are also called upon to make your contribution to the service of the common good.
“When things are going well, never shut yourselves off from society for the sake of making money, gaining power or acquiring more knowledge; do not retreat into a position of privilege. May you put your talents to good use by serving ever more generously the needs and aspirations of all your brothers and sisters in the Philippines. I am thinking in particular of that great number of people who, as a result of different circumstances—injustice, poverty, the need to make a bare living, the lack of cultural stimulus—have been unable to attain the levels of university training and education that you have enjoyed.
“The complete development of the people of your country, and the satisfaction of their spiritual and material needs, call for much effort on your part; health-care for everyone; the defense of the sacred nature of human life and its promotion; the affirmation of the role of law in social and political relations if true order and real freedom are to be ensured; the building of worthy housing, properly adapted to every family and every individual; the education of youth by teaching directed towards the search for truth and its affirmation; the balanced and fruitful management of natural resources in order to ensure that everyone has a fair share of their benefits: all these are matters that concern you directly.”
