4Ps, One Word
Four pics, one word: A triangle. A tax form. A modest, but liveable home. A person standing right in the center.
The middle class.
Just Barely
Seventeen years into my life, I've spent most of it by eating canned and processed foods. Sleeping on a mattress perfectly placed on the floor. And “studying” for a short while, waiting for my mom to turn her head—booting up a video game. Still, I was fortunate enough to get by, just barely, not realizing the extent my parents go through just to let us live.
We were never beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), living felt like a quiet struggle. Sometimes, I wonder—if a single peso slips out of someone's pocket, I would take it with no hesitation. Every peso counts.
I often overhear a classmate talk about receiving benefits from 4Ps with an expression full of elation. Not having a clue, that perhaps the money comes from taxpayers who themselves are struggling to accept they barely stay afloat.
I felt a flicker of jealousy.
But, then again I think about their reality compared to mine.
I was surviving, sure, but to them that print of money wasn’t just simply their comfort, it was their lifeline. Take it away, and it feeds no one, educates no one, saves no one.
My jealousy was not cruelty—it was a survival instinct. A byproduct of the system that pushes us into the middle, trapping us within the rigid sides of a triangle we did not choose.
Pointing Fingers for the Sake of Pointing Fingers
Diagnosis: a classic case of misdirected rage often stemming from the need to point fingers, just to release the pressure. 4Ps beneficiaries are human beings. None of us should have to apologize for simply surviving.
Our anger may be valid, but manifesting it into insults, calling them “lazy”—is hollow. After all, in a sinking ship, no one survives by dragging others down.
They are not “lazy”, quite the opposite actually. According to the World Bank's 2026 Impact Evaluations, the 4Ps Program does not discourage people from working. It serves as an avenue and breathing room for them to get by for a while. Instead of panicking and pondering what will be their next meal again.
The “lazy” narrative is a fairytale waiting to be untold. A fairytale that we keep telling ourselves because it is far more convenient to blame than to wallow in frustration. We are not angry because they are lazy, we are angry because we are tired—going to our 9-5 job, praying, just for a minute, to rest our heads down on our own bed.
What is the Missing Word?
Four pics, one word:
Wrong. The middle class is not the answer.
We are told that the middle class suffers the most—but in truth, we are all sinking, observed from above by those perched safely at the top of the triangle-shaped iceberg.
The missing word: Expendable
The pictures may show the living conditions of the middle class. But, all of us are expendable in the eyes of those who benefit from the system—those who remain in the shadows, firmly grasping the structure, ensuring it never collapses.
But systems are only as strong as the people who uphold them.
And people can refuse.
Me, you—we are all part of this game of 4 Pics, One Word.
The difference is, we don't have to remain out of focus forever.