Mang Pandoy

Felipe Natanio (1945 – August 28, 2008) was a Filipino street vendor whose claim to fame was his role, under the pseudonym "Mang Pandoy" (Mister Pandoy), as "the face of the poor" during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos.

The Face of the Poor Natanio shot to national fame as the result of the 1992 Presidential Debates, where host Randy David showed a video presentation of the street vendor's life circumstances before asking the candidates how they would address poverty, as exemplified and humanized by Natanio's story. During the segment, his identity was concealed under the pseudonym "Mang Pandoy."

Living in a small shack in Commonwealth village in Quezon City, Mang Pandoy's education had ended in the third grade, and he earned a living for himself and his eight children by selling vegetables by the street side. This earned him about Php50 a day. By 1992, however, he had gotten too sick to do even that and was at a loss over how he would feed his family. He joked that he would be willing to be shot in exchange for Php 100 000, which would provide for his family's needs.

When Fidel Ramos won the presidential election, the new president presented Mang Pandoy to the Philippine public in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) as "the face of the poor," promising him and other poor Filipinos a better life.

Death and legacy At about 6:30 p.m. August 28, 2008, at age 63, Mang Pandoy finally succumbed to tuberculosis, a symbol of the Filipino poor and, in the words of one news report, "an icon of token relief and unkept promises." ''

Jaime Aristotle Alip, CEO and founder of Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) which one 2008's Ramon Magsaysay award for public service, took note of the icon's death at a forum after receiving the award, noting the need for long-term solutions to poverty in the Philippines rather than the dole-out approach that Mang Pandoy's story typified.

Although Mang Pandoy's symbolic role in Philippine history has been far greater, it has been likened to that of Joe The Plumber in the 2008 US Presidential Elections.