Groups Urge Aquino: Act On Poverty Now

[Mr Lee]

“Our nation is in an explosive situation,” Archbishop Antonio Ledesma said, reading from a prepared statement issued at the close of a three-day “summit on poverty, inequality and social reform” last week.“Poverty is mounting, streets all over the country are teeming with beggars and dislocated indigenous peoples,” he said. “The children of the poor wake up to poverty, eat poverty for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and sleep poverty—without understanding why they are such. There is a proliferation of poor households erected right on the bangketas, above the esteros, under bridges, in the karitons on the hillsides and even in the cemeteries.“Overcoming poverty requires the decisive reform leadership from the center,” the prelate of Cagayan de Oro City said at a press conference on Friday. “We, therefore, call on the President to refocus the whole governance system in support of the aspirations of the poor as articulated in this conference. The nation’s top 1 percent of the families—185,000—have an income equal to the income of the bottom 30 percent of poor families numbering 5.5 million; the 1 percent of the families make the laws, dispense justice, implement programs and control media, it said, echoing the lament of critics of a country remaining under feudal bondage and ruled by “caciques.”“There is nothing wrong with having wealth and power and special connections, but there is something very wrong about the great imbalances and the use of these advantages to influence the politics and policies for their own interests or deny or delay justice to the 99 percent of our country,” it said. “This must change.”

‘25 years after Edsa, where are we on that promise?’

[MikeB]

The Archbishop is calling on the President to make "overcoming poverty" a priority and it could be argued that he is doing that with his support of the RH bill that the church vehemently opposes. The poor families bear some responsibility too.

[Jake]

The Archbishop is calling on the President to make "overcoming poverty" a priority and it could be argued that he is doing that with his support of the RH bill that the church vehemently opposes. The poor families bear some responsibility too.

This Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro may be pissing off the religious leaders in Manila. I salute him for his courage and his genuine concern for the poor. Respectfully -- Jake

[MikeB]

The Archbishop is calling on the President to make "overcoming poverty" a priority and it could be argued that he is doing that with his support of the RH bill that the church vehemently opposes. The poor families bear some responsibility too.

This Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro may be pissing off the religious leaders in Manila. I salute himfor his courage and his genuine concern for the poor. Respectfully -- Jake

Maybe I'm missing it, how is he pissing off the religious leaders? It seems to me that he's towing the party line by putting the responsibility on the government to solve without directly addressing the core issue of overpopulation.

[Dave Hounddriver]

The latest data I can find on Philippine poverty statistics seems to be year 2009 numbers, (Info can be searched at NSCB site here), and it shows that the poverty level varies around the country. It seems that 20K pesos per year, per person is the poverty level around Manila but it is more like 12K per year in the Biliran/Leyte/Samar region where I live. That means all I have to do is hire 1 maid at 24K pesos a year (only 2K a month) and that will take 2 people (her and one person she is supporting) out of poverty. Think about that next time you think you don't really need a maid, or feel bad only giving them 2K a month. Just don't expect the quality of maid you would get at a Holiday Inn.

[Bundy]

WOW what a task ! Have been hearing the same talk since Jesus played fullback for the Rabbitohs. Talk is what it has remained. Kinda like trying to save the Titanic me thinks. A civil war maybe........... another dictatorship........... who knows.

[i am bob]

Wow! It's amazing what just hiring someone as a maid or driver can do for them...!I do wonder though and I think because I"m still in Canada that I don't have the answer handy... There is all this talk from the RC church but just what are they doing to help the poor? Now I'm sure individually they are working very hard but I'm wondering about the Church itself?

[Bundy]

Just my own opinion but i find talk about overcomming poverty just that............talk.Before you can address poverty you need to overcome the biggest desease in the Philippines at the moment and that is corruption.If anyone can figure a way to get rid of or reduce corruption then the people of the Philippines may start to see some flow on effect which would reduce poverty.Can any government achieve this? IMO highly unlikely whilever their collective hands are tied by "more powerful authorities", or should i say "more wealthy authorities"

[Jake]

Just my own opinion but i find talk about overcomming poverty just that............talk.Before you can address poverty you need to overcome the biggest desease in the Philippines at the moment and that is corruption.If anyone can figure a way to get rid of or reduce corruption then the people of the Philippines may start to see some flow on effect which would reduce poverty.Can any government achieve this? IMO highly unlikely whilever their collective hands are tied by "more powerful authorities", or should i say "more wealthy authorities"

I'm digging deep here but I can't seem to remember if any of the countries in the Far East regionwhere corruption was finally defeated for good. Perhaps Taiwan, South Korea and Japan comesto mind because of their industrial mechanism finally got their chit together. I don't even have a warm and fuzzy feeling whether the Philippine government was clean evenduring the Japanese and American occupation. Perhaps a member with interest in world historywould shed some light. My first question would be: how and when did it all start (corruption)?Jake

[ekimswish]

It's kind of poetic how he addressed it, but I mean, under Aquino the Philippines is getting better little by little. Hopefully he can keep it up and then he'll have an answer for those that challenge him on the issue.Still, when I first heard the church was challenging him to step it up I thought it was BS, them just trying to rile up the crowds against him since they hate him so much. I remember the church opposing rice handouts to the poorest of the poor because it encouraged laziness. Anyways, if they wanted to help the poor out a little bit, they could just stop collecting tithes. There's an idea. Or they could stop sending the tithes to Rome, and maybe spend it on educating and taking care of the poorest of the poor. Nah.... that's too radical. Jesus would never support it (sarcasm, not meant to offend).