Brothers and sisters, our Church commemorated a few days ago the World Day of the Poor. The commemoration reflects from the Book of Psalms 9:18, “But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.” Every Catholic is urged to give attention to the situation of the poor, as well as their hope.
According to the World Bank, 10 percent of the world’s population in 2015 live on as much as $1.90 (or about P100) per day. Although the number of people considered to be poor has gone down by 30 percent in 1990, this is not equally true in different regions. For example, the number of the poor in Europe has gone down by 3 percent, like in Central Asia and East Asia (where the Philippines is included), but the number of poor living in the countryside of Sub-Saharan Africa increased by almost 9 million people.
Their situation may not be far from the state of those considered to be the poorest in our country. It has been over a decade since the Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA recorded that farmers, fishermen, and children are the poorest sectors in the country. Their poverty incidence or the percentage of the poor coming from these sectors play between 30 percent and 34 percent, far from the poverty incidence of the country’s entire population, which is 21.6 percent. The picture is not encouraging if we add the different marginalized sectors like women, informal settlers and natives.
It is estimated that over half of the wealth in the world is in the hands of only 1 percent of the richest people. Based on a report by multinationalist bank Credit Suisse, it is expected that the current 36 million millionaires in the world will increase to 44 million by the year 2022.
In his observation on our country, a professor from the Columbia University said that Filipinos are poor due to the institutional consent of several groups to seize the wealth and resources supposedly for all members of society. He added that these institutions also bring about corruption and political tyranny.
The social teachings of our Church explains that “the moral dimension of the economy shows that economic efficiency and the promotion of human development in solidarity are not two separate or alternative aims but one indivisible goal.” It is important to achieve the continuous development of wealth in the world and its equal distribution. This can be made possible by practicing the principles of unity or solidarity in order to break the structure of sins that cause and maintain the suffering of the world and the development of the economy where only a few get to benefit.
Because of this, the true hope of the poor lies on the strength of our unity to tear down our own selfishness and the institutions that help intensify this. Let us strongly ask: Why is half of the poor across the globe live only in one region? Why is it, that year after year, farmers, fishermen and children in the Philippines remain poor? How do institutions responsible for the distribution of wealth in the world run? In finding the answers to these questions, may we be spurred to act, and give solution and attention.
Brothers and sisters, it is good to donate to those in need and participate in outreach programs in poor areas. But the need itself is far greater. We all have a role to play to help alleviate the suffering of our poor brothers and sisters, and the success of such endeavor relies on strong cooperation.
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