How PH can heed Pope Francis' call to protect the poor

by Jose M. Galang

Posted at 03/25/2013 9:51 AM | Updated as of 03/26/2013 12:01 PM

MANILA, Philippines - An understanding of the poverty problem in this country could help local movers and shakers in heeding the call of newly installed Pope Francis to protect the poor and lift them out their miserable situation.

In his homily during the Mass celebrating his inaugural, Pope Francis asked “all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill” to be “protectors” like St. Joseph, who was tasked by God to be the protector of the Virgin Mary and child Jesus.

The inaugural day of Pope Francis last March 19 coincided with the Feast of St. Joseph. He underlined that by expounding the day’s gospel around the tasks and virtues of a “protector,” citing Joseph’s own way of fulfiling that role: “Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand.”

Pope Francis urged everyone, “not Christians alone,” to respond to God’s call “readily and willingly” like St. Joseph in “protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.”

The pope said the service that he has set to carry out—including “to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest”—is one that will involve “all of us…so that the star of hope will shine brightly.”

That call is particularly apt in the Philippines. In our predominantly Roman Catholic nation, it certainly will require the “dedication, courage and goodness” of St. Joseph to tackle the problem of poverty.

Despite the steady economic growth of recent years, more than a fourth of the population of 95 million Filipinos are barely scraping by. Obviously the economic growth achieved over the years, quite remarkably during the decade to 2010, was not strong enough to spread benefits to the sector that needed it most.

This inadequate economic expansion, worsened by weak household incomes and age-old inequality in the people’s access to resources and services, served only to deepen poverty in the country.

Poor Filipinos, economists at the World Bank noted in a study not too long ago, differ from the rest of the population along various dimensions.

This was how the poor were described in that report (Philippines Discussion Note: Achieving Sustained Poverty Reduction): “They tend to live in rural areas and work in agriculture, though urban poverty is becoming increasingly important. They also tend to have less access to basic services, lower levels of education, and larger families. Like the non-poor, they derive most of their income from wages but, unlike the non-poor, rely mostly on domestic remittances with little access to foreign remittances.”

The World Bank study listed a number of actions that Philippine policymakers could pursue to attack poverty. For instance, in urging an acceleration in the overall economic expansion, the study cited the need for removing constraints on growth, including: strengthening the tax policy and administration effort, raising the public investment effort, and improving governance to create a better investment climate.

With much fanfare, the Aquino administration has implemented certain measures along the suggested actions mentioned in the World Bank report. Some of them, such as those aimed at fixing the fiscal weakness and governance, have started to make investors take the Philippines seriously.

More pro-poor growth strategies will be vital to attaining poverty reduction. Among these moves will be creating better income-earning opportunities for the poor which will widen the sectors that will benefit from economic growth.

Policymakers could try to promote faster growth in poorer regions of the country and low skill-intensive sectors of the economy, according to the World Bank study.

As concerned individuals and institutions buckle down to work, there will be more ideas that will emerge towards solving the perennial problem of poverty in the Philippines. It is a complex problem, one that has persisted for decades, but with a political resolve coupled with a new moral push from no less than Pope Francis, something good just might come out this time.