MANILA, August 13, 2013—Amid the robust economic growth posted by the country in the recent years, a Catholic bishop criticized the economic approach adopted by the government, saying it promotes the concentration of wealth to a minute portion of the country’s population.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines – National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA), said the trickle down economic policy adopted by the government greatly contributes to the widening gap between the rich and poor Filipinos.
“Through my frequent visits to Filipinos from different parts of the country, I have seen that they barely feel the improvement in the country’s economy. More often than not, their ways to cope with poverty remains the same,” he said in the vernacular.
The trickle down economic policy pertains to the government approach of improving large-scale businesses and investments to benefit poorer members of the society through economic development as a whole.
Responding to claims that Filipinos have to be patient to feel the economic development of the country, Pabillo said nothing will happen if the government will just keep on asking the public to wait before the statistical growth of the economy gets translated to tangible results.
“The present administration is already half of its term—three years have already passed. Why does the rich keep on growing richer and the poor becoming poorer?” he said.
“If we would keep on adopting the trickle down system of economic growth, 100 years will pass and we will still be stuck in the same situation,” Pabillo added.
Labor contractualization
The prelate cited labor contractualization as one of the negative offshoots of the trickle-down economic policy that greatly contributes to the widening economic inequality in the country.
“The trickle down policy’s aim of developing the poor through the wealth of the rich does not happen in our country. Instead, the opposite occurs as the rich abuse small laborers by employing them on a contractual basis. In the end, no one benefits on the scheme but the rich,” he said.
He called on legislators to enact laws that will prohibit contractualization in the country and will standardize the security of tenure across the labor force.
“Through this, laborers will get their fair share from the company’s profit by means of the benefits they will receive,” Pabillo said. (Jennifer M. Orillaza)
