The real meaning of concern for the poor

A news item closer to home haunting enough to attract attention despite the worldwide jubilation on the spectacular election of Pope Francis, is the suicide of a Behavioral Science UP student for failure to pay her tuition fee. Kristel Tejada, one of the four children of a taxi driver and a lowly housewife who wanted to become a doctor to support her three siblings took her life because she was forced to go on leave when she incurred delay in paying her loan for the tuition fee.

Kristel’s case highlights once more the problem of poverty in our country. This is a problem that has been with us since time immemorial. Every election, politicians running for office have promised to do something about it if not completely get rid of it. In fact the present PNoy administration which allegedly won the first ever automated election mainly because the electorate believed that he was the best person who can finally get our country back on the road to prosperity captivatingly described as the daang matuwid. But after three years in office PNoy has not apparently made any headway in leading us to that road. On the contrary, we now see the rich getting richer especially the same old politicians who are wallowing in wealth and spending extravagantly in their campaign to retain or recover their legislative seats so that they can further enjoy the “pork barrel” that was even doubled.

The suicide of this poor girl trying her best to get an education that will lift her family out of poverty, should be a timely reminder and a wake-up call to the present administration. PNoy and his team should realize by now: that there is something wrong with its alleged program of solving the poverty problem in our country; that despite its glowing press releases announcing significant improvements in our economy, the lives of a great majority of our countrymen have not at all changed for the better; that the effect of good governance should be felt rather than merely seen and heard through media hype. Indeed, after barely three years in office, there is already a growing impression that this administration is merely a “showbiz government” or a “government of praise releases”.

There is really something wrong with this government’s policy in solving poverty if it does not give so much importance and support to education as shown by this latest tragic incident of a poor girl who committed suicide because of inability to pay her tuition fee. Time and again it has been convincingly and repeatedly shown that providing our people the necessary education is one of the effective ways to solve poverty in the land. Farmers and other lowly workers in urban areas from janitors, drivers etc. work so hard and so long just to provide their children with good education because it is the surest way for them to improve their lives.

Apparently however, PNoy has not fully accepted this basic reality. Instead he chose to heed the advice and the lobby of foreign countries and international organizations advocating “population management” particularly of the country’s huge (90 percent) and still burgeoning poor population. Actually PNoy or his advisers believe that the best way to erase or reduce poverty in the land is to reduce the number of poor people, to stop them from giving birth. But the worst part here is that this administration adopted a law promoting artificial contraception to control our population, appropriating huge amount of tax payers’ money totaling P14 billion more or less, to purchase contraceptives and other means of artificial birth control so as to enable the poor to avail of them for free. Obviously, the main beneficiaries of this law are the big foreign pharmaceutical companies selling these contraceptives and the foreign lobbyists advocating population control so that they can continue enjoying much of our natural resources. Some of them have even been identified as promoting eugenics or the improvement of the human race by eliminating poor people.

After learning of this latest suicide incident of the poor girl, what comes to mind right away is the enormous amount of money appropriated to purchase contraceptives. If the P14 billion appropriated for contraceptives were just used to improve our educational system and/or to subsidize the schooling of the poor people in our country, this suicide incident would not have happened.

Obviously we are still unable to solve our poverty problem because our government has not shown a genuine concern for the poor. Thus it is quite significant and providential for our country that the new Pope Francis chosen only last March 13, 2013 is one of those who have demonstrated what genuine concern for the poor means by his thoughts, words and action. He has been at the forefront of promoting social justice in his native country through a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources while at the same time staunchly promoting the culture of life and the sanctity of marriage and family by steadfastly opposing contraception, abortion and same sex marriages.

Several accounts about his work as a Priest, Archbishop and Cardinal show that he shuns pomposity and grandeur not only in church rites but more especially in his lifestyle. He has been consistently described as simple and humble, and carries out his work in a very low profile manner. Thus even during the early days of his Papacy, he has already demonstrated his solidarity with the poor. This is clearly one of the reforms he is expected to introduce in the Church more particularly in Church rites. In fact he appealed to his fellow Argentinians not to attend his inauguration anymore and just spend their money to help the poor in Argentina.

But his genuine concern for the poor is more concretely shown by his strong opposition to contraception and other practices tending to destroy marriage and family. In short his concern covers both the secular and the spiritual life of the poor.

Obviously, the current administration’s policy in this regard is contrary to Pope Francis’ program and principles.

E-mail: [email protected]