Richest Pinoys should be outraged, too

We read with much respect and appreciation the letter of Nardy Sabino, secretary general of Promotion of Church Peopleís Response (PCPR). In that letter, Sabino accuses the Aquino administration of its failure in respecting the civil, socioeconomic and political rights of the Filipino people it has vowed to serve. This failure, he said, has led to the continued suffering of more than half of the nation’s population which continues to live below the poverty line. (“P-Noy administration now a ‘threat to humanity,'”Opinion, 12/29/14)

PCPR’s bold accusation of gross human rights violation against the administration is something, we can safely say, shared by the same marginalized people, numbering millions and coming from the predominant religious organization in the country.

The letter makes very strong manifestations such that it gives hope to the millions of Filipinos looking for someone or for an organization that takes concrete actions that will address the socioeconomic and political problems besetting the country. These include the people’s suffering from the oppressive cost of electricity that the P-Noy administration has equally and miserably failed to address.

However, most of the 25 richest people Sabino mentions, whose wealth equals that of the 76 million Filipino people, also belong to the Catholic Church to which PCPR members belong. And most of these 25 richest persons, if not all, reportedly supported President Aquino in the 2010 election on a platform of a corruption-free government.

Thus, if there is any group that should be more outraged, it should be these wealthy people who, aside from racing for more riches and power, have made it their discipline to give part of their growing wealth to church and other charitable undertakings through their companies’ “corporate social responsibility,” a program that aims to advance a fanciful social justice through the so-called “socialized entrepreneurship.”

Given this, we hope PCPR can find a more effective way of addressing the damage caused by what it calls failures, ineptness and outright negligence of the Aquino administration so as to effect a true socioeconomic justice that these 76 million Filipinos deserve.

—PETE L. ILAGAN, president,
National Association of
Electricity Consumers
for Reforms Inc.