A common food in Manila reached unaffordable prices. Bishop Alminaza, president of Church People-Workers Solidarity, reflects on the gap between the “growth” figures the Philippine government boasts of and the cost of living for the poorest. “We live in an economy of exclusion where there is no place for them, it is normal for people to emigrate due to unemployment and for farmers to commit suicide.”
Manila () – While President Marcos Jr boasts about the economic growth of the Philippines, for ordinary people a common ingredient in their kitchen has become a luxury good. The rise in the price of onions, which even cost more than meat, is causing controversy in Manila. A symbol of the fragility of the real situation in the country, which offered the Bishop of San Carlos, Monsignor Gerardo Alminaza -president of the pastoral organization Church People-Workers Solidarity (CWS)- the occasion for a severe reflection on the economy of exclusion in the Philippines, published in the Episcopal Conference news site.
“On January 13,” writes Msgr. Alminaza, “the Secretary of Finance, Benjamin Diokno, reported that the Philippine economy grew by 7.5% in 2022 and is expected to grow by 6.5% in 2023, projection announced by President Marcos during the World Economic Forum. Likewise, this week the price of a kilo of onions reached 800 pesos (13.5 euros). If the increase in the price of this product seems to arouse laughter, its consequences are not. Various Farmers have already expressed their frustration at the damage suffered despite the increase in onion prices, and at least five farmers have reportedly committed suicide for this reason.The same farmers express their concern about the plan to import more onions from abroad to lower prices , despite the fact that reports of smugglers and hoarders in the onion trade abound.”
“Onions”, continued the prelate, “are just one of the many products that have risen in price in recent months. Just last month, economists recorded that the inflation rate was above 8%, the highest level in 14 years. For this week, diesel will increase 0.50 pesos per liter, while gas will rise 0.95 pesos per liter. Due to this level of inflation, Mercer’s economic experts forecast a 5.5% increase in prices. workers’ wages this year, but admit that “it will not correspond to any real increase.
The bishop cites data from the Oxfam report on inequality, according to which the nine richest Filipinos own more wealth than 55 million people, half of the entire Filipino population. The prelate wonders: “What does it say about our society that we celebrate economic growth when we know that life is increasingly difficult for our poorest brothers? The answer is simple. Pope Francis is right: we live in an economy of exclusion We can positively describe the economy as “growing,” even though the poor are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their basic needs, because we have accepted that the economy is ultimately not for them. Unemployment here in the Philippines is accepted as a fact of life, because – again – this is not their economy. Do farmers commit suicide? Again, this is not their economy.”
For Bishop Alminaza there is only one way to change this situation: inclusion. “Let’s include people by listening. Let’s include people by respecting them. Let’s include people by understanding their feelings and admitting that even if things are going well for us, they may not be.
President Marcos”, adds the bishop, “has praised the Filipino workers in Davos because they are ‘young’ and ‘with few dependents’, as well as ‘well trained’. As in previous governments, our workforce has become an attractive bargaining chip for investors who want to outsource jobs or recruit abroad. But without guaranteed economic well-being, rights and dignity in the workplace, Filipino workers continue to be excluded from the real economy, except as commodities to be exported and exploited.”
The prelate recalled that the Global Rights Index placed the Philippines among the 10 worst countries in the world for workers in the last six years, as trade unionists and labor rights defenders are threatened and killed to prevent them from organizing. “The Center for Trade Unions and Human Rights (CTUHR) documented 56 murder victims among workers, trade unionists and defenders of labor rights,” he recalls, “and 27 trade unionists and union organizers are imprisoned for fabricated causes and evidence.” The Pope is right when he says that “this economy of exclusion kills.”
It is not, however, an inexorable condemnation: “There are always opportunities to publicize the condition of the excluded and it is our duty as Christians to carry their cross,” warns Monsignor Alminaza. Precisely on these days, during the Week for Christian Unity, Christians of all denominations did so together in solidarity with the workers during the visit of a delegation from the International Labor Organization (ILO) to Manila. “Giving them a voice”, concludes Msgr. Alminaza, “is the way to build an economy “that not only has ‘young’ and ‘well-trained’ workers, but also workers who enjoy a dignified, self-sufficient, secure and fair life”. .
