Jephthah C.

Sustituido BSIT – 4A
Poverty in the Philippines. What are the solutions?

Before we tackle to the topic, we should first define and understand what it is. Poverty
has many definitions depending on the views of the one who is defining it. So the following are
definitions of poverty from World bank, the United Nations and my own definition. Poverty is
the lack of principles, attitudes, values, actions and habits to become rich. As defined by a global
organization, poverty may be the lack of money and the ability to afford basic human needs, such
as nutrition, health care, education, clothing, shelter and clean water. It can also be defined as the
inability to access justice, security and opportunity to life betterment. But since I am a
fundamentalist and spiritualist, I prefer to define poverty as the lack of knowledge, wisdom,
understanding, actions and way of life to become rich. Now let’s go the root of poverty to further
understand what we want to stop here.
There are many reasons why poverty exists and linger in the Philippines. Overpopulation
is the fruit of the lack of self-control. Low revenue collection is a result of an ineffective taxing
system. Pork barrel is the output of a poor political system. Corruption is a fruit of greed.
Poor investment climate is the consequence of inefficient regulatory, legal and political
framework of doing business in the Philippines. Natural disasters are acts of God. For the
consumption of those who don’t believe God, these disasters are acts of natural randomness.
Moreover, some of these disasters arise from the human destruction of our environment.
Nevertheless, natural disasters are not the significant causes of poverty in the Philippines. War,
terrorism and peace problems are the effect of misunderstanding.
Laziness and procrastination are results of the lack of value and interest. Dependence is
the consequence of the absence of self-trust and confidence. Lack of self-control is the fruit of
evil, or may I say the absence of love. Lack of love for God is caused by not knowing God. Lack
of government support for small entrepreneurs is just another result of poor national governance.
The Philippines are made of Filipinos. Therefore, if we want to end poverty in the
Philippines, we need to end poverty in all the Filipinos. And who is the nearest Filipino from
you? Isn’t it yourself? Therefore, to end poverty in our country, we must start ending our own
poverty – we must start to have fear in God within ourselves. Now, what will fear in God cause
us? Will it make us slaves and take away our freedom? The answer is that it will make us slaves
and free at the same time. The fear of the Lord will make us slaves of diligence, wisdom,
righteousness, kindness, self-control, patience and love
In fact, if all our workers are diligent, if all our political leaders are honest, if all the
voters are wise, if all the business owners are not greedy, and if all the spiritual leaders are
selfless who teach the right religion, then we might be living in a rich country. All of these could
happen if we truly have fear in God, and if we really God love by following His commandments.