POPULORUM

PROGRESSIO

 
Populorum progressio is the encyclical written by Pope Paul VI on the topic of "the development
of peoples" and that the economy of the world should serve mankind and not just the few. It was released
on March 26, 1967.
It touches on a variety of principles of Catholic social teaching: the right to a just wage; the right
to security of employment; the right to fair and reasonable working conditions; the right to join a union;
and the universal destination of resources and goods.
Twenty years later Pope John Paul II issued another encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis, in
commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Populorum progressio.

 
 
 

1. 
 Unemployment,

resulting in poverty

Unemployment is defined as an economic condition marked by the fact that individuals actively
seeking jobs remain unhired. Unemployment is expressed as a percentage of the total available work
force. The level of unemployment varies with economic conditions and other circumstances.

The government estimates that 935,700 workers are at risk of losing their jobs both locally and
abroad this year. Over 362,000 jobs in the export sector are under threat 90 percent of those are in the
electronics, garments and ignition wiring sub-sectors. More than 500,000 overseas jobs are under threat.
There are 129,000 temporary workers in the recession-wracked US. Also in recession are South Korea
and Taiwan, which between them employ 200,000 Filipino factory workers. Another 48,000 housemaids
are employed in Hong Kong and Singapore, which are both contracting economically.

About 1.7 billion people live in absolute poverty. Poverty is a condition characterized by severe
deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter,
education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services. It includes a lack
of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; ill health;
limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from
illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments and social discrimination and
exclusion. It is also characterized by lack of participation in decision making and in civil, social and
cultural life. It occurs in all countries: as mass poverty in many developing countries, pockets of poverty
amid wealth in developed countries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic recession, sudden poverty
as a result of disaster or conflict, the poverty of low-wage workers, and the utter destitution of people who
fall outside family support systems, social institutions and safety nets.

2.
Personal stand…

Unemployment is one of the problems here in the Philippines that we are now
suffering. Unemployment will result to poverty. This is the reason why the number of poor people is
increasing. Poor people can’t improve their qualities because they think that they’re just “POOR”, that
they can’t do work properly. And poor people are the one who are suffering most when it comes to
diseases, because they don’t have the knowledge how to prevent from those diseases, ignorance for short.
Poor people always felt that they are treated unfairly. Well for me that is true. They do not have the right
to speak and the right to join a union and it results to losing their human rights. We do have our
government, but they are not helping those poor people in order to upgrade their status of living. And
that’s what I think. Government has a budget for poor people. But instead of using this budget for
building houses, they use this money for their own good, corruption for short. During election, we can see
many politicians proposing many projects for poor people, but this is only at first or just for meantime.
Because after election they use to forget them, they just use them for their own good. And that’s the
attitude of every politician here in our country.

As we can see, there are lots of poor people in our country. Everywhere you go somewhere in the
Philippines, you can see street children who are begging for alms. This is the effect of unemployment
here in the Philippines. There is also what we called forced labor. Forced labor is any work or services
which people are forced to do against their will under the threat of some form punishment.  Almost all
slavery practices, including trafficking in people and bonded labor, contain some element of forced
labor. Some teenagers or those who’s in the minor age are suffering from this situation. They are force to
work heavy things such as doing construction. But you can’t blame them why they’re doing those things,
because all they want is to help their parents to survive in everyday living. Can you imagine a child who’s
working in the construction area? I think it’s not right for them to do those things. If only our government
can help them, they will not suffer this. I’ve watched lots of documentations about this forced labor.
Those children wanted to go to school, but in their case, their parents can’t send them in school because
of poverty. Our government should do an action to solve this problem of poverty. They can build a school
for them, a school without tuition fee but can provide a quality education. I know that there are lots of
public schools here in our country but still it’s not enough to educate all the poor children. If you will
look the number of students in one room, they are more than sixty or seventy students, that’s why the
teacher cannot teach them all well because of the population of the students.

Today we see men trying to secure a sure food supply, cures for diseases, and steady
employment. We see them trying to eliminate every ill, to remove every obstacle which offends man's
dignity. They are continually striving to exercise greater personal responsibility; to do more, learn more,
and have more so that they might increase their personal worth. 

4.
Conclusion…

Development of people is also the development of our nation. Because nation is compose of
people. Those who have their job now, they must keep in their mind that they are lucky enough compare
to those who lose their job now. They should work for it much harder and better if they want their job to
be stable. Because many Filipino men looses their job now, they belong now to the unemployed men.

If we are just helping each other or we have unity, maybe the number of unemployed men will
decrease and also the poor men. And if rich people or the one that God blessed with abundance will share
their blessings there will be no more poor men in our country.

5.

 
  

Populorum Progressio

(Unemployment resulting in poverty)

Landicho, Maria Cecilia E.

B.S Biology

Prof. Alex Suyat

March 16, 2011

 
 Table of Contents

 
Introduction   …………………………………………… 1
 
Case/issue      ………………………………………… ... 2
 
Church Stand …………………………………………... 3
 
Personal Stand …………………………………………. 4
 
Conclusion ……………………………………………..  5