Poverty In The Philippines And Sartre’s Notion Of Bad Faith

A Paper Submitted to Mr. Jay Armero

As Part of The final Requirement of
Parallegal Research (TR3)

CARL O. CABASAG
AB PHILOSPHY – III
2022
I. Introduction

Food, shelter, clothing. The three immediate basic needs of every people. Take off

food, hunger will strike. Remove shelter, a basic comfort is lost. Strip off clothing, then simple

protection is gone. These three basic needs should be met. Yet, reality-wise, there are those in the

Philippines that eat only once a day (and some if they are able to have some food, they are from

left-overs), sleep on the streets, and are naked in public. Some call them unfortunate, others

beggars, and some panhandlers. Whatever they may associate those people lacking in basic

needs, it all boils down to a chronic problem in the Philippines. It is chronic poverty and it has

already been a persistent problem for many years and primarily affects many other Filipinos. 1 It

is been observed for a long period and many researches have been done but this poverty in the

Philippines continues to exist up to the present and consume many Filipinos. There are already

programs or actions from the government in regard to lessening or genuinely chronic poverty but

it is still too “active”.2 Why is this so?

Poverty is the state of being inadequate or having a lack of. 3 In the Philippines, there are

people who are undeniably born with silver spoon/s in their mouths but on the contrary, there

would be those who are born with nothing to eat or even worst die without tasting a delicious

food in their lifetime. This is too evident in the Philippines. By the existing phenomenon, many

of different age are suffering from this. There are children wandering around selling sampaguita

flowers as necklaces. Some are going in groups collecting trashes. Others collect recyclable

materials for money. In addition, some are just wandering around. Some stay on parking lots

1
Piquero-Ballescas, Maria Rosario. "Tungod sa Kawad-on". International Journal of Mental
Health 38, no. 3 (2009): 66-87.
2
Piquero-Ballescas, Maria Rosario. "Tungod sa Kawad-on". International Journal of Mental
HealtH, 66-87.
3
Parker, Canice. Mental Poverty and Factors of Poverty, Reasons for Famine. n.d.
http://www.positivepointofview.com/mental-poverty-reasons-for-famine.php .
helping those who are looking for a space to park their ride and then ask for some money even

just a penny in exchange for their efforts. Some also offer a short wipe on some else’s car. Others

are going around approaching strangers or knocking on the windows of a stranger’s car for one

purpose, “pahingopo ng pera/limos” (“can I ask for some money”). In worst cases if someone

will refuse or insist to give something, even a small amount of kindness they are the ones who

will go berserk or get mad. They might even spit or even beat someone else up.4

On the other side, there are those who sell some of their body parts like livers, eyes, and

others just to have a money for important reasons. Some even use their whole body as a way of

earning money. There are also those who would rather choose to be with a foreigner and get

married even if love did not bind them together but rather because of money. There would even

be those who are, stealing or robbing from another person just to supply some of their needs or

even wants. Lastly, there are those who are just sadly waiting for their death. Poverty is a great

factor to such circumstances.

There are external factors for poverty like for example bad governance or corruption in

the country. Or, lack of opportunities given to those suffering from poverty. However, one

plausible reason as to why poverty persists is because of their mentality. They think that they

have some sort of destiny in front of themselves that they must accept without any complaining

about it. Invoking the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, he has this phenomena or

attitude of self-deception in which people limit themselves of their capacity to freely choose, he

called this as mauvaise foi or bad faith. He said that:

“In irony a man annihilates what he posits within one

and the same act; he leads us to believe in order not to be
believed; he affirms to deny and denies to affirm; he creates a

4
Piquero-Ballescas, Maria Rosario. "Tungod sa Kawad-on”. 66-87
 positive object but it has no being other than its nothingness…
This attitude, it seems to me, is bad faith (mauvaise foi).” 5
The mentality of being destined or having an ill fate towards a misery and then doing

nothing is a sign of bad faith. This mentality should rather have some factors why it developed

into such. With this mentality of some poor people, it would be passed on to their next set or

generation of family that will be continuous if not prevented. One article, “The Poor in the

Philippines: some insight from Psychological Research”, gave some factors of such mental

deficiency or the lack of positive mental foresight. A 48-year-old woman named Laura said:

“That is why we are poor, my Mom, she did not know

nothing, she just stayed in the house, and my father just did buy
and sell. My mother, every year, had a baby. That is the hard
part… I told my father that I wondered why he does not think of
the future of his kids, he just makes babies and babies.”6
Such negativity or lack of positive mental foresight must have, in some ways, a

responsible “someone” or something. The given mentality should have been influenced or

created either by the one himself or by the others. This could be around the one who is affected

or the just the one who is affected is continuously affecting himself with it. Then eventually in

the Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, he reminds the human person that he is the creator of his life.

He creates what he wants his life would look like. He chooses what he truly wants.7

In this research, the researcher aims to argue that poor people in the Philippines should in

anyway be convinced that they are free human persons not just any part of the human existence

that has its own destiny. In this way, it could be a touch of the one of the major problems in the

Philippines which is poverty. The researcher will not give an absolute solution. It will just be a

simple way of uncovering some little facts on the possibilities of finding a solution in lessening
5
Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1956. Being and Nothingness. Translated by Hazel E. Barnes. New York,NY10020:
Washington Square Press. 86-87
6
Tuason, Ma. Teresa. "The Poor in the Philippines: Some Insights from Psychological Research
7
Ramos, Christine Carmela R. Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human
Person. 1st Edition .n.d.
or alleviating the chronic poverty. The researcher then will firstly discuss on Jean-Paul Sartre’s

concept of Bad Faith and a little glimpse on his other philosophies. The need of discussing his

other philosophies is that they are in connection with one another as his ideas supports one to the

other. Then the next would be a discussion on how Bad Faith contributes to the poverty in the

Philippines and the presence of ‘mental poverty.’ Lastly, the researcher would give some insights

on how and what are the effects of realizing the full potentiality of freedom and choice

neglecting the attitude of the Sartrean concept of bad faith towards poverty.
II. Statement of the Problem

Poverty is one of the major and common problems for developing countries. With no

exemption, Philippines also suffers from this kind of major problem. In fact, this problem has not

been present just recently but this problem has been present for the longest time already. This

poverty is chronic.

Many say that there are factors that causes or adds to the problem of chronic poverty like

unjust political system, corrupt governance of rulers, and the likes. Yet, scarcely noticed, Sartre

has this notion of Bad faith that could most probably explain one aspect of why there is a chronic

poverty in the Philippines. Although Sartre’s Bad Faith is not used to explain poverty per se but

it is a general idea of human cognitive attitude. Moreover, chronic poverty in the Philippines has

to be given further notice and atleast brief explanation as to why up until now, in the aspect of

those suffering from poverty, poverty ceases to decrease.

To be more guided, the study aims to tackle the following questions

A. What is Sartrean Concept of Bad faith?

a. What is poverty?

B. Why is Bad Faith as one of the reasons for the chronic poverty in the Philippines?

C. What is the Power of the Freedom and Choice; and freeness of the Human?
III. Review of Related Literature

There have been a lot of researches that have been made as to why poverty exists and

some suggest probable solutions that could remedy or gradually reduce the suffering mass from

poverty. Other researches have been directing the cause of poverty to Why Poor People Seem to

Make Bad Decisions (Thompson, 2013). Some poor people have even thought that their poverty

is determined or a destiny (Miharisoa, 2016).

Reality-wise, there are indeed a lot of reason as to why poverty exist, but most of them

are external factors of those who are suffering from it. Just like there is a kind of faulty

government or without any euphemisms, Philippine government is very corrupt. Or, some

reasons could be the famous adage “the rich becomes richer, the poor becomes poorer” resounds

all the more as there is little or none concern given by those that are of wealthy seat already in

the industrial world. There are not much help given or sustenance that the poor could rely on to.

That is why, the Sartrean concept of Bad Faith is apt in understanding the internal factor or what

he calls self-deception of persons. That is why there some that think that life is meaningless or

absurd (Landau, 2012).

However, there is a remedy or a solution for self-deception or Bad Faith. There should be

that recognition of human freedom and the power to choose, the power to will something. One

should act even in times of difficulty (Mancenido, 2008). Nonetheless, chronic poverty still

permeates the society until today. Yet, even if it is chronic, it should not be determined.
IV. Content

A. The Sartrean Concept of Bad Faith

Humans exist and when they do, they create their own self. There are no guideposts along

the road of life. The human person builds his or her own path to the destiny of his or her own

choosing. The human person is in the midst of the world that silently stares at him or her. 8 Sartre

in his Being and Nothingness describe two fundamental types of beings. These are the en-soi and

pour-soi. The en-soi or the being-in-itself signifies the permeable and dense silent and dead. 9 It is

unconscious hence; they are not capable of transcending. In fact, they are what they are. For

example, chairs, tables, rocks and many more objects that are non-conscious are identified as

being-in-itself. They only get or find meaning through the pour-soi. The pour-soi or the being-

for-itself is the conscious being. Comparing it to the being-in-itself, the being-for-itself has no

fixed nature thus can be deduced that they are capable of transcendence. To put it in a paradox:

the being-for-itself or the human person is not what he or she is. 10The being-for-itself is dynamic

and not passive because it possesses freedom. 11 Human person thus have its own choices to make

and decisions to decide freely. For an instance, he is free to choose his own self on what he

wants. One will choose to be an engineer, a psychologist, a philosophy major or more relatively

choosing to be poor or staying poor then becoming rich.

8
Landsburg, Steven. The Big Questions. NewyorkHauper , 2009.
9
Ibid
10
Ibid
11
Dolezal, Luna. "Reconsidering the Look in Sartre's Being and Nothingness." Sartre Studies International
XVIII, no. 1 (2012): 9-28.
 Sartre used a term that describes ones factuality or unchangeable fact. Facticity for him

means that it is a set of facts which are true of someone. These include the facts about the

environment one is in (physically, politically, or socially and others), ones place of birth, ones

mother’s maiden name and so on. 12 Facticity also includes what is happening to someone 13 and

one’s past decisions and choices that have brought one to where someoneis now. 14 Another

example would be the facticity of the birth of someone. One is really born and thus there is

nothing that he or she can do to change it. It can be said that there are many aspects of ones being

that are not free. Transcendence for Sartre means to go beyond. It is the ability to take up

different attitudes to these facts and attempt to change some of them. 15F and transcendence are

related because acts of conscious reflection or physical behavior are required in order to take up

different attitude towards the facts of facticity, and especially to change some of them. 16Facticity

and transcendence are related to one another in terms of the freedom of the human person. The

freedom of the human person must be protected and preserved. One can be in bad faith if he

disrupts or in some way step on to the freedom of others. Bad faith rests on a vacillation between

transcendence and facticity which refuses to recognize either one for what it really is or to

synthesize them.17He must always be in the way of considering that he is not the only being-for-

itself in the world. He is not alone in the world that has a direction that wants to go to.

12
Elwynn, Bejnamin K. 2012. "Multiplicity: A New Reading of Sartrean Bad Fatih." British Journal for the
History of Philosophy 603
13
Catalano, J. S. A. 1974. A Commentary on Jean Paul Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
14
McGulloh, G. 1994. Using Sartre . London: Routledge.
15
Elwynn, Bejnamin K. "Multiplicity: A New Reading of Sartrean Bad Fatih."601-6018.
16
Ibid
17
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness. Translated by Hazel E. Barnes. 800.
 Many people occasionally feel that life is absurd or meaningless. 18 Sartre then introduced

an attitude, which he calls bad faith. It is an undesirable psychological phenomenon, which he

thought, was rife amongst humans. Describing bad faith itself it is distracting oneself from the

existential crisis that one constantly faces.19 For Jasenn Zaejian,

“People who identify with their personas are oftentimes

practicing what the existential philosophers and psychologists
refer to as bad faith. Bad faith has nothing to do with religion.
Bad faith is not conscious lying. Bad faith is a form of self-
deception. Simply put, we deceive ourselves with intellectual
arguments. During interactions, we consequently deceive
others.”20

The deceiver and the one being deceived is one. The one who is lying knows the truth. Thus, bad

faith is different from the typical lying. Bad faith is in existence by attempting to make ones

transcendencies into facticities and ones facticities into transcendencies. One can be in bad faith

by ignoring ones freedom to move beyond the facts true to one and focusing on. Bad faith then

consists of emphasizing facticity and denying transcendence. 21 For example, one is born poor and

one accepted as a factor in which true of himself thus he is in bad faith. For Jonathan Webber,

bad faith is simply an affirmation of ‘psychological determinism’ by which one attempts to

persuade oneself that one has a fixed nature that is productive of our acts. One pursues this goal

by attempting to ‘identify facticity with transcendence’. 22

18
Landau, Iddo. "Foundationlessness Freedom and Meaningless of life in Sartre's
Being and Nothingness." Sartre Studies International XVIII (2012): 1-8.
19
Ibid
20
Zaejian, Jasenn. Relationships, Anxiety, Depression, and Bad Faith. April 14, 2014 .
https://www.saybrook.edu/blog/2014/04/14/04-14-14/ (accessed April 20, 2018).
21
Ibid
22
Webber, Jonathan. The Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. Oxon: Routledge, 2009. 76
 The Most famous description of bad faith comes from Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous work,

that is, Being and Nothingness. He then put it in a situation. He described a waiter working in a

café whose:

“…movement is quick and forward, a little too precise, a little

too rapid. He comes towards the patrons with a step that is a
little too quick. He bends forward a little too eagerly: his voice,
his eyes express an interest a little too solicitous for the order of
the customer”.23

It indicates that the waiter himself is merely convinced by his own self that he is destined to be a

waiter rather than a free human being who can be in any sort of any better possibility. The waiter

is the one who is to be blamed not any reasons of destiny because it is in his freedom to choose

what he wants.

In some events in life, blaming others is a way or as sign of showing bad faith. As Sartre

sees it, if one escapes his or her responsibility he or she is in bad faith. Since the human person is

the creator of his own self, he chooses himself. He goes out into the world to find meaning for

his own self. For example, one became poor because of his actions; his laziness, procrastination

and etc. After some time he will tell and convince himself that it is not his fault why he became

poor. He will blame different factors that circles him, the most common of all blame is the

government. He will blame the government and give excuses of such, like their irresponsibility.

Another example, in the case of a student. The students got a low grade or remark from his

teachers. Then he will give excuses of such; he was not able to make some of his requirements

because of the lack of time; which only requires focus and time management, his teachers gives

him a low grade; which is only his cause of it by not performing well in the class.

23
Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1956. Being and Nothingness.101
B. Bad Faith as one of the Reasons for the chronic Poverty in the Philippines

The human person is choice and for him to be is to choose himself. 24People always offer

excuses and strives to be en-soi(that is excuses such as “I was born this way” or “I grew up in a

bad environment) is acting on bad faith. 25In this phase, poverty is not anymore an economic

problem it is already mental. Mental poverty then is the state of having an unhealthy and poor

frame of mind26 and these already affects many Filipinos. This mental poverty can hinder the

many from achieving ones goals. Poverty, itself, hurts the ability to make decisions about school,

finances, and life, imposing a mental burden similar to losing thirteen IQ points. 27 That is the one

of the reasons for the cause of bad faith for some Filipinos and if it is leftuntreated, it can make

someone become more or less mediocre. In addition, due to these circumstances one would say

that:

“I make a lot of poor financial decisions. None of them

matter, in the long term. I will never not be poor, so what does it
matter if I do not pay a thing and a half this week instead of just
one thing? It is not as if the sacrifice will result in improved
circumstances; the thing holding me back is not that I blow five
bucks at Wendy’s. It is that now that I have proven that I am a
Poor Person that is all that I am or ever will be. It is not worth it
to me to live a bleak life devoid of small pleasures so that one
day I can make a single large purchase. I will never have large
pleasures to hold on to. There is a certain pull to live what bits
of life you can while there is money in your pocket, because no
matter how responsible you are you will be broke in three days

24
Landau, Iddo. "Foundationlessness Freedom and Meaningless of life in Sartre's Being
and Nothingness."1-8.
25
Ramos, Christine Carmela R. Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person.
26
Parker, Canice. Mental Poverty and Factors of Poverty, Reasons for Famine
27
Thompson, Derek. Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions. November
22, 2013. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-brain-on-poverty-why-poor-people-seem-to-
make-bad-decisions/281780/ (accessed May 1, 2018).
 anyway. When you never have enough money, it ceases to have
meaning. I imagine having a lot of it is the same thing.”28
Factors of mental poverty can be understood by acts of indecisiveness, procrastination,

uncertainty, and worrying.29 Indecisiveness causes other people to let others dictate for them and

let them decide for them. This is also a form of bad faith by not making one aware of his

freedom and consciously adhering to what others want one to be without even trying to qualify it

to oneself if it is what one truly wants. 30Procrastination would be the cause of putting away

things today and leave it then set on their minds that they will just do it tomorrow. Making this

kind of lifestyle or mindset will make someone eventually end up facing undesirable

consequences in which one is the one responsible of doing so.

An example of this would be the story of a pharmacist student who lives in Madagascar.

He said that his country was ranked the tenth poorest country in the world. Many call his country

as “mora-mora”. That means that everything goes smoothly. Tourists passing in their place

would say that they are easy going. They see Malagasy people smiling brightly even if they are

in deep poverty. It is as if they do not care of their current situation. He said that:

“Accepting things that we cannot change make us

happy and maybe this is the secret of the Malagasy people.”31

They accept that they are poor by faith since people in their place have a huge belief in their

place. For them everything is already written so there would be no need for them to ponder or

ask why they stay poor. They no longer search for solution because it is already in their minds

28
Thompson, Derek. Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad
Decisions.
29
Ibid
30
Mancenido, Marella Ada. Drake, David, Sartre and Benasconi, Robert, How to
read Sartre.
31
Miharisoa. Poverty: Is It Destiny? . 2016. http://www.voicesofyouth.org/fr/posts/poverty-is-it-destiny-
(accessed May 1, 2018).
that it is their very own destiny. If they wereasked they would say that they can do nothing but

just wait for help from above.

People lack the mental strength, self-discipline, self-motivation, intelligence, or foresight

to see a problem and fix it or plan. Therefore, they remain financially less than to those whose

priority it is to have good finances. Due to the fact that some lack the mentality and foresight to

reach new possibilities, they also do not take responsibility for their own actions. Blaming

everything and everyone but themselves for their own problems without regard to the fact that

the problems are just their own.

The situation of Miharosa is similar to the Philippines. Most Filipinos are always relying

on to God in which they believe is good, merciful and generous. In the case of practicality, it

would be unpleasant or hard to help someone if one does not even give an effort in helping

oneself. Bad faith can also be due to blaming others. In the case of Filipinos just like the story of

Miharosa, they give reasons such as “diyos na ang bahala sa atin” or “God is good, it is his

plan”.32 It is like blaming their God that they are poor. They no longer rely on their will and

capacity to do something as Sartre sees it. They are unconsciously denying that they have

freedom.

Another example is that in terms of government, Philippines is known to have a corrupt

government. Then here come some poor people who go around putting the blame on their

political leaders. Then they think that the government should be responsible in helping them. In

fact, that is really the job of the government but the thing is that they are not the only ones living

and needs help from the government. There are around millions of people suffering in poverty

32
Tuason, Ma. Teresa. "The Poor in the Philippines: Some Insights from
Psychological Research." Psychology and Developing Societies 22, no. 2 (2010): 299-330.
crisis, not exaggerating, that also need some support. Therefore, the big part of helping in getting

themselves out of poverty should be them. It should be them working things out for themselves

not the government. It can be deduced that even if it were someone’s job to help others it would

be useless in helping someone if that someone does not even try to help him or herself and just

keep on playing the blame game.

The poor experiences negative emotions of self-pity, insecurity, envy and anger;

intolerance for continued poverty and others.33In the study of Guerrero it indicated that the poor

expressed feelings of hopelessness or despair; disillusionment with the economic, social and

political conditions in the country; but with only little sense of resignation or apathy. Guerrero

described their socio-psychological traits as: thinking that life was unfavorable, feeling

dissatisfied with the discrepancy between their expectation and attainment, having high work

orientation, relying on chance or luck, believing in the magical role of education, being half

optimistic and half-hopeless, and being disillusioned with social, economic and political

conditions in the country.34

C. Power of the Freedom and Choice; freeness of the Human Person

When life gives you lemon, you have to make some lemonade. This could be a good

approach to some in times of difficulty. Thus, one must always and must actively act when faced

with difficult situations.35 Poverty is not a destiny but it is just a matter of mentality. The words

of James Baldwin make it clear that “…not everything that is faced can be changed: but nothing

33
Ibid.
34
Ibid.
35
Mancenido, Marella Ada. Drake, David, Sartre and Benasconi, Robert, How to read Sartre.
can be changed until it is faced.”36 Filipinos should stop waiting and asking for help from

everywhere while thinking that they are unable to do something. It is a mind over matter

situation. There is no ill fate. Destiny does not obstruct change. 37It is okay to trust in God but

God does not help those who do nothing.

No one comes with money nor does he die with it. The only thing that matters is the will

power. May it be any poor living in any part of the world one always has a choice to be rich.

People remain poor by the actions they take. One’s lifestyle is a direct result of ones actions and

reactions throughout life. Some people are mentally lazy or lack the self-discipline or self-

motivation to achieve great things. Some people are always eager to blame others for their

condition instead of rising up and face the challenge life has thrown at them. A person or family

may not have chosen to be living in poverty but they definitely have made a mental decision to

accept their situation and have chosen to stay there.

Relating it to historical events, South Korea was once battered and poor after the Korean

War in 1953 but Korea has now seen as a great city. They did not just work it out through money

they had set up their minds to rise up once more and shine. 38 Looking at individual people,

Albert Einstein was a drop out and now he is one of our known geniuses. Bill Gates was just a

typical person in his time and his classmates where like gods in their class but now he is the

richest man in the world. He is the owner of Microsoft and his classmates are just his employees.

To make it more relatable, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao was born from a poor family and because

of his great perseverance, he became as one of the richest persons in the world.

36
Miharisoa. Poverty: Is It Destiny? .
37
Mancenido, Marella Ada. Drake, David, Sartre and Benasconi, Robert, How to read Sartre
38
José, F. Sionil. Why Are Filipinos So Poor? n.d.https://fitzvillafuerte.com/why-are-
filipinos-so-poor.html (accessed May 1, 2018).
 Taking Manny Pacquiao as an example, he clearly did not accept his deprivation when he

was poor. He did not want to make his family suffer and clearly wants to give a good life for his

own family by ending their agony. He sacrificed a lot, did a lot of training, and had many

enduring moments in his career. It is undeniable that he had a strong sense of ambition, will and

determination. Even though seeing him on tv, the way he falls on the ring and stands up to fight

back is how he dealt with life. Every time he is beat up and falls down, he would have the

willpower to stand up, take courage and face once more what made him fall. He would not let

any obstacle end his journey towards his great dream. In his years of existence, he had a

thousand times to just give up and accept that he is what he is before; just a poor skinny boy.

That he did not chose because that mindset would just be a way of saying that he had no other

choice. The gist is that a decision not to change is a decision to remain the same. If one clearly

decides to just end up his or her life by staying the same ….

Sartre in his philosophy wants to point out that ‘our existence precedes essence’ it means

that one cannot be defined by mere events like relationships, jobs or in some cases, situations.

Ones being is much bigger. It highlights the words of Sartre ‘all things we are at present not, but

could possibly become’. Human Person is responsible of himself. It is in his freedom in which he

becomes responsible in creating himself.

In reality, it is not superman who will be there to save the day. It should be the

human person itself or specifically the poor people who should think their way out of their

misery. They cannot just invoke their God and do nothing. One should know how to fish in the

sea. One must know how to rise when they fall or even rise even if the first place they already

have fallen. For Sartre, it circles around the power of ones will.
 V. Conclusion

This paper aimed to argue that poor Filipinos who are suffering from the crisis of poverty

should have a different perspective and different lifestyle in approaching their current

difficulties. In order to do this, they must change their ways of thinking; their mental decisions.

The discussion revolved around the Sartrean concept of Bad Faith and some of his other

philosophies, its effect to poor people in the Philippines and how free the human person is. Given

the description of bad faith, for Sartre ones existence is bigger than his essence, meaning one is

the creator of his life. One must not let his current situation or predicaments dictate on what he or

she will be in her life. One is responsible of himself thus he chooses his own destiny. In this

concept of Sartre, in some way it is seen among poor Filipinos why they stay poor or in general

why poverty still continue to exist in the Philippines. In some aspects it becomes more or less

cultural. Others “inherit” poverty. That is why in some cases some poor people would think that

it is already their destiny to be poor.

In world of development, chances are the only ones who are only developing are those

who are already developed. Those who are have the typical criterion of being able to develop are

those who are only developing leaving the less fortunate or the unoriented minds of poor people

behind. Some people who have the typical criterion of being able to develop are those who have

enough encouragements, financial support, mental orientation towards life, and the rest of

support that they need in their life. This makes the poor people even more distant than they

currently are to others who are developing. If a country wants to be seen as well-developed it

should not be based by their own economic or other standards. It should be based on the

governed people. It can only be achieved if one will help another or himself and so on and so

forth.
VI. Recommendation

Recommendation One: The researcher recommends venturing the cause of poverty as

being lacking of opportunities to the poor ones. It was mentioned that there are lot of causes of

poverty, yet opportunities presented to the poor are limited or there are almost none.

Recommendation Two: The researcher recommends relating concepts to Bad Faith like

Neitzsche’s Will to Power. Also, other existential ideas relating to human freeness and freedom

could supplement more this aspect of study.

Recommendation Three: The researcher recommends a philo-political approach with

regards to chronic poverty. This could be a good approach in the aspect of the parliaments.

Recommendation Four: The researcher recommends a deepened understanding of

poverty as to its history and chronic existence through philosophico-religious approach.

Theodical approaches could also help in presenting fresh understanding on chronic poverty and

bad faith.
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