To our mind, Pope Francis' strongest condemnation was against what he called many "scandalous inequalities." He was not impressed with economic growth that favors only the socio-economic and political elite. He was not happy with skyscrapers rising in a metropolis, surrounded by squatter colonies of millions, who hardly survive in sub-human conditions. The Holy Father is, in fact, deeply concerned with the biggest Catholic population in Asia suffering in extreme poverty. Behind his smiles, the pope must be sad for his people.
The social and economic gaps are becoming wider and wider. The inequities and inequality are scandalous. They should, in fact, prick the conscience of the true Christians. The Church should be deeply concerned that about one-fourth of one hundred million Filipinos are poor and some are truly very poor. Twelve million are migrant workers, many of them accepting dirty, difficult, dangerous, deceptive, and degrading jobs abroad. Every single day, no less than five thousand Filipinos are leaving the Philippines to search for livelihood in other countries.
The scandalous inequality between the billions of profits of taipans, tycoons and moguls, on the one hand, and the pittance of wages given to minimum wage-earners, on the other hand, illustrate how shocking is the social and economic injustice being perpetuated by a government that is controlled by the ruling class, of landowners, businessmen, traders, bankers and speculative investors. Many of these propertied and moneyed elite are sadly lacking of a genuine social conscience. But they finance election campaigns. So?
The poor cannot afford quality education, therefore their children are doomed to become just like them, laborers, virtual slaves and casual workers. They cannot afford basic medical and health care. They live in the squalor of the slums and are looked down as social outcasts who have hardly any chance to rise in the social and economic strata. On the other hand, the employers wallow in indecent wealth, unmindful that a few meters away from their mansions and luxurious condos are families living under the bridges, in dirty esteros, and even in the sidewalks. They were not seen by the pope as they were hidden in luxury resorts.
The pope is not impressed with a 7.2 % economic growth, while more than twenty million Filipinos are hardly surviving with uncertain and inadequate income, with jobs that are stripped of tenurial security, with unjust and inhuman working conditions, with unfair labor practices, perpetrated by many conscienceless businessmen. The pope warns that these social injustices shall weaken the communities and the whole nation. He bewails that migration is abetted by a government that does not seem to have a concrete and coherent plan to create opportunities for work and livelihood here in the domestic labor markets.
Beneath the smiles of Pope Francis lie a deeper anguish and pain seeing so many Catholics live a life of poverty and social injustice, in a country controlled by few powerful and indecently moneyed men. He went home with a heavy heart, trying to discern the meaning of such scandalous inequalities. And the government seems not to worry at all. Shame.