POPE Francis brought out the clarion call in his
encyclical Laudato Si: Hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. These
cries are loud and clear in these days. The cry of the poor: the price of rice
is getting out of hand, inflation is eating up the poor’s meager earnings, jobs
are very much wanting. They are groaning. The lines in the feeding centers run
by charitable institutions are getting longer. The cry of the earth: several times
in the past three weeks classes have been cancelled in several cities because
of floods. Unfinished road constructions and plastic pollution in our streets
and sewage systems prevent the water from flowing out. Now there is a threat of
another strong typhoon. What is being down to prepare for it?
The poor and the earth are crying out loudly. But where
is the attention of our government? Buying arms from Israel, ordering Sen
Trillanes to be put into bars with the flimsy reason that his amnesty given more
years ago is invalid, accusing people
here and there of destabilization moves! The government is in total disconnect
with the people. It does not offer any solution to the high inflation except to
blame others, that this is just false news (There is really no lack of supply
of rice, they claim in spite of the long queues of people buying rice! ), that
the opposition is hoarding the rice, etc. What preparations is the government
doing for the impending typhoon? Nada! Yes, government institutions are being
mobilized to court martial Trillanes, although he is now a civilian, to get a
warrant of arrest for the senator, to apprehend the vocal critic, and now
mobilizing the communications offices to sound the alarm of destabilization. It
really appears that the government is fighting the wrong enemy, not the battle that
the people on the ground are waging. How blind and numb leaders can become. And
blind too are those who defend such leaders. Instead of using their influence
to call on their beloved leader to see the dangers the people are now facing,
they continue to cheer him up and defend him in his wrong directions. They too are blindly misguided.
Let us come together to address the cry of the poor and
the cry of the earth. They are related to each other. Destruction of our
natural resources affects the poor badly and directly. Now should be the time
for the government to mitigate the impact of the coming typhoon. Concrete
measures should be done so that the poor can get the basic necessities at the
prices that they can afford, especially when the typhoon Ompong comes. We call
on our government leaders to fight the battle that concerns the people – not their
imagined enemies!
