Lagdameo urges gov't to do more to reduce poverty
Do more to reduce poverty and for those who are poor.
This was the appeal of Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo to government as President Macapagal-Arroyo delivers her State of the Nation Address (Sona) today.
"I think that government, as I also invite Church people, should be pro-poor," said Lagdameo, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
The prelate did not specify what measures that government should take to reduce poverty, saying it is up to government to implement these.
"The problem of poverty will have a solution. The solution requires more sharing from people themselves," the prelate said at the sidelines of a prayer rally against the Reproductive Health Bill pending in Congress last Thursday.
"The greatest cause of poverty is not the (number of) people. The greatest cause of poverty is graft and corruption," he said, stressing the Church's line on the population management issue.
The prelate said God was born in a poor family "because he knew that there would be more poor people. He showed us how to help the poor."
But militant groups here blamed the seven-year-old Arroyo administration for worsening poverty with millions going hungry, jobless and homeless.
"We are suffering the worst crisis ever. The natural calamities have been aggravated by the worst calamity of all--Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," said Bayan-Panay spokesperson Reylan Vergara.
Thousands of protesters led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan are set to hold protest actions in Iloilo, Aklan and Capiz today to dramatize their protest against the administration.
In Iloilo City, protesters will assemble around 1:30 p.m. at the public plazas of Jaro and Molo districts before marching to the grounds of the Iloilo provincial capitol where a cultural protest rally will be held.