“They who plant and water shall bear the fruit of their labor”
Filipino Katoliko Church International Labor Day 2024 Message
“The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”- 1 Corinthians 3:8-9
“If any man’s work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” – 1 Corinthians 3:14
Hunger, chaos, and destruction caused by wars, conflicts, and greed affect the mass children of God globally in varied intensity.
Most of the people in grief and starvation are the many populations that from dawn to dusk have poured their labor. Inequality widened as nearly 700 million people around the world today live in extreme poverty, meaning they live on less than $2.15 per day according to the World Bank.
World Bank 2023 year-in review stated, “If 2022 was a year of uncertainty, 2023 is the year of inequality. For countries hoping to bounce back from the devastating losses of the COVID-19 pandemic, the battle has been made tougher by the compounding threats of climate change, fragility, conflict, violence, or food insecurity, to name a few—that make it difficult for economies across the board to fully recover.”
A ”polycrises” indeed.
According to the World Bank’s data in 2022, a total of 712 million people globally were living in extreme poverty, an increase of 23 million people compared to 2019. And “when looking beyond income to people experiencing deprivations in health, education, and living standards, 1.2 billion people in 111 developing countries are multi-dimensionally poor,” the 2022 U.N. Development Programme report said.
Most of these poor populations have been working hard with only their labor-force as the means with a global total labor force of 3.62 billion according to World Bank data. The world economy has been expected to have a gross domestic product (GDP) of $105 trillion, or $5 trillion higher than the year before, according to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections from 2023 report.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, we have a total population of 110 Million with a 42 Million labor force excluding the more than 10 Million Overseas Filipino Workers. Of the total labor force, majority of them are from service and informal (19% industry, 23% agriculture, 58% services; and Wage and salaried 27.2 M, Self-employed 11.5 M, Unpaid family workers 2.5 M, Employers 1.2 M).
According to OCTA Research in September 2023, an additional 1.9 million Filipino families now consider themselves poor or ‘new poor totaling 50% of Filipino families, or around 13.2 million households, rated themselves as poor. In the same year (mid-2023) the collective wealth of the Philippines’ 50 wealthiest individuals experienced a notable increase, reaching $80 billion, up from $72 billion the previous year (2022).
This data implies an increase in the wealth of the rich and an increase in the number of poor working population with low or no increase in wages and opportunities – a glaring wide gap in social and economic status.
As said in 1st Corinthians verse 3: 8-9, they who work should be rewarded according to their own labor.
Filipino Katoliko Church, joins the global community and the Filipino working and poor population in the call for improved and strengthened programs, services, and policies for the workers like living wage increase, lowering of the prices of commodities, and other structural and policy reforms in the utilization and management of the finite natural resources.
As children of God and stewards of creation, we must show compassion and solidarity for the working population and shall cultivate the earth for the world to eat and reproduce and not for profit.
FILIPINO KATOLIKO Church
www.filipinokatolikoph.info
May 2, 2024