The roots of poverty and overcoming it

Juan dela Cruz and 20 of his neighbours in a remote village in southern Mindanao are celebrating a remarkable turnaround. 

Each year, they sell their mangoes to an ethical enterprise that pays high prices, along with additional payments and other benefits. Previously, traders would reject their mangoes for being too small. Everything changed when the ethical enterprise began buying nearly all their produce at fair prices and turning them into dried mangoes. 

With their bonus earnings, the farmers invested in small businesses such as piggeries, chicken farms, and sari-sari stores, gradually lifting themselves out of poverty. 

Countries like the Philippines, where inequality is widespread, urgently need to practise fair trade principles. 

These principles enable people to organise into farmers’ associations and secure fair prices for their products. Working together, they protect the environment, promote education, prohibit child labour, support organic farming, and advocate for a healthy lifestyle and human rights. 

With their bonus earnings, the farmers invested in small businesses such as piggeries, chicken farms, and sari-sari stores, gradually lifting themselves out of poverty

To end social injustice, government officials must adhere to fair trade principles and serve the people rather than exploit them. 

Empowering people to overcome poverty and hunger requires helping them build confidence, overcome fear and inferiority, and take a stand against exploitation and social injustice. 

The poor must break their dependence on politicians for favours and financial assistance, since the services of these officials are already funded by taxpayers.

For development to be real and meaningful, and for inequality to be truly addressed, there must be a strong, well-organised national movement for social and economic justice.

This movement should challenge the wealthy to restrain their pursuit of unlimited personal and corporate growth and profits, and instead, encourage them to work towards meaningful human development and social responsibility.

Countries like the Philippines, where inequality is widespread, urgently need to practise fair trade principles

Government officials must be persuaded to serve the people rather than the interests of powerful corporations.

Alongside the public, the government and socially responsible corporations can collaborate to build a more just society. Their shared goal should be to uplift more than 17.5 million Filipinos from humiliating and crushing poverty and hopelessness.

There are wealthy individuals committed to social transformation and to ending poverty and hunger, but they are too few.

For many, national transformation and the eradication of poverty seem like unreachable ideals or hopeless dreams, as they require the rich to share their wealth with the poor in a sustainable manner. The question remains: will they have the necessary change of mind and heart to make this possible?

In the New Testament, a rich young man was challenged by Jesus of Nazareth to share his wealth with the poor but could not do so. Jesus remarked, “It is easier for a camel (or rope) to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

To end social injustice, government officials must adhere to fair trade principles and serve the people rather than exploit them

Many wealthy individuals idolise money and do not believe in a God who embodies unselfish love, compassion, justice, and truth.

Blessed are the rich and all those who feel concern, understanding, and solidarity with the poor, dedicating their wealth—and even their lives—to do good and end human suffering.

According to a 2025 Henley & Partners Private Wealth Migration report, the Philippines is home to an estimated 12,800 millionaires, 12 billionaires, and 70 individuals with a net worth of at least $100 million.

If even a few of them prioritised alleviating poverty, they could save millions from hunger and suffering. Their lives would acquire immense value and purpose if they chose this path.

Beyond the Philippines, five billion people in the developing world suffer from hunger without access to humanitarian aid, as in Sudan.

Around 575 million more are projected to experience extreme poverty by 2030—the year the United Nations and wealthy nations promised poverty would be eradicated.

According to a 2025 Henley & Partners Private Wealth Migration report, the Philippines is home to an estimated 12,800 millionaires, 12 billionaires, and 70 individuals with a net worth of at least $100 million

Yet, these remain empty promises. If every empty promise were a sack of rice, we could feed the world.

In 2024, approximately 2.59 million Filipinos were unemployed and unable to feed their families. By August 2025, this number had dropped to 2.03 million, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. 

A Social Weather Stations survey conducted in September 2025 found that 41 per cent of Filipino families considered themselves “food-poor,” meaning they were unable to eat a full, healthy meal each day.

The OCTA Research group reported that around 11.3 million Filipino families suffered from food poverty. A 2024/2025 UN Children’s Fund report revealed that about 18 per cent [or two million] of children in the Philippines experienced severe food poverty, often surviving on starch with little or no protein.

This is where “pag-pag” [leftover] food enters the picture: leftovers from the plates of the wealthy in fine restaurants are collected, recycled, recooked, and shared with the hungry poor. 

A Social Weather Stations survey conducted in September 2025 found that 41 per cent of Filipino families considered themselves “food-poor,” meaning they were unable to eat a full, healthy meal each day

The root cause of poverty and hunger lies in the political structure of the country, where the super-rich effectively control the electoral process. A few hundred families govern a nation of 115.8 million people. 

Yet, hope remains. If enough wealthy individuals experience a change of mind and heart, they could work for the common good and dedicate themselves and their resources to serving humanity, following the example of philanthropists like Bill Gates.

Another source of hope lies in the emergence of a new generation of educated young people dedicated to human rights and social justice, and filled with compassion for the poor.

They are driven by the hunger, social injustice, and inequality afflicting more than 17.5 million impoverished Filipinos. They long to effect change—but how?

A peaceful grassroots movement for social justice and human rights is growing in the Philippines, as hundreds of brave, socially committed Filipinos devote themselves to serving the poor and championing the environment and human rights

David Boyd

David Boyd, the former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, observed: “Powerful, interconnected business and political elites—the diesel mafia—are still becoming wealthy from the existing system.

“Dislodging this requires a vast grassroots movement, employing tools such as human rights advocacy, public protest, and every resource available to change-makers.”

A peaceful grassroots movement for social justice and human rights is growing in the Philippines, as hundreds of brave, socially committed Filipinos devote themselves to serving the poor and championing the environment and human rights.

Their actions inspire many more, keeping hope alive by doing good and opposing injustice against the poor. Believing in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, they maintain faith that change is possible.

With such conviction, how can they fail to transform the Philippines for the better in due time?

Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org