ON the heels of the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos Jr., the advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is calling on the administration to put more effort in ending poverty and upholding human rights.
In a statement, Caritas Philippines President Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said there is a need for the Marcos administration to be at the forefront of helping families make ends meet amid the soaring prices of commodities.
“The economic crisis and challenges exacerbated by the pandemic have only made things worse. While there has been economic growth, it is important to remember that the country’s economy plunged during the pandemic and we are still lagging,” said Bagaforo.”The majority of Filipinos are still struggling to make ends meet,” he added.
Bagaforo’s call comes amid the continued call of workers for an across-the-board wage increase nationwide.
Aside from poverty, Caritas Philippines Vice President Bishop Gerardo Alminaza noted that human rights violations, particularly red-tagging, continue to happen under the Marcos administration.
“The Marcos administration has said it is committed to ending red-tagging. But there is little evidence to support this claim. In fact, the practice seems to have intensified under the new administration,” said Alminaza.
“We call on the administration to publicly instruct government officials to end the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and activists,” he added.
Alminaza’s statement comes amid the government’s refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigation of the bloody war on drugs.
