Poe Francis speaks against corruption in the Philippines.

Jason I agre that Education is important. However the Philippines are fairly well educated. It is the media that makes it difficult to see the need fr land reform. Also history should tell how the rich acquire so much land.

 

Personally, I think you ought to learn more about the Philippines before you can start preaching about what the government should do. For one, you might be interested to know that the richest Filipino, Mr. Henry Sy, started as an ordinary peddler. Now he owns acres of land, real estate businesses, and giant malls. Mr. Lucio Tan, another tycoon, worked as a janitor to support his schooling. Now, he owns mega businesses, including a university and an airline. the poor stay poor because they are too lazy to do something about their situation. The rich can only share so much but cannot, and should not, spoon feed other people. Another thing, the Aquinos' landholdings have been given up for land reform. Even your last statement here, 'It is the media that makes it difficult to see the need for land reform' is unfounded and outrageous. Duh?

 

The phenomenon where the rich own all the land isn't unique to developing nations. In the US, if one doesn't have at least a middle class job, then one cannot hope to afford to buy property. Such a person will rent thier whole life. Therefore, does that make the middle and upper class in the US evil?

Of course, when people look at the developing world though, they compare it to the first world. For instance, someone renting in the Phillippines might live in housing that seems poor to an American, but that American is judging things from an American POV. On the other hand, a renter in the US might seem rich to a Filipino, because people who live in such houses in the Phillippines usually have servants.

As a side note, the tropical climate isn't that harsh so a lot of people live in simple wooden dwellings. It isn't a shame there. Assuming the area has plumbing and access to electricity, there isn't much to complain about. Of course, in some cases a community well is used for washing, but a lot of times, due to the culture, nobody sees it as shameful, as though their area is a ghetto.

Again, I see a lot of this obsession with wanting to have home that look American, or the fact Americans view thier homes as vastly better is because people are obssessed with status symbols.