The Filipino - Poorest people in Asia

According to a UN-Habitat report, over 20 million Filipinos in the Philippines live in slums, and in Metro Manila alone. There are more than 800,000 Pinays working as prostitutes in Metro Manila. Many of them are underage. In the meantime, because we have no national health care system an average of 52 Pinays die every 24 hours from pregnancy-related causes. According to the Asian Development Bank, over 25 million Filipinos don’t have access to the basic sanitation afforded by toilet facilities; another 13 million don’t have proper water resources - without plumbing or communal water taps, many rely on creek water and deep wells which can often be unsafe for human consumption. Poverty cannot be measured in pesos and centavos alone. Poverty must be viewed from a larger, deeper, if not a wider perspective: social, political, spiritual, cultural, educational, environmental; and indeed, poverty in science and technology. We are, indeed, the poorest people in Asia. Consider: We are rudderless as people; directionless as a nation. We have no love for our country. None are rich in spirit. We have no respect for law and order. We have no sense of the future of our nation's children. In brief, we have nothing great going on for us Filipinos - except God, and his Son Jesus; Mary, the Mother of God; and of course the Pope who is not even a Filipino. Surely, millions of Filipinos feel God has blessed them. In fact, we are taught in schools, colleges, and universities to always believe what Jesus declared: "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO ARE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." In the ultimate analysis, millions of us filipino share something great in common together: For the love of Jesus up there, we are all poor in spirit down here! Poch Suzara Twitter# Facebook# Google#