MANILA, May 22, 2015— The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called for concrete action from parishes and the laypeople to fight “modern-day slavery”.
CBCP president Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan said the people must not be indifferent to tragedy of exploitation.
“We therefore ask our parish priests and our laity to constitute themselves into guardians of our brothers and sisters against modern-day slavery,” Villegas said.
According to him, the recent fire at a footwear factory in Valenzuela City that killed 72 people “has roused the nation to the reality of modern-day slavery” in the country.
The incident, he said, have uncovered more sites of exploitation where Filipinos “are worked to death” under the “most appalling circumstances”.
Villegas added that warehouses and factories with poor safety standards must be shut down to avoid a repeat of the Valenzuela fire incident.
“The warehouses and factories that are in fact sweat-shops for our countrymen eager to eke out a living should be subject to relentless inspection and monitoring and where it is found that they are in fact sites of exploitation, these should be closed,” he also said.
“There is hardly anything more repugnant to the Gospel’s law of love than the heartless exploitation of the poor and to make capital from their want,” said Villegas. (CBCPNews)