ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Bishops: "Laity and parishes have to act in order to combat modern slavery"

Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The President of the Episcopal Conference of the Philippines, His Exc. Mgr. Socrates Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, called for "concrete actions" to fight against "modern slavery". "People cannot be indifferent to the tragedy of labor exploitation", he said. "We therefore ask our pastors and our laity to be custodians of our enslaved brothers and sisters", he reiterated.
The message, sent to Agenzia Fides, refers to the episode in which, due to a fire in a shoe factory in Valenzuela City, at least 72 people died. The episode highlights the phenomenon of "exploitation in which young people, women, children, the elderly are forced to work in appalling circumstances and situations", without any safety standards.
These workplace "should be subject to inspections, and once these places of exploitation are discovered, they must be closed" reiterated the Archbishop.
"Compared to the evangelical law of love, the exploitation of the poor is repugnant", he concluded.
According to data of the "Walk Free Foundation" (WFF), the Philippines is ranked 98th place among the 162 countries in the world with the largest number of modern slaves, and are among the 12 Asian countries where the phenomenon is more prevalent. The Foundation notes that modern slavery persists in the Philippines mainly because of extreme poverty. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 26/05/2015)