ON THE ATTITUDE OF UBOS-BIYAYA: A CORRELATIONAL ELUCIDATION ON THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF CAPITALISM AND THE CHURCH’S RESPONSE

Abstract

In the Phenomenological sense, ubos-biyaya is a subtle event apparent in the mindset and practice among many Filipinos, especially when payday comes. The sudden surge of people in various shopping centers is a sign that ubos-biyaya has magnificently entered people's lives. This behavioral phenomenon is an expected outcome of capitalism’s dream of controlling the masses and creating a culture that praises consumption as viable means of being happy and satisfied. But it only leaves the people imprisoned in an endless cycle of discontentment, which capitalism takes as an advantage in amassing their wealth at the expense of the people’s illusive belief in satisfaction gained in material gratification. Ubos-biyaya, as an outcome of capitalism’s plan of indirect manipulation, is primarily opposed by the Church, for its alienating effect. Ubos-biyaya not only engages humans to participate in the process of consumption, but it also enables the participants to alienate and look at the outcast not as an extension of oneself, but as a commodity. The reduction of human worth, not the positive effect of capitalism’s free market, is what the Church is against. Hence, Church proposes an economy of inclusion to solve the ongoing alienation of man.