“If we don’t have poor people anymore, who will be our drivers, our house-helpers, and errand boys?”Years back, a participant asked this question at the open forum of a consultation on the reproductive health law. It was addressed to a panelist who speculated on population control’s heavy impact on poverty reduction.My jaw dropped big time as I could not see a hint of sarcasm in the questioner’s face. I could not believe he wasn’t kidding because the underlying logic was just so utterly ridiculous.Major premise: The solution to a problem is its opposite. (Correct, like fire is put out by its opposite water, dirtiness by its opposite cleanliness, etc.) Minor premise: wealth (lots of money) is the opposite of poverty (little or no money). Ergo, the solution to poverty is wealth. Ergo further, we should not eliminate poverty, otherwise we won’t have drivers, helpers, errand boys, etc. who, constrained by poverty, have to accept starvation wages.The logic is perfect if we accept the minor premise that the opposite of poverty is wealth. But this premise is wrong. A closer critical look would tell us the opposite of poverty is not wealth but justice. Justice, therefore, and not wealth is the solution to poverty.There’s just no way we can all become wealthy because internal individual and external social circumstances will lead some to poverty or at least to relative dependence on others for their physical survival. Besides, some people prefer a simple life for practical reasons. Others even opt for a life of poverty for a spiritual reason.And that’s where and why justice is the solution to poverty. Justice is about being poor by our own free choice and not because we are systematically deprived of a fair share of the benefits of earth’s resources; not because we are denied effective access to our right to a standard of living worthy of our dignity as human beings.In other words, people should not be poor, as many Filipinos are now, because of an inequitable resource-distribution or economic system, a system that systemically channels the fruits of the earth to a few and leaves many to scramble for crumbs that drop from the former’s tables.Without justice, ordinary laborers remain poor because the system treats them as second-class citizens, undeserving of a living wage. With justice, ordinary laborers are treated as equals in dignity and rights, hence deserving of just wages or wages that can house, feed, clothe, and educate his family.Fair share of the earth’s resources and effective access to the right to a relatively prosperous life for all are the hallmarks of a just socio-economic system. When a few are extremely wealthy and a great many are poor, it is a clear indication that the system is inherently unjust.Again, wealth is not the opposite of poverty. Justice is. Thus, the solution to poverty is not wealth but justice … for all.