The role of a religious institution in the developing and functioning of social and economic sphere (the case of the Roman Catholic church of the Philippines)

Theoretical and practical significance of the research, the subject area of which is the confessional space of foreign countries and regions, is due to the fact that doctrinal points and ritual side of religions and the legal status of religious institutions largely determine not only the worldview and mentality of the population, but its economic (e.g., consumer) [1], social and reproductive behavior of the population [2]. Aside from that, the predominant religion is one of the important factors in the formation of the region's human capital quantitative and qualitative characteristics [3; 4; 5].

Nowadays, religious organizations actively provide a wide variety of services to the population, which are demanded not only by adherents of religions. First of all, the routes of religious and educational tourism offered by pilgrimage services are in great requisition among a wide range of consumers [6; 7; 8], also services of public catering establishments operating under the brand name associated with a denomination or religion. One may state that despite the obviously marked secularization processes in many countries, religious ideology and the activities of religious organizations have not lost their influence on the most diverse spheres of society. Especially this can be seen in countries where (as in the Philippines) the state has transferred some of its social functions to religious institutions.

Theory. For the processing and constructive functioning of the confessional space elements of Russia, given the socio-political transformations of the last 30 years, the experience of foreign countries, where religious traditions have not been interrupted for centuries, is very important. In this regard, it is customary to refer more to the experience of foreign Europe countries [9] as mentally and geographically close [10; 11; 12]. Meanwhile, the models of Asian countries confessional space organization are also interesting for consideration and can serve as an example for Russia and other states. There are many scientific works related to the religions of the Asia-Pacific region, but most of it are devot ed to China and Japan. [13; 14]. Scientists rarely touch upon the Philippines within the bounds of marked subject area. One of the exceptions is a fundamental research of the close of the 20th century devoted to the geoconfessional conflict in the Islamic South of the country [15]. Some problems related to the Philippines confessional space are also discussed in the articles of some experts [16; 17], but the subjectivity and thematic scientific works, with rare exceptions [18], are limited to the history of the development of religious trend, their doctrinal features, and legal aspects of religious activity. Meanwhile, the research of the role of the RCC in the economic and social life of the country deserves special attention.

The Philippines is one of the world's demographic centers of the Catholic denomination of Christianity.

According to 2018 estimates, about 81% of Filipinos declared their affiliation with the RCC. Of these, 41% regularly participated in the sacraments and rites, 24% considered themselves religious, and less than 16% expressed a desire to leave the Church1.

The above data suggest that the role of the RCC for Filipinos is high and the processes of secularization have affected them less than the population of most European countries. Being so widespread, the Catholic religion has a significant impact on the social and economic life of the Philippines. What's more, numerous adherents of the RCC act as users of the religious and social infrastructure of Catholicism and bearers of demand for religiously-conditioned goods and services.

Data and Methods. Methods of statistical analysis, comparative comparison, analysis and synthesis, systematization of theoretical material, and analysis of models for the development of confessional space were used during the research.

The information base of the study was based on data from the official websites of the Roman Catholic Church2, materials of the annual financial reports of Catholic non-profit organizations published in the public access, as well as the results of in-depth interviews with representatives of the RCC of the Philippines.

Methods for Model includes an integrated approach to studying the structural elements of the confessional space at the national and regional levels.

Results. The history of Catholicism in the Philippines dates back for 500 years - it began to spread in the archipelago from 1521 due to the activities of the Spanish mission and during this period gradually gained a continuous area of distribution and covered the vast majority of the population. At the moment, the RCC has a dense network of primary territorial associations in the country - parishes (more than 3 thousand), which make up 10-25 larger Church-territorial units -deaneries (corresponding to the district level of the administrative division). In turn, several deaneries form dioceses (56) - ecclesiastical administrative divisions headed by bishops that coincide or almost coincide with the borders of the subjects). Finally, at the macro level, the administrative-territorial division of the RCC is represented by metropolitans (16), which include several dioceses. There are also extraterritorial associations headed by bishops. For example, the military Ordinariate, which brings together military chaplains who serve in military units.

The high significance of the RCC for the Philippines population is confirmed not only by the dense network of parishes, but also by the large number of adherents and the regular participation of the latter in religious rites and sacraments. Marked religious organization largely duplicates some of the functions of the state. For example, a marriage in the RCC is legitimate in the country and is an alternative to a civil wedding ceremony. According to official data, it is elected by about 60% of the population3 (in 2017 - 242 thousand pairs)4. Comparison of this indicator with the same one in a number of countries of foreign Europe shows that the influence of the traditional Christian religion in the modern society of the Philippines is much higher. For example, only 9% of married couples choose to register their marriage by getting married in the Evagelic Lutheran Church of Latvia5, and 34% - in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland6.

Every year more than 1.5 million people in the Philippines are baptized in the RCC. Of this number, children under 7 years of age account for about 1.4 million people, i.e. 90% of all baptisms, which reflects the strong commitment of Filipinos to the religious traditions of Catholicism, which prescribe this Christian sacrament to be performed on an infant child7. Here, the comparative figures for the time periods close to 2017 of the European countries chosen as an example also look more modest than in the Philippines: slightly less than 20% of the number of people born in the region were baptized in the ELCL in 2018, and in the ELCF in 2017 - 68.7%.

The parishes of the RCC, the primary units of religious infrastructure, carry out most of the socially significant work with the population, including partially duplicating the functions of the state. These include not only registering marriages, but also providing financial assistance to low-income families, family and crisis counseling, organizing thematic lectures, needlework circles, and other events. The high number of adherents of Catholicism leads to an increase in the number of parishes of the RCC, and, as a result, structural transformations at the level of Church units at the regional level. As an illustration of this pro- cess, the dynamics graphically reflect the indicators of changes in the number of parishes in the Metropolitan area of Manila and in one of the peripheral -Catabato (Fig. 1).

During the period 1980-2002, the number of parishes in the Metropolitan area of Manila was constantly increasing. Their drastic decline in 2003 due to the disaggregation and allocation from its structure of two dioceses (of Novaliches in the North and Zamboanga in the South). After the reorganization, the number of parishes remained stable. As for the peripheral Metropolitan area of Cotabato, there was a slight increase in the number of parishes from 24 to 30 between 1980 and 1990. Then, from 1999 to 2010, it remained unchanged at 28 units, and from 2010 to 2017, there was a slight increase in the number of parishes (from 28 to 32). This process indicates an increase in Catholic adherents in the

Philippines or a stable number of them. It will be marked that in many Christian countries of foreign Europe the opposite situation is observed -parishes of national Churches are abolished due to the withdrawal of parishioners from their membership. Sometimes entire deaneries are lost, as was the case in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland [19].

The RCC in the Philippines has a significant social and political power, provides moral and spiritual stability of the Philippine people, influencing the formation of the country's human capital. This is directly reflected in the field of education. According to the official statistical Annual of the Roman Catholic Church for 20178, the number of students enrolled in Catholic educational institutions was 1,783,765 or 4.6% of the youth aged 6-24 years or 45.7 % of the youth attending educational institutions.

1980	1990	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2010	2014	2017
158	201	263	267	270	270	85	85	85	85	85
36	37	39	39	39	39	39	42	46	48	48

Year

Fig. 1 - Dynamics of the number of RCC parishes in the Metropolitan areas of Manila and Cotabato, in the period from 1980 to 2017 (compiled by the authors ⁹)

All public primary and secondary schools are fully funded by the state and are free of charge to the public. However, private Catholic schools do not receive state subsidies and have to bear high costs, which means that tuition fees in private schools are high for most of the population. Currently, there are more than 1,525 Catholic schools in the Philippines that provide education that meets the highest quality standards (Philippine Catholic Schools Standards (PCSS))10.

It ought to be marked the active work of the Catholic Church in the implementation of social responsibility in other areas besides education. The non-profit organizations operating within the RCC annually develop and implement targeted programs - "Church and society", "Family life", "Agricultural development", "Urban poverty and governance", etc., aimed at helping the poor, reducing poverty, and increasing understanding of the role of the Catholic Church in Philippine society, with an emphasis on spreading the Catholic faith. These programs contribute to understanding the interaction between the Philippine Roman Catholic Church and society and the implementation of the sustainable development goals.

Revenue yield in the parishes of the RCC and the opportunities for implementing activities in the field of social responsibility have significant territorial differences. The Filipino scientist J. S. Cornelio [20] identifies differences related to the Central and peripheral parts of the country. The author's research is based on a comparative description of the model of work (including social work) with the flock of diocesan priests which parishes are located in rural areas. The author focuses on three issues: economic restrictions, problems of relations with the episcopate, and the inevitability of isolation caused by physical (problems with transport infrastructure) and social (low level of education, tendency to delinquent behavior of the population in the poorest areas) distance. A comparison is made between the standard of living of priests living in rural areas and in large cities. Meanwhile, if subsidized from government or institutional sources, RCC parishes in rural areas of the Philippines could provide significant assistance to the population, contributing, as is done in parishes in the Central regions of the country, to the elimination of poverty, ensuring food security, strengthening the family institution, improving the level and quality of education, etc.

The RCC certainly acts as a socio-cultural dominant in the Philippines, influencing not only social processes, but also some sectors of the country's economy. One of the industries where this influence is directly manifested is religious tourism, which has several specialized areas. Pilgrimage and sightseeing and educational religious tourism are components of the practice of the Catholic faith, and since the vast majority of the population of the Philippines are adherents of the RCC, the demand of domestic consumers for tourist routes of this type may be reasonably high.

Outbound religious tourism of an excursion and educational orientation in the country is currently in its infancy, although the prospects for its development were outlined several decades ago. In the modern market of religious tourism services, there is a supply of routes from the Philippines to other countries, but it is very scarce. Before the introduction of restrictions on the movement of tourist flows caused by the 2020 pandemic, a little more than a dozen religious and educational tours were organized annually to Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and some other countries11 (Fig. 2), but it was not in high demand. One of the reasons for this is the remoteness of the country from the historical and demographic centers of Catholicism (Western and southern Europe, Latin America), which inevitably entails high costs to cover transport costs and the formation of an uncompetitive price of a package of tourist

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services12, and also the low standard of living of the population of the Philippines.

Fig. 2 - Dynamics of the number of foreign tourists who arrived in the Philippines for religious tourism 2015-2018, thousand people (Source: compiled by the authors13)

Inbound religious tourism has enjoyed a certain demand in recent years, and we can observe a positive trend in this demand (table 1, Fig. 1).

It is worthwhile to say that for the Philippines, tourism is in principle an important sector in the country's economy: in 2015, the share of this industry in GDP was 10.6 %. Excursion routes of religious and educational content, including objects of religious infrastructure, may well be in demand among tourists who came to the country for the purpose of prevailing beach and bathing tourism, because they allow you to get acquainted with interesting parts of the country and the culture of its population.

Analysis of the statistics shown in figures 3 and table 1 revealed that international tourist flows for religious tourism routes to the Philippines increased annually until the 2020 pandemic, when tourist flows were disrupted. So, from 2015 to 2018, the indicators increased by 1.77 thousand people (25%).

Table 1 - Number of foreign citizens, arrived in the Philippines 2015-2018 (thousand people) for the purpose of religious tourism14

Top 10 countries	2015	2016	2017	2018
Korea	1,340	1,475	1,608	1,588
China	491	676	968	1,255
USA	779	869	958	1,034
Japan	496	535	584	632
Australia	241	251	259	280
Taiwan	156	176	201	241
Canada	178	229	237	226
England	155	173	183	201
Singapore	181	176	169	172
Malaysia	156	139	144	145
Total	5,361	5,967	6,621	7,128

This direction is promising for the development of domestic tourism. The high importance of Catholic values for most members of society contributes to the fact that many Filipinos traditionally go on pilgrimage all year round to countless sacred places located in different parts of the country. Today, there is a huge variety of domestic pilgrimage tours in the Philippines. The largest concentration of places of worship is in the pilgrimage centers of the Philippines (Metropolitan region-Manila; Central Visa-yas - Cebu; Western Visayas - Kalibo, Iloilo). The territory of the Capital region has a large number of tourist attractions, and its religious infrastructure can be included in historical and cultural routes and form the basis for the development of religious tourism of an excursion and educational orientation as an independent direction15. In order to analyze the offer on the market of religious tourism in the Philippines, information is systematized and presented that allows us to characterize its features at the present stage (table 2).

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Table 2 - Main characteristics of the most popular pilgrimage tours in the Philippines 16-17

The name of the tour	The main points of the visit	Duration oj the tour	Price, $ (USD)	Notes (included)
Day Tours
Baguio City Pilgrimage for Marian Devotees Half-Day Tour with Lunch	-    Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto -    Shrine of the Brown Madonna Cave -    Our Lady of Atonement Metropolitan Cathedral	4 hours	51.21	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    English - Speaking Guide -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off within Baguio City
Pilgrimage Tour | A Visit to Cavite's Churches	-    St. Michael the Archangel Parish Church -    Our Lady of Pillar Parish -    Immaculate Conception Parish Church -    Our Lady of Assumption Parish -    St. Mary Magdalene Parish -    Diocesan Shrine of St. Augustine	8 hours	53.53	-    Air-Conditioned Ve-hicle -    English - Speaking Guide -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off within Baguio City -    Water -    Travel Insurance
Iloilo City Pilgrimage Tour	-    Molo Church -    San Joaquin Church -    Tigbauan Church -    Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral -    Guimbal Church -    Arevalo Church	10 hours	47.23	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off within Iloilo City -    English - Speaking Guide -    Water -    Lunch -    Tour Insurance
Bohol Pilgrimage Tour | Whole-Day Church Visits	-    St. Monica Church -    St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral -    Our Lady of Assumption	8 hours	44.28	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    English - Speaking Guide -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off -    Lunch -    Entrance Fee to Our Lady of Assumption Parish Church
Deepen Your Faith in Pan-gasinan | Visita Iglesia Private Tour	-    St. Joseph Cathedral -    St. Raymond Pehafort Parish -    St. Joseph the Patriarch -    St. Andrew the Apostle -    St. Peter the Martyr	12 hours	78.72	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    English - Speaking Guide -    Hotel Pick Up -    Souvenir -    Lunch
Visita Iglesia Package in Pangasinan | A Journey of Faith	-    Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John Cathedral -    Minor Basilica of our Lady of Rosary of Manaoag -    Epiphany of our Lord Parish -    Our Lady of Purification Parish -    St Peter & Paul Parish -    Parish of St. Thomas -    Holy Family Parish	12 hours	78.72	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    English - Speaking Guide -    Hotel Pick Up -    Lunch and Snacks -    Souvenir
Go on a Pilgrimage to Pangasinan | Full Day Package with Lunch and Guide	-    Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John Cathedral -    Minor Basilica of our Lady of Rosary of Manaoag	8 hours	78.72	-    Air-Conditioned Ve-hicle - English - Speaking Guide - Hotel Pick Up -    Souvenir -    Lunch

• ¹⁶ Guide to the Philippines. URL: https://guidetothephilippines.ph/trips-and-experiences (Accessed on October 15, 2020)

• ¹⁷The Pilgrims Center. URL: https://pilgrimage.ph/about-us/(Accessed on October 23, 2020)

  The name of the tour	The main points of the visit	Duration oj the tour	Price, $ (USD)	Notes (included)
  Full-Day Cebu City Pilgrimage Churches Guided Tour with Transfer	-Theotokos Shrine -Simala Shrine	8 hours	65.1	-Air-Conditioned Ve-hicle - English - Speaking Guide - Hotel Pick Up -    Souvenir -    Water
  Pilgrimage in Baguio | Marian Devotees Tour	-    Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto -    Shrine of the Brown Madonna Cave - Our Lady of Atonement Metropolitan Cathedral	6 hours	37.02	-Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    English-Speaking Guide -    Entrance Fees to the Shrine of the Brown Madonna Church Cave -    Lunch -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop-Off
  Iloilo Pilgrimage & Sightseeing Private Guided Day Tour	-    Miag-ao Church -    San Joaquin Church -    Composanto San Joaquin -    Garin Farm -Tigbauan Church	7 hours	78.7	-    English - Speaking Guide -Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off -    Entrance Fees to Camiha Balay Nga Bato -    Entrance Fees to Composanto San Joaquin -    Entrance Fees to Garin Farm -    Complimentary Hot Chocolate -    Lunch
  Cebu City Historical Tour with Simala Shrine	-    Magellan's Cross - Taoist Temple -    Basilica Minore Del Santo Nino -    Heritage of Cebu Monument -Simala Shrine	10 hours	50.08	-    Air-Conditioned Vehicle -    Local Driver Guide -    Hotel Pick Up and Drop Off -    Entrance Fees to Taoist Temple Cebu -    Entrance Fees to Basilica Minore Del Santo Nino -    Entrance Fees to Simala Shrine -    Lunch -Water
  Multi-day Tours
  Pilgrimage to Iloilo, Point of departure -Manila	-    Sta. Barbara -    Church of San Jose (Iglesia de San Jose de Placer) -    La Paz Church -    St. Clements Church -    San Joaquin Church -    Church of Saint Thomas of Villanueva (Miagao Church) -    Sto. Nino de Arevalo Parish -    Guimaras Island Tour -    Our Lady of the Philippines Monastery -    Jaro Cathedral (Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria) -    Parish of St. Anne in Molo	4 days	Per Person on Twin Sharing: - Based on minimum ЗОрах 619.9$ - Based on minimum 20pax 665.16$ -Additional for Single Room 121.03$	-    Roundtrip economy airfare via Pal Express -    Roundtrip airport-hotel transfers by private coach - Airline Taxes - Three (3) nights first class hotel accommodation -    Transportation by private air conditioned coach -    Sightseeing and entrance fees as indicated in the itinerary -    Roundtrip private boat transfers to Guimaras -    Services of an English-speaking guide during the tour -    Services of a Pilgrimage Chaplain and a Tour Leader -    Tips to guide, drivers and waiters - Travel Insurance valid for 4 days only

  				(for passengers 75 y/o and below) - Meals as stated in the itinerary (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
  Pilgrimage to Bicol, Point of departure-Manila	-    Penafrancia Basilica Minore in Naga City -    Holy Cross Parish -    Rizal Beach -    Barcelona Church -    Greater Parish Church in Bulusan -    Bulusan Lake -    Bulusan Volcano -    Divine Healer Academy -    Cagsawa Ruins -    Daraga Church (Church of Nuestra Senora de la Porteria) -    Cathedral of St. Gregory the Great	4 days	Per Person on Twin Sharing: - Based on minimum ЗОрах 698.61$ - Based on minimum 20pax 763.55$ - Additional for Single Room 206.63$	-    Roundtrip economy airfare via Pal Express -    Roundtrip air-port-hotel trans-fers by private coach -    Airline Taxes -    Three (3) nights first class hotel ac-commo-dation -    Transportation by private air conditioned coach -    Sightseeing and entrance fees as indicated in the itinerary -    Roundtrip pri-vate boat trans-fers to Guimaras -    Services of an English-speaking guide during the tour -    Services of a Pilgrimage Chaplain and a Tour Leader -    Tips to guide, drivers and waiters -    Travel Insur-ance valid for 4 days only (for passengers 75 y/o and be-low) -    Meals as stated in the itinerary (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)

  veloping religious tourism due to its extensive network of religious infrastructure and long history of Catholicism in the country. Currently, the Department of tourism¹⁸ also plans to restore or restore the buildings of Catholic churches that need it, in order to expand the list of objects displayed on thematic religious and educational routes, since they are one of the most important factors in attracting tourists.

  Conclusions. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippines is a unique example of a country where many economic, social, and even political aspects of the population's life are based on the values, rituals, and doctrinal attitudes of the Roman Catholic Church.

  The RCC, having a developed network of religious infrastructure and most of the population as its adherents, influences social and economic processes, partially even performing state functions in the field of civil registration, education, and various types of social responsibility.

  Religious tourism is an important and promising economic area for further develop

  
  

  ment, where the role of the RCC is directly manifested. The tradition of visiting sacred places in order to worship shrines and expand the religious and cultural horizons is an important part of Catholic culture. The RCC is a religious institution that determines the development of religious tourism in the country. Religious tourism, which is gaining momentum today, has the following prospects: involving Catholic places of worship in sightseeing routes for foreign tourists and introducing the offer of pilgrimage routes for domestic consumers.

  Analysis of the offer of religious and educational routes in the market of tourist services in the Philippines has led to the conclusion that their implementation provides comfortable conditions for visiting unique cultural and natural sites, and the content allows you to directly touch and get acquainted with the cultural component of the country's population, so the results of the study can be used in the formation and development of partnerships in the field of tourism in the Philippines.