Here in the land of the many

No Philippine President has presented this country with a clear and strong population policy. Despite the unacceptable population growth rate of 2.36%, a population of 80 million, and an economic growth of 4-5%, the country’s leaders have remained vague and ambiguous on what must be done to curb population growth. With the population issue comes not just having too many mouths to feed but women’s reproductive health as well, which has been equally neglected because of the absence of a population management policy.

The professors from the UP School of Economics through the paper, “Population and Poverty: The Real Score”, argue that although bad governance, high wealth and income inequality, and weak economic growth are the main causes of poverty, rapid population growth and high fertility rates, especially among the poor, do exacerbate poverty and make it harder for the government to address it. The paper prescribed for the national government to take the lead and for the Church to take a more tolerant and humane position.

Efforts to introduce and institutionalize population program such as Rep. Edcel Lagman’s Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act (HB 3773) or Health Secretary Dayrit’s “Ligtas Buntis” program should be welcomed or at the very least, invite a healthy discourse. I’m not very familiar with the provisions of the proposed bill but I know it does include information campaign, both natural and artificial forms of family planning and does not promote abortion, contrary to what Church leaders claim. Due to rising opposition to the enactment of the bill, courtesy of the Church, Rep. Lagman invited the Church leaders to engage in a live debate on national TV to once and for all clear out misconceptions and give the people the explanation they deserve.

To which Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles replied, “We do not accept a ‘kanto boy’ (street thug) challenge like that”. Further he said that, “It’s not appropriate that we face him, we’re not equals”. These statements from an Archbishop can disgust and make devout Catholics doubt their faith more than any Dan Brown novel can. Whatever the archbishop meant of his statement only he can tell but it sure didn’t sound archbishop-ly at all, much less, Christian-like.

Kursad Kahramanoglu, the secretary-general of the International Gay and Lesbian Association, or better-known as the Pink Pope, once said that the Philippines is probably the most Catholic country in the world. We are even more Catholic than Italy, the Catholic seat of power and most of the countries in South America. We are very conservative that although the Constitution provides for the separation of Church and state, the Church plays a very big role in shaping public behavior, policies and laws. We even attribute the success of the people power to the Church.

The population issue is probably the best example of the Church’s influence on public policy. No President has dared to openly promote artificial methods of family planning lest they earn the ire of the Church. The Church vehemently claims that the poverty of the Filipinos is not because of their number but because of unabated graft and corruption.

Not so, according to Walden Bello’s “The Anti-development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines”. The assumption that poverty is caused by corruption is “conceptually and empirically flawed”. S. Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have governments as corrupt as ours yet they have more stable economies and greater incomes.

When my cousin attended a required Church seminar for his wedding, the catechist told them that the sperm and egg cell meet at the ovary. I also saw on TV that a couple who has nine children gave up three for adoption because they can no longer support them. If the Church hierarchy will continue to condemn population management as a sin, Filipinos will remain misinformed and disempowered.