Population Control Issues [Archive] - Page 5

3cr

October 23rd, 2007, 09:25 AM

SWS: Producing own food no cure-all for hunger
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=96768

Owning a garden, fish pond or other supplementary food source is no guarantee that a Filipino family would no longer experience hunger, results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Tuesday.

The SWS survey, conducted last September 3-5, showed that total hunger is higher among families with a supplementary food source (22.1%) than among those without such a source (20.6%).

"The ideal scenario is that total hunger [incidence] wouldbe lower among those with alternative food source. However, this only affects families that experience severe involuntary hunger or those who experience hunger often," Leo Laroza, SWS senior survey research and communications specialist, told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

In the survey, severe involuntary hunger was experienced by 3.3 percent of households with a food garden, fishpond or animals raised for food compared to 5.1 percent among families with no alternative food source. On the other hand, moderate involuntary hunger is slightly higher among those with access to their own supplementary food source (18.8%) than among those without access to such food sources (15.5%).

"Thus the ability to produce one's own food is not a cure-all for hunger," SWS said.

The survey revealed that about 10 million households reported having access to at least one of the three supplementary food sources. Forty-six percent or about eight million households have access to a fruit or vegetable garden, 39 percent or about six million households raise animals for food, and 4.8 percent or an estimated 800,000 households raise fish for food.

Laroza said access to supplementary food sources tends to lessen severe hunger more among classes D and class E than among class ABC.

The survey revealed that rotal and severe hunger are consistently higher among class ABC households with access to a food garden and animals raised for food than households with no access to such food sources. No incident of hunger was recorded among households that raise fish for food, while it is 8.5 percent among those not raising fish for food, the survey revealed.

Among class D families, severe hunger is 2.1 percent among households with access to a food garden, compared to 4.5 percent among households without access to a food garden. It is 3.4 percent whether or not households raise animals for food. It is two percent among families that raise fish for food, compared to 3.5 percent among households that do not raise fish for food

Among class E families, severe hunger is 5.3 percent among households with access to a food garden, compared to 6.9 percent among households that do not have access to a food garden. It is 4.6 percent among families that raise animals for food, compared to 7.2 percent among household that do not have such food source. It is 5.9 percent for families that raise fish for food, compared to 6.1 percent among households that do not raise fish for food.

Supplementary food source common in provinces

Families with access to supplementary food sources are more common outside Metro Manila.

Household access to a food garden is 58 percent in Mindanao, 51 percent in Balance Luzon, 40 percent in Visayas, and 18 percent in Metro Manila.

Families that raise animals for food is 53 percent in Mindanao, 45 percent in the Visayas, 38 percent in Balance Luzon and nine percent in Metro Manila.

Relatively few households raise fish for food: seven percent in Balance Luzon, four percent in Metro Manila and three percent each in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Households with access to supplementary food sources are more typical among the lower classes than among the upper-middle classes.

Families with access to a food garden is 51 percent among class E, 45 percent among the masa or class D, and 39 percent among class ABC.

Households that raise animals for food is 41 percent among class E, 39 percent among class D, and 27 percent among class ABC.

Raising fish for food is low in all classes: five percent among class D, four percent among classes E, and two percent among class ABC.

Maxxclip

October 23rd, 2007, 09:41 AM

ridiculous

amigo32

October 23rd, 2007, 11:33 AM

ridiculous

tamad magluto:lol: gusto ata isubo sa bunganga para hindi na magutom

Askal82

October 24th, 2007, 02:13 AM

^^ Yung mga gutom dyan na may garden bakit hindi parin namamatay? Nakuhanan pa ng surveys! Galing ng SWS talaga.

death327

October 24th, 2007, 03:05 AM

^^ yes, condoms are easy to acquire, there are plenty at watson's and mercury drug. it's very accessible, no need to ask the saleslady for it. so can freely choose your size without the feeling of embarassment especially if your size is small.

birth control here are of two methods, natural (calendar method) and artificial (contraceptives). yes, pills prescriptions can be acquired just ask your doctor but you have to buy the pills, this is a free country but the pills are not free. :)

Condoms are displayed with KY Jelly and EZ jelly. Usually they are together with Petroleum Jelly.

Is it true that the rhythm method actually goes against nature? My human ecology professor mentioned to us in class that it is asking the couple to inhibit from sex when the woman psychologically needs it. She said that the rhythm is asking the couple abstinence during the time when the woman needs to feel needed and desirable.

I believe it would be difficult for women to suffer the call of their ovulation cycle. Bio-rhythm is not really that successful. There are women that they don't have regular menstrual and ovulation cycle.
As of now, I had not heard any news or information about the effects of abstinence during ovulation period. However, I find it painful for women to resist their sexual calls. By nature, we are carnal beings and we must be wise enough to control the birth of our generations to avoid skewed equilibrium in our ecosystem.

normandb

October 24th, 2007, 10:04 PM

nawala ang post ko. insighting to heresy yata :D

Rence

October 25th, 2007, 04:47 PM

crappypants

October 25th, 2007, 06:08 PM

yes multiply and multiply it will bring us richness. let's kill all the body of waters in the PHils.

Animo

November 2nd, 2007, 06:35 PM

By Michael Tan (http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=97812)
Inquirer
Last updated 01:57am (Mla time) 10/31/2007

MANILA, Philippines--With a national census going on, I thought I’d go back and review one of the most comprehensive censuses ever done in the Philippines. This was done in 1902. The Americans invaded the Philippines in 1898, but it took some time for them to “pacify” the islands before a census could be taken. When they got to that, in March and April of 1902, a cholera epidemic had broken out, nearly wiping out entire villages. The colonial government persisted, fielding their armies of census-takers to collect vital information and to uncover the potentials of the islands.

The Americans knew there was more to this than counting people. They needed, quite literally, to take stock of their new colony, and they counted everything and processed the statistics all without computers. What did they count? Well there was livestock, which included 640,871 carabaos (almost one for every 10 Filipinos!) and 1.1 million swine. The Americans, of course, had their eyes on our natural resources and, for starters, they were awed by nearly 1,000 billion (figure out the zeroes) feet of forest timber and rich mineral deposits.

Quieter

A full report on the census was issued within three years, and consisted of four volumes, with a total of 3,000 pages, filled with statistical tables, maps and photographs. More than cold statistics, the census report offers us glimpses into Filipino daily life. Imagine now what life was like at that time -- the sights, even the sounds.

At the level of demographics or population, our islands (the Americans only counted 3,141 at that time, while recognizing that there were probably many more still to be counted) were certainly much less congested. The total population was 7.6 million, compared to nearly 90 million today. Put another way, the country’s total population then was only half of what we have today in Metro Manila.

It must have been much quieter then, with fewer people, practically no motor vehicles and certainly no karaoke. The country was divided into about 13,400 barrios, the basic administrative unit, the largest of which was Manila with a population of 220,000, while the smallest were described as having “a score or two of people.” Besides Manila, there were only three other “big” cities, each with a population of between 10,000 and 20,000: Laoag, Iloilo, Cebu and Nueva Caceres. Nueva Caceres? There’s one of your quiz shows -- that was the original name of Naga.

The Americans divided the population into the “civilized” and the “wild.” The “civilized” were classified into eight “tribes”: the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Cagayans, Zambalans, Pampangans, Pangasinans, Bicols and Visayans. The “wild tribes,” numbering about 650,000, were the non-Christian groups including “Mohammedans” (a misnomer for Muslims).

Most Filipinos were involved in agriculture, many as tenants or serfs and day laborers. Besides the agricultural laborers, the main wage-earning occupations included weavers and spinners (producing fine textiles like jusi, piña and sinamay) and factory workers. There were few factories; even in Manila, these were mainly for cigars and liquor, and a few lumber mills. There was one brewery, and you can guess which one that was. Buy and sell activities were still minimal, merchants accounting for only 4 percent of the total population.

Literacy and health

There were some 40 newspapers but literacy levels were very low so that the total -- note total -- circulation of all these newspapers was less than 70,000. There were sharp gender differences in the literacy rate, with only 10 percent of females able to read and write, compared to 30 percent for the males. Most people could speak only their local language. Remember Tagalog was not decreed as the national language until 1935. Spanish was spoken only by a tiny minority and English was practically unknown.

The census did note that the young children attending schools were already picking up English quickly. No wonder, since English was compulsory. There were 3,000 schools, mostly at the primary or elementary level. A bit more than half were public and about 10 percent were Catholic religious schools, mostly at the secondary level. There were very few tertiary educational institutions.

The public schools were described as “large,” meaning they were handling “as many” as 120 students. If only the American colonizers could see our schools today, where one classroom, not one school, might have 120 students!

The total number of teachers was 5,925, of which nearly two-thirds were men, which was not surprising given that even among the students, three-fourths were boys. Times have changed, with females now accounting for the majority of both students and teachers, at all levels in our educational system.

I was particularly interested in the health situation. The Americans noted that in the years when there were no epidemics, the death rates were actually not too bad even when compared to the United States. Epidemics, however, were disastrous: the 1902 cholera epidemic doubled the usual death rate in the country.

The death rates among the young were astronomical. Nearly half of the children born in a year would die before the age of 5. (Today, the death rate is slightly below 5 for every 100 children born each year.)

In 1902, cholera caused 31 percent of all deaths, followed closely by malaria, which accounted for 27 percent. Tuberculosis accounted for about 7 percent. Other main causes of death were epilepsy (probably including childhood convulsions that were not necessarily epilepsy), dysentery and diarrheal diseases, smallpox and beri-beri (a vitamin B deficiency). Strangely, pneumonia, which is today’s main cause of death among Filipinos, was practically unknown in the Philippines during the early 20th century.

It’s striking that “pauperism” (begging) was “almost unknown,” and this was attributed to the simple and few basic needs people had at that time, as well as their being able to run to relatives for assistance. The census noted that the number of Filipinos who had to be cared for by the government was only one-fifth the rate of the United States.

Crime rates were also low. The country had 5,395 prisoners or 8 per 10,000 inhabitants, low when compared to 13 per 10,000 in the United States. The national penitentiary in Bilibid was already around, with 1,787 inmates sentenced to long prison terms. Their main crimes? Murder, homicide and manslaughter, theft and robbery and sedition. That last category stands out, reminding us that the Americans were still trying to subjugate the islands, and that there were Filipinos in prison because they were resisting the colonizers.

OtAkAw

November 3rd, 2007, 01:48 PM

^^Our country was certainly better then than now.

3cr

November 26th, 2007, 11:01 AM

Middle class shrinks as economy gains
(First of two parts)
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW112607/content.php?id=005

IT IS BUT NATURAL for any individual to expect his well-being to improve as the economy grows: Theoretically, such growth should trickle down or benefit all income classes through employment and other economic opportunities.

In the Philippines’ case, however, some segments of the social pyramid have apparently not felt the impact of a sustained economic uptick. An indication of this is a recent study pointing to the thinning of the middle class, instead of the expected expansion.

"In a span of six years from 1997 to 2003, close to four families for every 100 middle income families have been lost to the low income category," National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Secretary General Romulo A. Virola and statisticians Mildred B. Addawe and Ma. Ivy T. Querubin noted in the study "Trends and Characteristics of the Middle-Income Class in the Philippines: Is it Expanding or Shrinking?"

The study said that while the number of middle class families grew to 3.42 million in 2000 from 3.26 million in 1997, a decline occurred in the succeeding three years. From 2000 to 2003, the ranks of the middle class dipped by 140,013 to 3.28 million.

In 1997, the middle class constituted families with annual incomes ranging from P148,307 to P1,207,122. In 2000, middle-income families had annual earnings of around P178,468 to P1,449,295 while in 2003, they had P203,109 to P1,651,632.

The middle class is also defined as those families owning certain assets such as a house and lot, a housing unit with strong roof materials, a refrigerator and a radio.

Percentage-wise, the share of the middle class to the overall population shrunk to 19.9% in 2003 from 22.7% in 2000 and 23% in 1997. This downtrend has left economists worrying as it implies that more Filipinos are closer to poverty than originally perceived.

Moreover, the middle class is an important segment of the economy, one that provides necessary resource inputs to enhance productivity and stimulate economic growth.

Countries with a big middle class have higher levels of income and growth, noted William Easterly in a 2001 paper for World Bank entitled "The Middle Class Consensus and Economic Development."

Economists interviewed by BusinessWorld offered varied explanations for the narrowing of the country’s middle class.

For Ponciano Intal, economist and director of the De La Salle University’s Angelo King Institute for Economics and Business Studies, the downtrend might be an offshoot of economic and political crises encountered by the country between 1997 to 2003.

"It could be that the narrowing was a result of all the closures arising from the East Asian crisis ... and then you have your political crisis in the latter years. This means it is your factory workers and salaried workers who were adversely affected," Mr. Intal said.

"What this suggests is we do have quite a bit of households that are on the borderline," he added.

"There is also a possibility of a significant drop for the duration in the terms of trade for agriculture, which means a significant source of that reduction in the middle class is really the farmer households who are in the lower middle class."

Data on gross value added for agriculture show a slowdown to 3.37% in 2003 from 6.56% in 1999. In the years leading to 2003 there was also a decline in aggregate receipts from agricultural exports.

"It is true there is a deterioration in the terms of trade in agriculture, we have a net deficit ... meaning we have more agricultural imports than exports ... but this does not clearly explain the decreasing number of the middle class," said Leonardo Gonzales of the agricultural economics think tank Sikap-Strive Foundation.

"Your farmers are in the lower middle class, but these are the more your progressive farmers," he added.

"Majority in rural areas are your landless farmers. So you still have to look at farm wages ... [and] in real terms, they are declining."

While employment in agriculture in the three years leading to 2003 increased, the average daily wage in real terms has indeed declined. About 37% of the population, at the time, depended on agriculture for livelihood.

It is also important to look at overall employment, not only employment in agriculture, the agricultural economist added.

Unemployment figures from 1997 to 2003 were relatively high, on the average, reaching double-digit levels. Moreover, underemployment during the period averaged 20%.

University of the Philippines economist Arsenio Balisacan, meanwhile, said "You would expect the proportion of middle income rising if there is growth ... At the very least, we should see some changes. But don’t expect a big change."

"On the other hand, the growth that we have been witnessing in recent years is not really that high after adjusting for population growth," he added.

For instance, in the past three years, growth on the average was 5% while the population expanded by 2.3%.

"Thus, we’re talking about just a 3% increase in per capita income ... that will not make a middle class," Mr. Balisacan said.

The bottom line, the UP economist said, is that it will take a much larger rate of growth to make a dent in the economic strata and the living condition of the ordinary Filipino.

"If we were growing as fast as India or China, then I would be very worried ... they have about 10% growth with population growth at just 1% or less," he said.

"In other words, to use this thinning of the middle class as a critic of the patterns of growth may not be fair," he further said.

Still, evidently, the thinning middle class is alarming news to economists as this implies that the Filipino family is becoming increasingly vulnerable to poverty.

philippine_eagle

November 27th, 2007, 02:30 AM

For instance, in the past three years, growth on the average was 5% while the population expanded by 2.3%.

The population is not growing at the rate of 2.3%. It's more like 1.7% now, but this is still considered high. What the country needs is zero population growth (ZPG) or no growth. Then the people will really feel the benefits of an economic boom.

amigo32

November 27th, 2007, 04:39 AM

^^Our country was certainly better then than now.

for me it's the other way around.:)

pechie

December 1st, 2007, 10:25 PM

isulong ang 6 child policy?!:nuts:

normandb

December 1st, 2007, 10:31 PM

The population is not growing at the rate of 2.3%. It's more like 1.7% now, but this is still considered high. What the country needs is zero population growth (ZPG) or no growth. Then the people will really feel the benefits of an economic boom.

no sexlife? no cutie cutie babies?

Maxxclip

December 3rd, 2007, 12:37 AM

^^:)plus the growing 'identity crisis' in our community:lol: perfect combination:lol:

crappypants

December 3rd, 2007, 05:48 AM

there will be babies and sex just make sure you're only replacing the ones who are dying.

le Reine

December 3rd, 2007, 07:47 AM

crappypants

December 3rd, 2007, 08:21 AM

it will be a long time before we have that problem.
probably never will.

December 3rd, 2007, 10:21 AM

we should follow china's policies on population control... it may seem harsh but it's for our own good... we live on a tiny country made up of tiny islands and the middle class and lower class are breeding like rats and roaches...

In college i have in my current section i have 4 classmates in their late teens and early 20's that have children and there are 3 that are currently pregnant...

All in all i estimated almost 1/4 of the my known friends and classmates from the past H.S. to college ranging between 15-20 yrs old now have 1 or 2 kids and they think it's just fine even if they currently still at college.. wtf!!!! Our society is gone crazy and dumb.

pechie

December 5th, 2007, 04:29 PM

dapat maubos na lahat ng mga squatters sa tabi ng riles ng tren at ung mga malapit sa airport para ndi sila nagigising sa madaling araw!...hahaha!

normandb

December 5th, 2007, 11:26 PM

dapat maubos na lahat ng mga squatters sa tabi ng riles ng tren at ung mga malapit sa airport para ndi sila nagigising sa madaling araw!...hahaha!

tuwing nagigising sila may batang nabubuo kaya mas mabilis sila.

amigo32

December 6th, 2007, 11:00 AM

lol

kiretoce

December 9th, 2007, 04:26 PM

94 million Filipinos by 2010 (http://www.bayanihan.org/html/article.php/20071209141514571)

There will be 94 million Filipinos by 2010 and counting, according to the projection of National Statistics Office (NSO).

This makes the Philippines the second most populous country among the 10-member Assciation of Southeast Asia (ASEAN), next only to Indonesia.

NSC records show that Philippine population has been projected to grow by 1.95 percent during a five-year period beginning 2005.

From 2005 to 2010, about 8.7 Filipinos would be added to the burgeoning population or an average of 1.74 million new births each year.

At the end of 2005 there were 85.3 million Filipinos compared to 76.5 million at the turn of the millennium.

By 2010, Region 4 composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (CALABARZON) is projected to have a population of 11.9 million people, surpassing the National Capital Region (NCR) which is expected to have 11.6 million by that time.

But Region 4-A composed of the islands of Mindoro, Masbate, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA) would remain as the fastest growing region in the country with a projected annual gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.6 percent from 2005 to 2010.

The NSO also projected that Philippine population would become older as child-bearing women would continue to decline as a result of population control through artificial methods.

Survival rates of all age groups are also projected to improve due to modern health care, it added.

In 2005, the age group from 0-14 accounted for 35 percent of the nation's total population, but the same age bracket is expected to constrict by two percent by 2010, the NSO report said.

Also in 2010, NSO said 4.3 percent of the Filipino population would be 65 years old and over.

Population figures also disclosed that at the end of 2005, Filipino males outnumbered Filipino females by over 500,000, NSO said.

Among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines is the second most populous country, next only to Indonesia which has a population of 214.47 million, according to a report prepared by the ASEAN-Japan Centre.

In 2003, there were 81.5 million Filipinos. Tailing closely the Philippines was Vietnam with 81.31 million people during the same period.

Thailand was third with 62.01 million followed by Mynmar with 49.36 million, Malaysia 24.77 million,

Oil-rich Brunei Darrusalam has the lowest population among ASEAN states with only 360,000 people at the end of 2003,

ASEAN's second lowest population is Singapore with 4.25 million in 2003 followed by Laos with 5.66 million.

Cambodia, another ASEAN member, reported a population of 13.4 million in 2003.

At the end of 2003 the population of ASEAN stood at 537.11 million which is about 4.2 times that of Japan and 1.8 times that of the United States, making it one of the most lucrative global markets. In 2003, the U.S. had a population of 291.04 million and Japan 127.21 million.

3cr

December 16th, 2007, 08:04 AM

SPECIAL REPORT:
Black, bitter Christmas for 6M poor Pinoy kids
11.5 million Filipino children are poorest of the poor
By Rowena Caccam Figueroa, Correspondent
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/16/yehey/top_stories/20071216top1.html

THE government says some 11.5 million of the almost 33 million Filipino children live below the poverty line. They are the poorest of the poor.

Marianet Amper, tormented by her family’s extreme poverty, killed herself last November.

Most likely, 6 million of the 11.5 million poor children are having a black and bitter Christmas season, like Marianet. They don’t have the bright Christmas enjoyed by the children of well-off and rich families.

They never hear the soft voice of hope and empowerment that one is supposed to hear from the story of the birth of the Christ Child. All they hear are the sounds of hunger, conflict and despair.

The other 5.5 very poor children are probably adequately lifted from desperation by the poverty alleviation programs of the government, the churches and the private organizations.

Street infant

Hope Andres (not her real name) has never believed in Santa Claus. She makes a living by begging from commuters inside passenger jeepneys with her infant daughter. She is only 14 years old. When asked who the father of her baby is, she declines to answer. But she told this reporter that if she would ever ask for a gift, she would want her baby to be finally out of the streets.

In a nation that values the youth as an invaluable asset, current data show that unlike any other sector of the population, Filipino children continue to suffer from hunger, abuse and oppression like never before.

The 2007 data published by the National Statistical Coordination Board showed that Filipino children still account for the largest number of the poor population.

Around 11.5 million of the almost 33 million Filipino children live below the poverty line. Hope is one of them. She is one of the country’s estimated 1.5 million street children.

Figures from the latest NSO Family Income and Expenditure Survey also present a more vivid profile. Around 20 percent have no access to safe drinking water, almost a third live in homes that have no electricity, and around 40 percent of Filipino households with children aged 13 to 16, are not able to send them to school.

As the entire country celebrates Christmas, it is but fitting to listen to the voices of some of them, for a deeper understanding of this season’s significance.

“I wish I can be free…”

This may seem to be a complicated Christmas wish for a 13-year-old but such is the ultimate yearning of Benjie Garcia, (not his real name) a ward of the Molave Youth Home in Quezon City.

Benjie is second in a brood of six children, and currently under the safekeeping of the Quezon City Social Services Department’s “Task Force Diversion” after having been caught shoplifting at a grocery store.

In between sobs, Benjie recalls how he was manhandled by the barangay tanod who caught him. “He hit me and my friend several times. . . He also put handcuffs on us and I knew that he was not allowed to do that.”

Benjie said he stopped going to school when he was in third grade and could hardly read or write. He only sees his parents during weekends. His mother works as a “stay-in” canteen worker and his dad, a stonemason, lives within a construction site to cut daily transportation expenses.

The rest of his siblings are taken care of by his eldest brother, 17, also an out of school youth.

Benjie still believes, however, that once he gets out, his family would once again, spend Christmas together. “Sana makalaya na po ako para makapiling ko na pamilya ko, puro mabait po silang lahat, ako lang po ang naging gago. [I wish to be set free so I could be with my family. They have all been very good to me and I am the only one who ended up bad.]”

“I’d like to go back to school…”

“My wish is to go back to school again.” This was uttered by Abby Solis, [not her real name], 13, another ward of Molave Youth Home in Quezon City. Abby is facing charges of Qualified Theft after allegedly stealing her employer’s clothes.

Last June, Abby traveled all alone from Negros Occidental to Manila to be with her mother who worked as a househelper here. After being with her for a short while, her mother decided to go home to the province and Abby took her place.

If given the chance to speak to Santa Claus, Abby said she would ask him for a cell phone. “My family does not yet know that I am here [in Molave]. I would like to hear my parents’ voice so much.” She said tearfully.

Case studies consistently show that poverty is the root cause of “survival offending” among Children-in-Conflict-with-the-Law or CICL. Such is the process of committing a violation or offense while in the process of carrying out one’s livelihood or in the act of survival. Poverty is one of the factors invariably linked to children’s vulnerability to commit various crimes.

“I’m so exhausted. . .”

Hector is 16 and works as an all-around errand boy in a sing-along-bar in Santiago City, Isabela. He works almost 20 hours a day for a P50 daily wage.

“I do not get to keep my salary because my employer gives it to my parents every Friday.” His parents travel once a week from nearby town Alicia to get his meager salary. He is the sole breadwinner for a family of 9, being second in a brood of 7 children.

His voice breaking, he tells this reporter that he could hardly find the strength to go on. “I sleep very late because the bar closes at around 2 a.m. I get back to work very early the following morning.”

When asked what he would wish for Christmas, he said he wishes for another job that wasn’t as hard.

Present statistics show that more than three and a half million Filipino children from all over the country, aged 5 to 17 work under often-grueling conditions, in spite of legislation outlawing child labor.

Statistics from the NSCB also show that as of 2002, around 30 percent of the Philippines 84.5 million population earn only around P38 a day. Fifteen percent of this figure are composed of families whose children work for a living.

kiretoce

January 2nd, 2008, 11:04 PM

90 million Filipinos (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=jojoRobles_jan2_2008)

One of the few sure things that the New Year will bring, according to government census officials, is a population of 90 million Filipinos. That’s an additional 1.7 million babies born in 2008, at the current population growth rate of 1.94 percent, census officials explain.

Of course, 90 million Filipinos is still less than 1.5 percent of the total 6.7 billion people on the entire planet, according to the latest world census estimates. To put that number in perspective, China and India last year reported populations of 1.3 billion and 1.1 billion, respectively. The current population level puts the Philippines in 12th place in terms of population worldwide, between Mexico’s 106.5 million and Vietnam’s 87.3 million.

Officials said the good news is that the growth rate seems to have slowed—but not nearly fast enough to ease the strain on national and family resources. Each fertile Filipina is still expected to give birth to at least three babies in her lifetime, compared to the two babies or less in countries that have been attempting to control their population growth.

China, for example, has been strictly implementing a one-child policy for families, to stem the explosive growth of its population. In many affluent societies, population growth has been in the negative figures for years. These countries are experiencing overall growth mostly through migration, as in the United States (303 million, good for third place worldwide).

The bad news is, the decrease in the local population growth rate is mostly due to individual choice in this country, especially among women in urban areas who choose to work, either locally or abroad. The government has failed to put in place a real population management campaign, mostly because of stiff opposition from the local Catholic Church.

The Arroyo administration’s failure to implement a population control program is par for the course. All previous administrations that attempted to control population have ultimately bowed to the Church’s uncompromising stand against all forms of contraception.

Even the US government, the most consistent promoter of population control in the Philippines, has all but accepted defeat. After 30 years of supporting programs to slow population growth through the US Agency for International Development, Washington announced that it was sending its final shipment of contraceptives to the Philippines this year.

The Department of Health, which has been trying its darndest to implement a sub rosa population control campaign by promoting women’s reproductive health in order not to rile the Church, has seemingly given up as well, saying that contraceptive distribution programs will now be paid for by the local governments that can afford them. Only localities that can’t pay for population control programs will be subsidized by the national government, it said.

* * *

While the local Church has had a checkered record as far as intervention in secular matters is concerned, its efforts to thwart the implementation of an honest-to-goodness population control program has been unblemished by defeat. For some reason, few politicians of national stature have dared to challenge the Catholic hierarchy when it comes to population policy—or the government’s abject lack of one.

Conventional political wisdom holds that advocating a population control program will lead to lost votes—despite the obvious waning influence of the Church in nearly all other aspects of daily life and the lack of empirical data to support that political assumption. On the other hand, many politicians have used the “pro-life” tag even without real “pro-choice” opposition, muddling the situation even further.

Right now, the only champions of choice are underfunded non-government organizations that support women’s rights. And not all women’s rights groups do so openly, not even the large party-list groups, who perhaps also fear a backlash from the Church.

However, the virtual devolution of contraceptive distribution programs to the local governments could change the landscape of population policy in the years to come. Local governments, especially those affluent enough to ignore the Church and its dubious power to influence the vote, could provide the breeding ground, as it were, for a national population control policy in the future.

Local governments are in a good position to see the cause-and-effect relationship of population and poverty. Local officials need to provide jobs, health services, education and other benefits that the cash-strapped national government simply cannot subsidize. (Despite its inflexible position against all forms of contraception and population control, the Church cannot even provide even its own flock with these things, unfortunately.)

All it will take is an enlightened local official who is willing to take the political risk of saying that a sensible and realistic population policy is required—and who will back up that brave statement with sustained funding for contraception. Then, if a local program becomes successful, perhaps other localities will implement their own population control campaigns— until the national government itself takes up the cause.

Ninety million Filipinos is a lot of people to feed, shelter and educate. If the Church and the national government will not do it, somebody else—someone not beholden to the Catholic vote, if it truly exists—will.

tigidig14

January 3rd, 2008, 01:22 AM

satin kapuna puna na kung sinong pinakamahirap sila pa maraming anak. wala kasing masyadong community outreach satin. dapat bayaran yung mga nagtitinda ng tide products o proctor and gamble para ipamahayag yung balitang pag mahirap kayo ang maximum na anak nyo ay dalwang lang tapos every 10 years pa ang pagitan LOL katulad ng sa kuya ko

chocolato1000

January 3rd, 2008, 04:58 AM

nakakabilib na ba ang libidong pilipino? pero normal lang naman ang growth rate natin kumpara sa ibang mga bansa sa asya.masyado lang siguro nating nabibigyan ng emphasis ang pagdami ng mga tao dahil sa mataas na bilang ng mga mahihirap, isipin mo pumapatak sa apat napung porsiento ng mga pilipino ay namumuhay below poverty line. ang sarap sigurong isipin kung walang mahirap na pilipino, kahit pa siguro umabot pa tayo ng 100 milyon sa 2010 eh sige lang, mas marami mas masaya diba?

le Reine

January 3rd, 2008, 05:07 AM

kung may pera lang ako, ako na mismo ang magbibigay ng libreng condom at contraceptives. nakakainis, sana naman hindi lang natural planning ang ginagamit. ang dami na natin!

OtAkAw

January 3rd, 2008, 02:18 PM

le Reine

January 3rd, 2008, 02:25 PM

^^it depends upon the definition of poverty

3cr

January 4th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Dami-dami na natin!

Population to reach 90.4M
By CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO
Business World
http://www.mb.com.ph/MTNN20080105113506.html

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday the Philippine population is projected to reach 90.4 million this year based on the 2000 census-based projections.

NSO Administrator Carmelita N. Ericta said the population is expected to reach 90,457,200 this year with the male population group estimated at 45,483,100 which is slightly higher than the female population which is expected to reach 44,974,100 based on the medium series of the census-based population projections conducted by the NSO in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Working Group on Population Projections in May 2000.

Last year, the NSO recorded the country’s population at 88.7 million with the male population estimated at 44,608,300 while the female population was estimated at 44,098,000.

Ericta said that by 2040, the country’s population is expected to reach about 141.7 million, or an addition of 65 million people between the years 2000 and 2040 "even if the average annual growth rate is projected to drastically decline from 2.34 percent during the 1999 to 2000 period to around 1.0 percent during the 2030 to 2040 period."

"The population is projected to grow by 1.95 percent in the 2005 to 2010 period, from 85.3 million in 2005 to 94 million in 2010," Ericta said.

When the census-based population projections was conducted in 2000, the Philippine population was recorded at 76.5 million.

garzland

January 5th, 2008, 06:55 AM

^^That's a sad news... Our population is getting bigger but the ones that contribute mostly are those unfortunate...

chocolato1000

January 5th, 2008, 08:00 AM

^^ sabihin nalang nating na kung sino pa yung mayaman sila pa ang hindi nakakaintindi kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng BIR.

absinthe_888

January 7th, 2008, 05:58 PM

the time for birth control, family planning and management is NOW.

crappypants

January 8th, 2008, 02:28 AM

the time for it was a long time ago when our pop. was at par with Thailand.
If we had managed our population then our cities won't be so much squalor it's in now.
actually if you go to every baranggay that 90 million figure would be wrong it is more like over 100million.

tigidig14

January 10th, 2008, 12:28 AM

ye if you include pnoy overseas it should surpass more than 100 mil, remember they do it through census, so its merely estimated, on or around or about

Sinjin P.

January 15th, 2008, 03:46 AM

Population growth worsens
poverty in RP–Virola (http://businessmirror.com.ph/01152008/economy01.html)

By Cai U. Ordinario
Reporter

THE country’s poor may not only be poor by circumstance but by choice.

In his online column “Statistically Speaking,” National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) secretary-general Romulo Virola said poor and uninformed choices of Filipinos to have more children worsens poverty in the country.

“As family size increases, poverty worsens. Poverty measures like poverty incidence, poverty gap, severity of poverty, mean vulnerability and vulnerability incidence all increase with family size,” Virola said.

“For example, in 2003 the poverty incidence among families with at least seven members is higher than 40 percent, compared to less than 20 percent among families with size no more than four.”

Virola cited that the per capita income, per capita expenditure and per capita savings decrease as family size increases. This meant that the bigger the family, the less money there is available to buy basic needs.

This is true for the Philippines in general as well as separately for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The average-sized households of four to six members enjoy nearly close to 1.5 times as much per capita income and expenditure as households with more than 10 members.

Between 1997 and 2006, the reduction in poverty from 28.1 percent to 27.5 percent came mainly from the smaller families. But between 2000 and 2003 when poverty incidence went down further to 24.4 percent, there was poverty reduction even among the larger families.

On the average, poor families are larger than nonpoor families by more than one member, or 5.87 against 4.34 in 2003. Specifically, 21 out of every 100 poor families had at least seven members in 2003 compared with only six among the non-poor.

Virola said the poor usually make uninformed reproductive choices due to many factors which include lack or absence of an access to modern family planning methods; the need to have more children to help in household chores and/or help increase family income; religiously guided by the Catholic Church; and healthier and stress-free living that improves fertility.

Meanwhile, the recent Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) shows that the population of larger families is on the downtrend. Between 2000 and 2003 the number of families with sizes one to three and four to six increased annually by 10 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively while families with sizes of seven to 10 and more than 10 decreased by 2.7 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.

However, Virola still expects the population of the country to surge to 200 babies born every hour in 2008. In the 2000 Census of Population and Housing Survey released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), there were 193 babies born every hour.

The total population of the Philippines as of May 1, 2000 was 76,504,077 persons. This was higher by 7,887,541 persons, or about 10.31 percent, from the 1995 census and 10 times the Philippine population in 1903 when the first census was undertaken.

“Even as it has not been established beyond reasonable doubt which between poverty and family size is the cause and which is the effect, the strong correlation between the two variables is unmistakably clear. Statistics also very convincingly point to the importance of education in addressing poverty reduction and population management. This should be more than enough information to inform our decisions,” Virola said.

The NSCB secretary-general also said that the country invest heavily on education, particularly on science and technology. Virola said that per capita expenditures on education, medical needs and even recreation generally go down with increases in family size.

Virola said that if this happens and more investments are focused on education, members of large families will increase their chances to reach college. He said that if investments in education remain low, less access to education among larger and poorer families makes it more difficult for them to escape from poverty.

kiretoce

January 15th, 2008, 06:58 PM

200 babies born per hour in Philippines (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/15/content_7426200.htm)

MANILA, Philippines -- The population in the Philippines will be increasing at the rate of 200 babies for every hour this year, making the archipelago the most populated in Southeast Asia, local media said on Tuesday.

Filipinos now number around 84 million, the Manila Times reported, citing the Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board.

The population growth rate of the Philippines is above the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) average of 1.5 percent and is higher than that of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, said Romulo Virola, the board's secretary-general.

The Philippines is lower than that of the six other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, which is promoting childbirth among couples. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar are the other members of the regional association.

Virola cited at least three reasons for the country's rising population, including the poor's lack of access to modern family-planning methods, their need for more children to do household chores or help in economic activities of the family, and their reliance on guidance from the Catholic Church on such methods, which the Vatican forbids.

In the latest population survey conducted in 2000, the population growth was 193 persons for every hour or three persons a minute.

Available data from the 1990, 1995 and 2000 censuses show that the Philippine population grew annually by 2.32 percent between 1990 and 1995, 2.36 percent between 1995 and 2000, and 2.34 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Based on the 2000 census, population projections put the country's growth rate at 1.97 percent between 2006 and 2007, and at 1.95 percent between 2007 and 2008.

The mid-year 2008 population growth is projected at 90.45 million, or equivalent to a population density of 266 per square kilometer and an average population size of 2,154 for every barangay or village.

AH-7Raja

January 16th, 2008, 02:27 AM

oh man nakakakilabot pagawaan na pala tayo ng mga tsanak!!!

buti nga yan cge lang hanggang sa mauntog na ang simbahang katoliko sa dami na ng mga batang nagkakalat sa mundo ng pilipinas ahaahahaheheheheheh!!!!!!!!!! cge lang para sa mga tangaang pilipino dyan na naniniwalang over population is not a problem!!!!!!! ahahhahahaaaaa!!!!

crappypants

January 16th, 2008, 03:02 AM

there was a newsclip regarding alarming case of newborn babies being left in trashcans.
that's really sad. what will it take to wake up the nation and policy makers that this is a timebomb waiting to explode.
we're running out of places to relocate people , you demolish one shanty only for a new colony to sprout somewhere else. We really don't want every nook and cranny of the PHils to be like Manila.
Maybe when they do shanty demolitions they need to couple it with family planning education and infinite supply of condoms and pills.

Solblanc

January 16th, 2008, 03:48 PM

Lili

January 16th, 2008, 04:50 PM

^ Sabi nga nila "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."

(must be prophetic, huh?)

absinthe_888

January 16th, 2008, 06:01 PM

Ugh, it's ridiculously sad when we hear a sob-story about this man who can't earn enough to support his family of x where x>3

And still, the Catholic Church is closing its eyes to this huge obstacle to poverty alleviation. Well, considering that the most religious countries are poor ones, maybe it is indeed Church policy to keep so many poor to ensure a steady supply of worshippers.

i once read a column of a journalist (sorry i forgot the name) that the reason why the curch doesn't want population control in the country is that they will lose a number of followers. yup i think the poor are the one who are mostly religous...i'm a catholic yet i don't follow all the techings of the church, especially when it comes to population control. it's not like were going to legalize abortion (no no) but to manage and have spacing between birth of children...for me, it's a greater sin that you sire 10 children yet you can't feed, clothe and send them to school. isn't that a violation of their human right. i believe that poverty is a violation of human rights. also, i hate glue that being a devout catholic and scared of the church that she refuse to allow population control. the "separation of church and state" is only written on paper yet not practiced. i hope that all the presidential canditates for 2010 make known their stand on this issue.

the reason i voted for lacson :lol::lol: in 2004 was that of all the presidential candidates then, only he had a solid and firm stand regarding this issue. that he will face the church head on.

le Reine

January 16th, 2008, 07:52 PM

well, at first I was really against the church for supporting natural family planning method but then I've realized that they should not be blamed more but the government. I guess they're just being true to themselves by sticking to their own policies because that's what they believe is true. Now, I'm starting to hate government for flip-flopping in its policies to accommodate everyone. It is inconsistent and doesn't have concrete plans to curb high population growth.

gen1

January 17th, 2008, 12:20 AM

progressive members of the clergy are not against artificial contraception

AH-7Raja

January 17th, 2008, 04:18 AM

AH-7Raja

January 17th, 2008, 04:20 AM

progressive members of the clergy are not against artificial contraception

then we need to bring their sorry asses down there at philippine islands! :cheers:

AH-7Raja

January 17th, 2008, 04:23 AM

absinthe_888

January 17th, 2008, 07:57 PM

i don't know if this is appropriate here, if not, pa delete nalang mga mods. TY.

http://philstar.com/index.php?Metro&p=49&type=2&sec=26

Fetus found in Malacañang restroom
By Paolo Romero
Friday, January 18, 2008

A janitor found a fetus yesterday morning in one of the restrooms at the New Executive Building (NEB) in Malacañang, horrifying Palace employees and puzzling police as to the identity of the mother, officials said.

The fetus, believed to be four to six months old, was discovered by janitor Mark Maningas, 18, at around 8 a.m. while cleaning the third cubicle of the women’s restroom.

Maningas said he noticed a blue plastic bag stuck in the toilet bowl with feces and some drops of blood on the seat. When he tried to retrieve the object, he was surprised that blood came out and saw a baby’s head.

He immediately informed his supervisor, who informed a guard from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) manning the building. The security personnel immediately cordoned off the restroom and called for investigators from the PSG and the Manila Police District (MPD).

After a few minutes, PSG personnel retrieved the fetus. Before noon, MPD investigators arrived and inspected the restroom. Investigators also sent Maningas home to avoid being interviewed by journalists. Employees in the building lit white candles at the door of the rest room.

“The sight of the fetus was both horrifying and pitiful. It made me sick to the stomach,” Arsenio Santos, a long-time Palace employee and witness, said in Filipino.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, whose office is at the third floor of the building, expressed sadness over the incident.

“We hold every human life sacred. We pray for the soul of this innocent child and hope that whoever was responsible for this, realizes the gravity of this deed and seek atonement,” Bunye said.

PSG chief Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza said the matter was still under investigation.

“The investigators are still trying to determine the identity of a woman reportedly seen hurriedly leaving the restroom,” Prestoza said in a telephone interview.

Officials said investigators are also reviewing footages taken by closed-circuit television cameras around and inside the NEB to help in the investigation. The NEB is about 200 meters away from the Palace.

Employees working at NEB said word has been sent that employees who reported for work from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. would be questioned.

Among the offices located in the NEB are the Malacañang Press Corps, Presidential Photojournalists Association, Malacañang Cameramen Association, Presidential Adviser on Religious Affairs, Office of the Press Secretary, Presidential Appointments Office, Presidential Chief Legal Counsel at Presidential Management Staff-Search Committee.

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines, in line with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. Still, officials estimate that about 400,000 abortions are performed each year.

Meanwhile, if a Parañaque congressman has his way, the incident in Malacañang would not happen again.

Rep. Eduardo Zialcita has filed a bill seeking to discourage abortion and child abuse by allowing parents to give up their babies to the government without fear of arrest or prosecution.

House Bill 3227, known as the Safe Haven Act of 2007, seeks to permit parents to entrust custody and care of their babies – provided they are 60 days old or younger – to any hospital, medical emergency facility, police or fire station, or any office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Private institutions receiving the babies would turn them over to DSWD offices. Parents would have six months to reclaim custody of their babies. After that, the children would be available for adoption.

Zialcita said he filed the measure to address the “moral degeneration of society as a result of the tragedies caused by abortion, child abuse, neglect and other forms of anti-life and anti-child acts.”

“There is an increase in abortion, child abandonment and other kinds of anti-life consequences because of our eroding respect for the sanctity of marriage, and complications in family life and human sexuality brought about by the globalization of culture,” he said.

Zialcita said his proposal “would save the lives, health and future of innocent babies and children.”

Under his bill, the government would establish a national registry of infants to improve its response to cases of missing children. – With Jess Diaz, AP

gen1

January 18th, 2008, 05:06 AM

^^dapat may warning. do not read if you're eating.

Danny Chua

January 18th, 2008, 05:46 AM

http://philstar.com/index.php?Metro&p=49&type=2&sec=26

Fetus found in Malacañang restroom
.
.
.

http://209.85.12.231/2135/53/emo/runaway.gif

defUSED_bOi

January 19th, 2008, 04:47 PM

^^
tsk.. tsk...

AH-7Raja

January 19th, 2008, 06:58 PM

^^dapat may warning. do not read if you're eating.

:lol:

dinabaw

January 22nd, 2008, 04:09 AM

i 'm not a Catholic , but vasectomy is not allowed ? I read before in early christianity that priests was once was vasectomized( tama ba? ) , i read the reason was in early christianity priests are so powerful and rich , the "church' was afraid to let priest marry bec they would share their wealth and could weaken the catholic faith ?

PIA Press Release
2008/01/22

No-scalpel vasectomy recommended for family planning
by Janeth Parreño

Davao City (22 January) -- Our country's population has always been a concern for the government; so as to address this issue the City Government of Davao is now promoting a no-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) as a method for family planning.

No-scalpel vasectomy is a permanent way of family planning where a part of the tube (vas deferens) of the male is tied and removed. A small operation where there is no need for a cut and stitches.

NSV is recommended for male who has no plans of having more children. Its accuracy is estimated at 99.85% if the procedure and instructions were done and followed properly. But its effect will not be instantaneous; it would take three months before it is safe to say that the make has zero sperm.

Males would still need to use condoms or other contraceptives in the space of three months to ensure that their partner would not become pregnant. Patients are carefully and

thoroughly briefed and counseled before undergoing the procedure o ensure that he will not regret his decision.

The procedure will be done by exerts in this field, and starts by first injecting anesthesia in the testicles, and through a small hole, a small part of the two tubes or "vas" will be exposed and will be tied, cut and removed. The rest of the tube will be put back to place.

Side effects will only be a bit of swelling and pain on the wound from the operation. Other than that, urges and hormones are produced normally and he would be able to perform his manly duty during intercourse.

The male would still be able o ejaculate. The fluid would still have the same amount, form and smell but minus the sperms.

Recuperation from the procedure would only take 1 or 2 days, after that period of rest, he would be able t go about his duties normally. To date there are 2,492 No-scalpel vasectomy operations done in region 9.

The NSV International Inc. will be here in Davao on a mission to conduct a free No-Scalpel Vasectomy on January 21-22. (PIA/ADDU) [top]

http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p080122.htm&no=10&r=R11&y=08&mo=01

gen1

January 24th, 2008, 06:34 PM

hindi ba nagiging soprano ang mga lalaki nagpa-vasectomy ?

:jk:

bukid

January 25th, 2008, 06:32 AM

amigo32

January 25th, 2008, 06:50 AM

mag pills ka na lang, hehehe

nostalgicbabe

January 25th, 2008, 08:25 AM

hindi siguro totoo yung nagvavasectomy yung mga pari noon.

hindi kaya maapektuhan ang masarap na sensation kung magpavasectomy? wala pa kasi akong kakilala na nagpavasectomy baka daw kasi mawala na yung sarap ng pakikipagtalik dahil may "tube" na puputulin. ako hindi muna wala pa kasi akong anak. puera nalang kong nalasing ako noon ng hindi ko namamalayan tapos may nagyari na pala. :colgate:

Hehehehe.:lol:

Di mo ba nabasa? Sabi ng article "urges and hormones are produced normally and [you] would be able to perform [your] manly duty during intercourse."

This is one of the misconceptions about vasectomy--that it reduces sexual pleasure. Another is that it will diminish their manhood. There is a group of doctors who are conducting free vasectomy in urban poor areas, and I think, also in rural areas. I've watched a documentary about this, where the doctors were able to convince many men in poor communities to undergo vasectomy. In fact, the doctors recommend this more than the wives undergoing tubal ligation because the latter could result in infections.

kiretoce

February 27th, 2008, 06:51 PM

Alarming rise in teenage pregnancies (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080227-121434/Alarming-rise-in-teenage-pregnancies-noted)

MANILA, Philippines -- While most girls their age are worrying about the gowns they will wear to their junior-senior prom, Marie and Leilanie, both 16, have more pressing things to take care of.

Leilanie, not her real name, is eight months pregnant and is searching for a way to get her 19-year-old live-in partner out of prison. He was arrested five months ago for stealing manhole cover in Caloocan City.

“Wala po kasi kaming pera pambili ng pagkain kaya napagtripan niya ibenta yun (We had no money to buy food so he thought of selling the cover),” the timid girl told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Leilanie said she wants to be with him when she gives birth to their first-born next month.

“I’m trying to be strong for our baby,” she said.

Marie, on the other hand, complained of getting little sleep at night because she has to attend to her three-month-old son and her baby sister.

Marie said she misses going to the mall with her friends and playing street games.

“But I have learned to accept the reality of where I am now,” she said in Filipino.

“Nakakapagod lang po talaga mag-alaga ng bata, maghugas ng pinggan at maglinis ng bahay (But it’s really tiring to take care of a baby, wash the dishes and clean the house),” she adds, smiling.

Teenage pregnancy

According to the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc. (FFPDI), Marie and Leilani are just two of millions of teenage mothers in the Philippines.

The group said the steady increase in the incidence of teen pregnancies in the country in the past few years has reached an “alarming stage.”

“The problem lies in the government’s sincerity in addressing issues about population growth and reproductive health,” Benjamin de Leon, FFPDI president, said in a news briefing in Quezon City on Tuesday.

1.7 million babies

De Leon said the latest data from the National Statistics Office showed that of 1.7 million babies born in 2004, almost 8 percent were born to mothers aged 15-19.

Almost 30 percent of Filipino women become mothers before reaching their 21st birthday, he said.

In 2000 alone, young mothers gave birth to 818,000 babies, he said.

“This means that almost one of every 10 babies is born to a teenage mothers,” he said.

He said this number could be bigger as births after March 5, 2005, were not recorded.

“We need to help these children for they are the next generation of parents, workers and leaders. In order for them to fulfill these roles… we must improve their access to education and information about sexuality and reproduction,” De Leon said in a separate statement.

Kiko dela Tonga, of Likhaan Foundation, said a recent study done by the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines showed that more than four million Filipinos aged 15-19 had already had sexual intercourse.

He said more than half of these are from poor families who do not have knowledge about contraceptives and reproductive health.

He said two of every five teenage pregnancies are unwanted ones; more than 46 percent of young pregnant women resort to induced abortion.

One of every four teenage mothers, Dela Tonga said, quit school to focus on child rearing or to find a job to help their families.

Risks

Medical studies likewise showed that 10 percent of babies born to young mothers are malnourished.

One of every five babies of teenage mothers dies of various causes, Dela Tonga said.

“These happen simply because young mothers are not ready emotionally, mentally and physically to rear a child of their own,” said Dr. Gloria Itchon of the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines.

Dela Tonga said although premarital sex has become prevalent among the youth, Filipino families have maintained its conservative view about sexuality and do not discuss the topic with their teenage children.

He said it’s very unlikely for typical parents to talk about issues regarding sex with their children.

“Although our society has become more liberated, it’s almost taboo for a family to talk openly about sex. But teenage pregnancy and premarital sex are the realities that the Filipino youth are facing,” he said.

De Leon lamented that the leaders of the Catholic Church are still opposed to the use of condoms and other contraceptives in their programs for reproductive health.

“We tried to present them the cases of (Marie and Leilanie). But they are just close-minded about the issue of artificial birth control methods,” he said.

“We’re not telling the youth to engage in premarital sex. What we’re saying is that should they fail to control themselves, there are available ways to protect themselves.”

spearhead

February 27th, 2008, 07:08 PM

chymera00

February 28th, 2008, 02:33 PM

Does anyone know when the results of the Census 2007 will become available. I checked out the NSO website and they announced that it will be on Feb 28, 2008, which is today but I've not seen any update about it anywhere.

habagatcentral1

February 28th, 2008, 02:46 PM

^^ Waiting for the presidential approval pa. According to PIA, it would be sometime this March.

chymera00

February 29th, 2008, 09:31 AM

ahh... oh well :( Thanks for the reply bernie

technoblaze

March 3rd, 2008, 08:42 AM

PHILIPPINES FINAL POPULATION COUNT
FOR RELEASE IN MARCH

The official count of the population of the country based on the 2007 Census of Population (POPCEN 2007) conducted in August 2007 by the National Statistics Office (NSO) will be released in March. This was originally scheduled to be out this month.

Heavy rains and floods due to typhoons Chedeng, Dodong, and Egay in August, caused the extension of field enumeration beyond the target one month completion date until early November 2007. Security related-problems in some areas and unsuccessful interviews of households in upscale villages and condominiums that required census enumerators to make several call backs also caused the delay.

The NSO�s intensified saturation drive to cover the smallest geographic area possible for greater accuracy and reliability in population count and the backing out of some census enumerators, resulted in unwanted delays in data processing.

POPCEN 2007 aimed at making a complete count of all residents, both Filipinos and foreigners, who have stayed in the country for at least a year. Data on population helps to provide bases in addressing specific requirements of the national government agencies and local government units especially in targeting beneficiaries of basic social services. The Local Government Code also sets the population census counts as benchmarks for the Internal Revenue Allotment and for the creation of new or conversion to a higher level local government units.

(Sgd.) CARMELITA N. ERICTA
Administrator

kiretoce

March 4th, 2008, 04:35 PM

Filipinos could number 150M (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080304-122628/Filipinos-could-number-150M-if-you-dont-act-now)

MANILA, Philippines -- Even if a two-child policy is enforced by 2010, the Philippine population is expected to reach 150 million because the poor lack information and access to family planning services, according to a nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California.

"Even if the country reached replacement level fertility (prescribed number of children per family) by 2010, the ultimate population of the Philippines would be 150 million people," said Martha Madison Campbell, founder president of Venture Strategies for Health Development.

According to its website, Venture Strategies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of low-income people in developing countries by using business mechanisms and building on the power of local market forces.

"There is no time to waste to ensure that the country has enough land for growing food for today's families and also to have remaining forests for tomorrow's children," Campbell said Monday at a press conference at Sulo Hotel to announce the Third National Conference on Population, Health and the Environment to be held in Tagaytay City on March 5-7.

She warned that unless the country gave greater emphasis to family planning, there was a danger of increasing poverty. "Poor people have big families [not] because they want to but because the poor have no access to contraceptives and health education."

She said United Nations demographers in 2002 projected that the Philippine population would reach between 75 and 85 million. But the population overshot the high projection and now stands at 89 million.

Faster than expected

What the figures show, Campbell stressed, "is population growth is faster that anyone expected."

"If there is another delay... if the Philippines waits another 40 years before reaching an average of two children per family, that will mean 100 million more people living in these beautiful islands [compared to] if every family [would] have only two children two years from now," said the political scientist and health specialist from the University of California.

She said that in the 1960s, Thailand and the Philippines each had a population of some 20 million people. Today Thailand has 66 million people compared to the Philippines' 89 million.

"In Thailand, where there is access to contraception, uneducated women use family planning methods just like women with a college education. In the Philippines, where there is no clear national government support for a family planning program, contraceptive use is less -- especially among poor and uneducated women, leading to more unintended pregnancies and larger families," Campbell said.

Risks

International Programs Director Richard Skolnik of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau said there were many environmental risks to health due to increasing pressure that population growth and migration to cities put on the environment.

"These problems are best seen in the large number of Filipinos who still lack access to safe water and sanitation and who are subjected to indoor and outdoor air pollution," Skolnik said, adding that diarrhea and respiratory infections, especially among poor children, made up 20 percent of the causes of death in the country.

Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development executive director Ramon San Pascual said the impact of population growth on the environment cannot be ignored. "A law on population management and reproductive health is urgently needed."

For his part, Conservation International-Philippines country executive director Romeo Trono said: "The question is not what needs to be done, but whether or not government units and agencies, the business sector, support agencies and communities will actually do it with a serious sense of urgency as high priority is required."

crappypants

March 7th, 2008, 04:55 AM

deaf ears and blind eyes.
oh well more slaves for the govt. to send to other countries .
Do you think 150 million people pop. will exacerbate our garbage problem?

icarusrising

March 12th, 2008, 12:50 PM

Bishop to bring case vs QC reproductive health to SC

By Edu Punay
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

There is no way pro-life advocates, led by a Catholic bishop, would give up their campaign against the reproductive health ordinance of the local government of Quezon City allowing sex education in the city’s public high schools.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said they would bring to the Supreme Court their objection to the ordinance passed by the Quezon City Council last month and seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the new city law.

“We are now working on it (filing of motion for TRO). And we definitely have the strong support of our constituents,” the prelate said.

Ongtioco said that they are now organizing a group of Catholic lawyers that would help in the campaign against the ordinance, which he said has touched a nerve with the local residents.

Asked what his group would do in case they lose the battle again at the SC, the bishop said there are still other venues and ways of “counteracting” the ordinance’s expected results on morality of residents, especially students.

He said they could launch more protest rallies, saying that they have the strong support of the flock.

Quezon City covers the growing dioceses of Novaliches, headed by Bishop Antonio Tobias and Cubao.

It can be recalled that priests, nuns, students and other Church-based organizations joined Ongtioco in picketing outside Quezon City Hall on Feb. 12 as the Council voted on and passed the proposed measure.

The protesters wanted to stop the approval of the ordinance that “violates the beliefs of the Church.”

The rally outside the session hall, however, failed to deter councilors from approving the proposed ordinance, which is already set for implementation after it was signed by Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. and published in the newspapers.

Reacting to the plan of pro-life groups, a member of the Quezon City Council said they are ready to face objections against the ordinance if it reaches the Supreme Court.

Majority leader of the Council Ariel Inton, of the fourth district of Quezon City, said Ongtioco and pro-life groups have the fundamental right to question the ordinance with the court as citizens of the city and of the country.

“Actually, we already expected that. They said they would bring the matter to court if we pass the ordinance in the Council. But for us, we are confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the constitutionality of the ordinance that was meticulously studied by many lawyers,” Inton told The STAR over the phone.

The councilor likewise argued that the voice of the Church was already considered in the passage of the ordinance.

“Their objections were considered during our deliberations. In fact, there were portions in the original bill that were adjusted in favor of the Church. For example, sex education would have been pushed for elementary schools but was adjusted to high schools. There is also a provision that clearly opposes abortion – and that is according to the teaching of the Church,” he said.

Inton also said that the Church would still be given a voice since they were given a slot in the body that would implement the ordinance.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27

bacolodchamp

March 12th, 2008, 01:44 PM

i can't believe what these bishops are driving at. they don't want poverty but they block the passage of vital laws to curtail the problem of poverty. the catholic doctrine espouses birth control through the rhythm method and yet these church people do not dessiminate these to the lay people. they don't even give a damn on this. but look who's at the frontline of rallies and anti-government demonstrations, its them. hypocrisy at its best!!!

icarusrising

March 12th, 2008, 05:00 PM

It seems that LGUs are doing their share of curbing the population in the absence of a national policy and effort to control our burgeoning birth rate. It remains to be seen whether they succeed or succumb to pressure from the Church.

Bohol’s priority: Population management, progress next (1)

ABE CEROJANO, GMANews.TV
Article posted February 18, 2008 - 02:45 AM

The province of Bohol is struggling to keep its burgeoning population at bay.

And why not? With an annual population growth rate of 2.92% - which overtook the national growth speed of 2.36% - the provincial government of Bohol must do more than a Dagohoy to control the trend.

“We must manage our population," Gov. Erico Aumentado told the eight journalists from Mindanao, Visayas, northern Luzon and Metro Manila who visited the province in mid-February.

(The eight who bagged respective honors at the 3rd PopDev Media Awards last year – Samira Gutoc of The Moro Times, Rene Bartolo of Mindanao Times, Linette Ramos of SunStar Cebu, Mayette Tabada also of SunStar Cebu, Frank Cimatu of the Philippine Daily Inquirer northern Luzon bureau, Aurora Zialcita of ABS-CBN’s radio DZMM, Lea Llamoso of GMA Network’s I-witness and this author – were invited for a study tour of the Philippines’ 10th largest island that is popular tourist destination for its beaches, resorts, tarsiers and Chocolate Hills.)

“We are really serious on this matter. We don’t want to go back where we used to be," Aumentado said. “Our population of 1.137 million is expected to double in 20 years."

The governor’s move to address this concern is urgent. Bohol is a small island. The province comprises of one city, 47 municipalities and 1,109 villages. It has three congressional districts with a land area of 4,117 square kilometers.

No U-turn to ‘Club 20’

The governor said Bohol’s population must be kept within manageable levels to avoid making a U-turn to the Club 20, or the 20 poorest provinces in the country.

Aumentado said seven years ago, Bohol languished at No. 16 among the country’s poorest provinces - popularly known as Club 20.

He once told the Local Peace and Security Assembly in Tagbilaran City: “During that year, using the issue of poverty, the insurgency inroads were terrifying: 305 out of the 1,109 barangays (villages) – or 30 percent thereof – were in various stages of insurgency: influenced, infiltrated or threatened. There were also 283 armed men in four fronts in the province, making Bohol the hotbed of insurgency in Central and Eastern Visayas."

Aumentado said he worked for peace and development for Bohol, which was then overflowing with economic potentials, in order to ease poverty and put the insurgents out of “business."

He said Bohol thrives on agriculture and eco-tourism, and boosting these industries was his challenge.

The governor said they formed the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management Office and designated community development workers in conflict areas that were once a no man’s land for sponsors of the Official Development Assistance projects.

He said under the program, they channeled its 20% development fund amounting to P531.2 million to deal with poverty.

It paid off. Bohol became a first class province and listed the 34th richest province in the Philippines in 2003. The insurgents, the province’s officials claimed, were hardly making a dent, so far.

The proof?

Bohol’s survey last year showed that 26% in the province say that their lives would further improve in the next 12 months.

Eight out of every 10 Boholanos (84%) have their own houses. As many as 63% own lots. Eight out of every 10 households enjoy electricity, 55% have running water, 67 have TV sets and 80% own radios.

Smooth roads, clean environs, generally smiling Boholanos would greet any visitors on the island.

As one columnist put it: “Also, while [Boholanos] aggressively promote tourism, they zealously protect the environment."

Yet, these achievements, Aumentado fears, will remain fragile in the face of Bohol's population pressures.

icarusrising

March 12th, 2008, 05:04 PM

Defiant Bohol leaders push reproductive care code (2)

ABE CEROJANO, GMANews.TV
Article posted February 19, 2008 - 01:10 AM

The clock read a quarter to 10 a.m. of February 11, and the courtesy call of the eight PopDev awardees on Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado was about to end.

As we sprang from the sofa to prepare to leave the governor’s office that was floating with the aroma of brewed coffee, Aumentado waved about stapled thin sheets of papers that startled us back to our senses.

“This is our final draft of the Bohol Reproductive Health Care Code of 2007," he said.

(Reproductive health is jargon, which simply means planning the size of one’s family. But the World Health Organization put it this way: “Reproductive health is defined as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system at all stages of life. Reproductive health implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so.")

Bearing in mind that Bohol’s birth rate of 2.92% is faster than the nation’s population of 2.34%, provincial legislators made the bold move to push for the code because “the national government is not taking the lead," Aumentado said.

He said it’s a kind of a political statement.

Bohol legislators’ frustration is understandable. Pro-life President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who commuted death sentences of several convicts, had toed the line of the Roman Catholic Church's stand on the family planning issue.

Interestingly, the House of Representatives ventured the path that Mrs Arroyo avoided. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman pushed for P1 billion in the 2008 national budget for the purchase of condoms, birth control pills and other “reproductive health products" to lower population growth rate.

Browsing over Bohol’s reproductive health code could be intimidating because it is studded with legislative gobbledygook and legalese.

Yet a hard look at the proposal would leave the reader impressed but wondering, 'Will the Church let this pass?'

Aumentado said he is optimistic the provincial board would approve the measure “in three months time." He said proponents of the code are prepared to blunt criticisms from conservatives.

However, a chat with some locals along C. Gallares Street in Tagbilaran City indicated that priests in Bohol might reconsider.

“If it would not rip the teachings of the Church they might have a chance," a trike driver told this author while we were cruising to BQ Mall, Tagbilaran’s answer to SM and Robinson’s department stores.

A BQ mall guard had the same view. He said if the government and Church could reconcile their differences on a mandated family planning program then Bohol would be in for a rosy future.

In Panglao, resort workers cast doubt that the reproductive health code would pass, pointing out that Bohol remains a conservative province that is home to 32 Roman Catholic churches.

Draft’s salient points

Section 3 of the draft spells out three goals: (1)“Provide access to safe and quality reproductive health care services to couples and individuals of Bohol; (2) Provide a ready, accurate and responsible information and education on reproductive health; (3) Ensure the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of appropriate and effective reproductive health care programs."

The third item enumerates 12 objectives for health consciousness, planning the size of the family, information drive that would include prevention and control of sexually transmitted diseases.

It calls for services for the prevention of abortion and counseling for those who resorted to abortion.

Budget

The proposed Bohol Reproductive Health Care Code of 2007 has yet to determine how much should be poured into the province's strategy to lower birth rate.

Section 11 of the proposed measure simply states that funding would be drawn from the annual budget of the provincial government - a plan that might provoke the local Church’s ire.

Late last year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines issued this stand following Lagman’s plan to bankroll the use of contraceptives:

“…We categorically object to it and instead strongly recommend that the one billion pesos be directly appropriated and/ or added for hunger and poverty alleviation projects, as well as for free education of extremely poor children."

The CBCP said: “The use of contraceptives are wrong in themselves because they violate nature and God’s law."

* * *

3cr

March 16th, 2008, 12:10 AM

Growth fails to generate jobs
BY Ernesto B. Calucag, BusinessWorld Researcher
03/18/2008 | 11:20 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Despite higher-than-expected economic growth in the fourth quarter, a total of 2.68 million people found themselves without work in January, pushing the unemployment rate back to the 7% level from October’s 30-year low.

Unemployment worsened to 7.4% in January, from 6.3% in October, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO) which released its Philippine Labor Force Survey on Tuesday.

It was, however, a slight improvement from the 7.8% recorded in the same month last year.

From October to January, around 175,000 people were added to the ranks of the unemployed, showing that the economy had failed to create enough jobs for those actively seeking work, economists told BusinessWorld.

This was despite the strong 7.4% gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the last quarter of 2007.

Employment generation significantly declined as only 150,000 jobs were created in the past 12 months to January, bringing the employment rate to 92.6% from 92.2% last year.

"A closer look at the data will fail to impress even the administration drumbeaters. Total net jobs created for the whole year was only 150,000, which was even lower than the corresponding figure of 483,000 in October 2007, and definitely way below the government’s target of one million jobs a year," University of Asia and the Pacific economist Victor Abola said.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Augusto B. Santos admitted that job creation was below the 1.4-1.6 million yearly target in the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. He said local companies’ hiring decisions had been affected by the global economic weakness.

"Employment in the manufacturing sector decreased by 2.6% as the weakness in the global economy and the strength of the peso sneaked in. This offsets the gains in the industry sector contributed mainly by the buoyant construction sector," Mr. Santos said in a statement.

The January survey showed the manufacturing sector having shed a total of 88,000 jobs over the one year period, and 99,000 in particular since October last year.

The service sector also lost 26,000 positions in the twelve months to January, offsetting the 153,000 new jobs created in the agriculture sector. The industry sector, meanwhile, added 22,000 as of January.

Of the estimated 33.7 million employed persons, about half (50.2%) were in the services sector, more than a third (35%) in agriculture and the rest (14.8%) in the industry sector.

Mr. Abola said the latest figures were "hardly conducive to a sustained growth" as more people opted to seek employment in the informal sector. Workers in the own-account and unpaid family workers now constitute 48.3% of the total labor force, from 46.6% in January last year.

"Another way of viewing the weak employment generation is that employers preferred to make their existing workers work longer rather than employ new people. This is reflected in the decline in the number of employed persons working less than 40 hours per week which was more than compensated for by the number working more than 40 hours," he said.

Underemployment thus improved to 18.9% from 21.5% a year ago. However, this was still a bit higher than the 18.1% chalked up in October.

The underemployed are defined as people who already have jobs but are looking for more employment to augment their income. Underemployed people are also those who are working less than 40 hours a week.

More people also chose to stay away from the labor market as the labor force participation rate reached only 63.4%, or 36.4 million people out of the estimated 57.4 million population 15 years and over. Last year’s rate was 64.8%.

In particular, about 1.3 million more people were not part of the labor force in January, more than the 1.2-million increase in the working age population.

"This reflects the quality of jobs that are being made available in the labor market. And it reflects in general the country’s jobless growth. Somehow, it confirms the increase in poverty incidence among Filipinos," Ateneo de Manila University economist Leonardo Lanzona said.

Among the regions, the National Capital Region had the highest unemployment rate of 12.5%. Among the jobless, five in every 10 were in the 15-25 year age group while three in 10 were aged 25-34. Around 40% of the unemployed had attained college level and 33.5% were high school graduates. - BusinessWorld

_____________________________________________

Poverty in the middle of plenty
By Juan T. Gatbonton, Editorial Consultant
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/mar/17/yehey/top_stories/20080317top3.html

Can poverty worsen in an expanding economy? That’s what is apparently happening. Not only have everyday Filipinos not felt the supposed growth of the economy. Between 2004 and 2006, 700,000 families (3.5 million people) have actually fallen from the lower middleclass into downright poverty—as their incomes failed to keep pace with living costs.

Why has this happened? Senior officials from five past administrations who’ve banded against the Arroyo government deny outright that the economy’s starting to do well. They denounce government’s claims of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2007 as being the “highest in 31 years” as no more than “public relations fakery.” And they cite “unprecedented inconsistencies in official statistics on growth, income and poverty that raise doubts about the reliability of the economic growth data.”

People not feeling growth

But we don’t really need to impugn the integrity of the professionals at our statistical agencies to figure out why ordinary people are not feeling the effects of growth.

Our economy still is as fragmented as our geography and our politics. Virtually alone among our neighbors, we still have two economies existing side by side—modern industries, haciendas, plantations and mines together with a subsistence sector.

We still have a “dual economy”—a relatively modern half based in Metro Manila and its satellite regions, and a traditional one, based on peasant agriculture, in the rest of the archipelago. And because there are only the weakest linkages between the two, the industrial economy can grow without substantially benefiting the people outside it.

In much of East Asia, rapid growth over these past 40 years has unified dual economies left over from the colonial period. Suharto’s Indonesia had a particularly good record in balancing interregional development between Java and the outer islands. But because we have been slow to ease mass poverty, we Filipinos still are divided—like Disraeli’s England of the 1850s—into two nations, “between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy.”

Highly concentrated growth

On gaining independence after World War II, the new countries sought initially to industrialize behind protective walls, financing development through the export of agricultural products. (Straw mushrooms had nearly as great a role for Taiwan as the silkworm industry had for Meiji Japan.) But in our country, the weak state lost control of the processes of the protectionist trade regime to the political and economic elite.

Consequently, when the global economy opened up again, it could not switch to labor-intensive exports as easily as its neighbors were able to do—because oligarchic interests had clustered around the protectionist strategy. Because its economy remained closed, the Philippines missed the “East Asian economic miracle” that set our vigorous neighbors on the road to prosperity.

Our basic policy mistake was to carry on import-substituting industrialization long after it had outlived its usefulness. By so doing, we reduced the linkages between agriculture and industry, constricted job opportunities, and concentrated the benefits of growth on the landowning, industrial, and political elite.

Until now, Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog account for well over half of all our manufacturing output and three-fifths of all the growth. In 2007, they were responsible for 61 percent of the economy’s expansion, but only 39 percent of all the jobs.

The economy’s fastest-growing components—overseas contract work and its domestic counterpart, business-process outsourcing (BPO)—are “enclave economies,” without organic linkages with the domestic economy. So is electronic-components assembly, which has become our predominant export industry.

While agriculture still employs over a third of all our workers, generates 15 percent of GDP—and nearly 70 percent of all the poor—it contributes less than a 10th of yearly growth. In 2004, the average farm household had only 1.8 hectares. It yields an average P16,650 in income—only a fifth of what the poor family needs to keep its head above water.

Jobs for the unemployable

Our biggest problem is how to employ 2.8 million undereducated and largely rural young people unable to fill the jobs the modern economy generates. Out of every 10 Filipinos who can’t find jobs, eight are between 15 to 34 years old, and most of them live in the countryside. Right now, their only hope lies in “make-work” programs in government projects, which local politicians dispense. Yet raising the poor from poverty is the only way of incorporating their families into the modern economy.

Despite robust overall growth, manufacturing output is actually dropping. Nor will opening up mining to foreign investors—which the Supreme Court has made possible—generate many low-skill jobs. Mining, too, is a capital-intensive enclave industry.

Meanwhile, the deployment of overseas contract workers is slowing down—although higher-skilled workers are leaving. More and more of them are computer professionals, doctors, nurses, engineers and architects. And already they send home the equivalent of almost 15 percent of our entire GDP.

Tourism offers the fastest potential for generating relatively low-skill jobs. Arrivals rose from 2.8 million in 2006 to 3.15 million in 2007. Government expects 3.62 million travelers in 2008—but in this sector, too, vested interests impede an all-out effort to generate the million jobs a year we need. Regulatory capture still hinders the efforts of economic reformers to open Philippine skies.

________________________________________

Population & Poverty
Jorge Osit
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080316119049.html

The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), perhaps without meaning to, put a damper on the much-vaunted economic gains posted in the last quarter of 2007 when it recently made public its survey showing 27.6 million Filipinos, or approximately one out of three Filipinos today, are living below poverty threshold.

It will be recalled that our GDP hit a 31-year-high economic growth of 7.3 last year, boosted by a 20-year low inflation of 2.8 percent, but with this wake-up call coming out in the first quarter of 2008 it cannot be helped if a sense of being let down pervades. Suddenly, like the whirlwind of unsettling events buffeting our nation, the rosy economic picture is shadowed by a cloud of uncertainty.

Quite interestingly, the NSCB announcement came at time when the center of political gravity or seat of power, Malacañang, is under siege by the political opposition and other civil society groups and thus a modicum of political correctness is expected from State functionaries and officials so as not to further heat up the already simmering political cauldron.

Regardless of the consequences, however, the NSCB top honchos led by secretary general Romulo Virola went full steam ahead in announcing the official data that a third of our population is mired in the morass of poverty. Although the disclosure of such a critical data tends to put in a bad light those holding the reins of power, the NSCB officials showed faithfulness to public trust by being beholden to our larger national interest.

Anyway, the painful truth revealed by the NSCB is obviously meant to attract attention of our national leadership in forging a common resolve to effectively address the specter of increasing poverty incidence. Considering that it is a matter of national interest, highlighting its urgency is almost a sacred public duty and the timing of its disclosure is as good as any.

Since the squabbles of our leaders have ushered in a season – a rare season in our national life uniquely preoccupied with searches for truth, then, we might as well weigh in on the issue of poverty incidence. Briefly stated, poverty remains the central development issue of our country and so far we have not developed a sustainable economic growth needed to reduce poverty to tolerable limits.

The truth is poverty and runaway population growth are intertwined and inherently inseparable. In a study titled "The Population-Poverty Nexus: The Philippines in Comparative East Asian Context," several factors such as graft and corruption, savings rate and governance were cited as reasons causing dismal performance of our economy. It stressed, however, that "population growth is much more significant and could worsen poverty if left unchecked."

The study showed that way back in 1975 the Philippines and Thailand were like peas in a pod in terms of population size and per capita GDP. However, in the year 2000, our population ballooned to 75 million in sharp contrast to Thailand’s 62 million. Moreover, Thailand complemented its low population growth rate with increasing per capita GDP, about 8 times compared to its 1975 level.

And what about us? Our per capita GDP grew a measly 2.6 times while our population growth rate of 2.36 percent a year weighed down the whole economy. There is no denying that rapidly increasing population strains our limited budgetary resources but had we followed Thailand’s declining population growth there could have been substantial savings in our education and health sectors.

In this connection, the study said: "These savings could have been spent instead on the agricultural sector where most of the country’s poor belong. With greater investments in agriculture, slower population growth, and a rise in income, rural poverty could decline by 70 percent and national poverty by 60%."

And this is one issue where both government and the Church conveniently play possum.

Nabartek

March 16th, 2008, 12:23 AM

It's ironic that despite having vast agri lands and consumers of rice, we import our staple food.

We were once a rice-exporting country. Now, we are a rice-importing country

And our rapid population has something to do with it. Our farmers could not keep up with the growing demand.

Mamahal daw ang bigas! Dahil walang surplus

kiretoce

March 26th, 2008, 07:00 PM

Fil-Am group mount campaign vs RP family planning bill (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=113141)

Eileen Macapanas-Cosby has been talking to lawmakers here, telling them about a little-known bill pending in the Philippine Congress that, she asserts, will pave the way for coercive population control in the Philippines.

"Very few Filipino-Americans or even Americans related to Filipinos, who have friends that are Filipinos, understand what is about to happen to the country," Cosby tells ABS-CBN’s Balitang America. She was referring to House Bill 17, otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill principally authored by Bicol Congressman Edcel Lagman.

"It’s in the House and they say it’s moving into debate next month," she added. Cosby is executive director of the Filipino Family Fund based in the District. The group is working with Manila-based organizations like Pro-Life Philippines, Gawad Kalinga, and Couples for Christ, among others, to mount a vigorous campaign against HB 17.

Taking the fight to the US was necessary, she argues, because the bill has reportedly won supporters from International Planned Parenthood affiliates. The US government is also a major donor for family planning programs in the Philippines.

"What this bill will do is a great violation of human rights and religious freedom," Cosby said.

"If you do not participate in the reproductive health care agenda that’s being proposed for an ideal family size you can be imprisoned for six months. This is horrendous," Cosby stressed.

"We are talking to leaders on Capitol Hill about this, to educate them about what’s going on," she tells Balitang America.

They’ve also launched a signature campaign through their website, FilipinoFamilyFund.org to draw wider support against the bill.

Rep. Lagman set the premise for the bill in the explanatory note – it said the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey revealed the "desired fertility rate of Filipino women is 2.5 children"; 61 percent of married Filipinos do not want additional children; the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey showed 50.6 percent of the youth want to have only two children.

But he adds, "this bill is not a population control measure with the sole objective of limiting population growth".

"This measure," he stressed, "is not coercive…The so-called ‘two child policy’ is voluntary, not compulsory; suggestive not coercive; and absolutely not punitive."

But Cosby cites several provisions in the proposed law to buttress her arguments. Section 11, for instance, states "The State shall assist couples/parents and individuals to achieve their desired family size…and encourage them to have the number of children at an affordable and manageable level of two children per family."

Bill opponents also criticize Section 7 that sets mandatory "age-appropriate" sex education for all students from Grade 5 all the way to the senior year of high school.

Cosby also pointed to the controversial Sections 15 and 16 which lists "prohibited acts" and sets penalties ranging from one to six months imprisonment and/or a P20,000 fine for violators.

However, the bill also sets new safeguards to protect women’s health. Section 15, for instance, makes it criminally liable for employers to force female job applicants to submit to sterilization; or for any healthcare professional to refuse patients based on gender, marital status, personal circumstances and nature of work, among others. Section 12 stipulates that "Women shall not be discriminated against in the matter of hiring, regularization of employment status or selection for retrenchment."

But Cosby and other pro-life activists see the women’s protection clauses as a smokescreen. "We don’t want what happened in China with its one-child policy, to happen in the Philippines. We have the chance to stop them now, but we have to raise the alarms," she averred.

"We have to raise important questions to the government in the Philippines as well as to the government here in the United States," Cosby added.

The US government provided about $24 million in 2007 to help finance Philippine health and family planning programs. Cosby said American NGOs, who are convinced that population control is key to eradicating poverty, are also funneling huge amounts to the country. She explained that the private-sector initiative often set numerical targets to their funding, raising the pressure for implementers to take short cuts to meet their targets.

She’s trying to convince lawmakers here to re-channel US aid to promote only natural planning methods, especially in the remote regions of the Philippines where, Cosby alleges, they’ve received reports of forced sterilization of women.

"In the barrios, the provinces, a lot of women have been challenged with pressure to submit to artificial contraception and sterilization – things that are not part of Filipino values," she explained.

"We’ve worked with doctors in the Philippines who found coercive practices so we asked the US government to investigate, and they did the investigation. In eight localities, they found in two provinces there were forced sterilizations," she said.

Cosby added they have been talking with pro-family solons in the US Congress. "These congressmen are really a voice for the people. We want them to know they have support," she declared.

"We don’t want cultural imperialism in the Philippines. We want Filipinos to have as many children as they want," she insisted.

gen1

March 26th, 2008, 09:44 PM

I wish they'd have a more sensible planned parenthood program.

This Rice shortage crisis is very troubling. If newspaper reports are true that the last rice futures purchase was at over $700/1000 kgs, we're looking at over Php 30/kg of rice retail.

workers will likely demand for a wage increase, which business will naturally oppose (siyempre naman, recession ang US. tinamaan pa ng husto ang exporters natin). social unrest na naman.

Marni

March 27th, 2008, 12:55 AM

3cr

March 27th, 2008, 01:16 AM

Population boom, land conversion threaten future food supply
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer 03/26/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- A National Food Authority (NFA) official on Wednesday said the country has enough rice to feed all, but population boom, unabated conversion of arable lands to residential/industrial estates and climate change is putting pressure on the future supply.

Rex Estoperez, NFA spokesman, said the grain agency’s main problem is not the rice shortage -- he said there is no such thing -- but the increases in the price of the country’s main staple.

With the surge in oil prices, it has become more costly to transport rice, Estoperez said.

“There is no rice crisis. If there is a crisis, you cannot buy anything. But there is abundant supply. You can buy rice in the market,” he explained to the media in a forum in Club Filipino.

He noted that the NFA has a current 15-day buffer supply, which will be increased to 30 days’ worth of rice come July, when the typhoon season starts.

But Estoperez said Filipinos should not be complacent as rice consumption might outpace the supply in a few years. For the past two years, there was a “big jump” in the rice consumption, the NFA official said.

At present, the country’s daily rice requirement is pegged at 33,000 metric tons. Two years ago, Filipinos consumed about 29,000 MT of rice a day.

The surge, he explained, was attributed to the growing population and the fact that Filipinos have become dependent on rice more than ever because of the increase in the prices of other staples and grains like pan de sal and corn.

Aside from the population boom, high oil prices, unpredictable weather patterns that can wreak havoc on the planting and harvesting seasons, shrinking agricultural lands are expected to put pressure on the supply side, Estoperez said.

Noting that the National Statistics Office (NSO) sees 90 million Filipinos by the end of the year, Estoperez said: “We have to be ready for the requirement. We have to plan and plan.”

To ensure that there is enough supply, the government has contracted to import 2.1 million metric tons of rice this year, he said. The NFA has already bought 1.2 million metric tons, he added.

Estoperez said the country can still avoid the crisis through rice conservation and a renewed focus on agriculture.

The NFA and other departments, he noted, has ordered stricter monitoring of retailers to ensure that they do not hoard the supply and that their prices are reasonable. He noted that the NFA will implement new measures to weed out unscrupulous price dealers, he added.

As to the growing population, Estoperez refused to make recommendations but said the government should be made aware of its consequences to food security.

The public and traders should also cease speculating about rice prices and not resort to panic buying as it could jack up the prices, he added.

“Don’t throw away rice. Don’t panic. It will just be an opportunity for industrial players to jack up their prices,” he said.

Lastly, Estoperez said the government should intensify its focus on agriculture, noting that the Philippines is an “agricultural economy.”

The Department of Agriculture has ordered maximum use of agricultural properties for rice production. Conversion of arable lands to residential and industrial estates should also be “stopped,” he added.

“Before, you can see farm land from here to Bulacan. Now it’s all houses,” he said.

______________________________________________

Rice’s future availability at risk
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW032808/content.php?id=002

LOS BAÑOS — It is the staple food of half of humanity but only a handful of countries have large rice surpluses, leaving even some of the biggest producers scrambling to grow enough to feed their own people.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (L), accompanied by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap (R), inspects some 15,000 sacks of rice during a visit to a National Food Authority warehouse in Butuan City yesterday. — AFP Land endowment determines which countries have enough of the cereal, say the world’s foremost rice experts.

Thailand, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh are all blessed with broad riverine deltas and plains with huge tracts suitable for rice farming, and allot more than half of their arable land to it, said International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) economist David Dawe.

Rice importers by contrast are island or peninsular nations with more varied landscapes favouring maize, palm oil or coconut.

Rice yields in the Philippines are nearly double those of Thailand, the world’s top exporter, yet as in Indonesia "there is just not enough land," said IRRI president Robert Zeigler, who spoke to AFP in a joint interview with Mr. Dawe.

The two countries combined have nearly 300 million mouths to feed and are among the most vulnerable consumers of the grain as inflation-adjusted rice prices have recently spiked close to historical highs.

The Philippines has imported rice almost every year since 1869, while Java, Indonesia’s most populous island, has been an importer since the 16th century, Mr. Dawe said.

"I hope that if the situation becomes tight in the Philippines, the Filipinos will not point fingers at the Filipino rice farmer," Mr. Zeigler said.

Another problem facing consumers in the Philippines is hoarding by traders creating a supply shortage in the market and sending prices up.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has said the government will clamp down on rice hoarders who artificially hike prices.

Mrs. Arroyo said the Philippines, is a "price sensitive nation" that feels the strains of pressures from a globalized economy.

"I am asking traders not to jack up prices just because there is a crisis," she said recently.

Just 30 million to 35 million tons, or 7% of the world’s annual rice harvest, is traded in the world market, and because the volumes are so thin they are subject to price shocks.

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer and also has the highest yields, but is not a key player in the export market, said Mr. Zeigler, adding that China guards its rice reserve levels as a "state secret".

"China like any government is extremely concerned that their people have enough to eat, and so they are not going to export until they’re sure they have enough to eat."

An unlucky confluence of events has pushed spot prices close to 1,000 dollars per ton, levels not seen since the scientific breakthroughs of the "green revolution" in the early 1980s boosted yields and had since then helped keep prices below 400 dollars a ton.

Adverse weather in Bangladesh, pests and disease in Vietnam, and political problems in Myanmar — until the 1950s the world’s top rice exporter — have cut stocks usually available in the international market, Mr. Zeigler said.

Myanmar could be a big swing producer, but has "great difficulty buying fertilizer in the world market because of the (international trade) embargo. If they could get fertilizer and they could improve their rural infrastructure a bit they could be a big player," he said.

There was also some potential for large mechanised farms to grow rice in parts of southern Brazil and southern Argentina as well as Uruguay and Paraguay.

"They could conceivably come into the market but I don’t know that they’re going to be large players. They’re temperate zones and they only get one crop a year," he said.

The biofuels industry could also make maize and soybeans more attractive, he added.

While rice is not used to produce ethanol for biofuels, the diversion of other grains toward biofuel can affect the supply of other cereals and further add pressure to supply and price.

"In the US maize is going into ethanol big time. We have some land in Asia that is being redirected towards biofuel — certainly a lot of interest in converting some good land into oil palm plantations for biodiesel. That’s a concern," he said.

Corn and soybean production made more sense for South America "because the prices are much better and more stable."

But this did not lead to optimism about rice production in an already-tight market.

"In general there’s just not much room for areas of growth in the world for rice," Mr. Zeigler said.

Nabartek

March 27th, 2008, 12:49 PM

Population Boom is not an economic problem thus it is a challenge for our leaders to figure out how to feed the nation and give them employment for their income. Population is indeed a great help for a nation not a problem.

Too little or too much population isn't good. OVERPOPULATION and UNDERPOPULATION are a serious problem.

More people would mean less share on natural resources. Mas maraming kasi ang maghahati hati since our resources are limited.

Ganito lang yan. Sa isang family size pizza. May walong tao. Kapag walo sila masmaliit ang magiging share nila para makakain ng pizza ang lahat. Compare mo yan sa apat lang na tao na kakain ng pizza, lahat makakakain at masmalaki pa ang share. Ganyan din sa issue ng population

Lucentino

March 27th, 2008, 05:09 PM

^^So where does the negativity of underpopulation fit in your analogy?... just asking:)

Lucentino

March 27th, 2008, 05:09 PM

I guess if there is underpopulation only a few will share the task of making the pizza... :)

chymera00

March 28th, 2008, 04:31 AM

It's almost the end of March wala pa yung census results, and tagal naman.

Nabartek

March 30th, 2008, 08:54 PM

^^So where does the negativity of underpopulation fit in your analogy?... just asking:)

Ah, you reminded me.

Underpopulation..in terms of pizza... For example, two people cannot finish the pizza, the food will just be put to waste.

But in real life situation, we'll have problems with hiring workiers..thus resulting to 'importing' of foreign talents. Because of overpopulation, competition is too much in the Philippines and there are fewer jobs. But if there is underpopulation, we will have problems looking for Human resources.

And underpopulation might make our race extinct.:lol:

3cr

April 6th, 2008, 02:59 AM

Bishops now open to talks on population
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080405140

Catholic bishops, who have been frowning upon suggestions that the government implement birth control and family planning programs, are now open to discussing population issues in the wake of the rice crisis.

Caloocan City Bishop Deogracias Yniguez told a news forum in Quezon City recently that Church leaders recognize the correlation between food production and consumption and a burgeoning population.

“If consumption is huge, there may be instances when production may not be able to keep up. This is where we need to discuss the parameters and the need for policy,” he said.

Yniguez, however, said that people should not just be considered as consumers but as producers as well.

But he conceded that a manageable population might also result in faster food production.

Yniguez made the statement after Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III told him that leaders of the Catholic Church can no longer ignore the population explosion problem.

Escudero, who was agriculture minister during the Marcos regime and agriculture secretary during the Ramos administration, said the rice crisis is directly linked with the growing population.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, House appropriations committee chairman, had earlier blamed the rice crisis not only on the dwindling area of farmland but on population explosion as well.

The House of Representatives has also been urged by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. (PLCPD) to provide answers to the current rice crisis through sound population management.

The country’s population, estimated at 90 million, consumes 33,000 tons of rice per day and the agriculture sector will have a hard time meeting the rice demand of the rapidly growing number of people, PLCPD executive director Ramon San Pascual said in a statement.

San Pascual said there are bills pending in Congress that will result in long-term, more sustainable solutions to the rice crisis such as managing rapid population growth, increasing rice production and protecting agricultural lands from illegal conversion.

Lagman said the country’s population growth rate of 2.36 percent, as documented by the National Statistics Office, outpaces the annual growth in rice production of 1.9 percent.

He also said that while the country’s rice production is almost twice that of Thailand, the latter’s population growth rate is only 1.4 percent.

He urged the leadership of both the executive and legislative branches of government to support the enactment of House Bill 17 on reproductive health, responsible parenthood, family planning, and population management, of which he is a principal author.

“A comprehensive national policy on reproductive health and population management is long overdue. No amount of bountiful harvest can adequately feed the growing multitude of Filipinos. The reality of the law of supply and demand, coupled with inflation, invariably escalates the price of rice,” he said.

Rio Magpayo, PLCPD’s agrarian reform and development issue officer, also said that unless a new law is passed that will extend funding for agrarian reform, there is a huge possibility that owners will convert these lands into commercial, residential or industrial uses.

koenig

April 6th, 2008, 04:20 AM

^^
UN yearly population growth rate estimates for the period 2005-2010

Phillipines 1.72%
Thailand 0.66%

Situation in Thailand is quite contrary to in the Philippines. Due to very succesful family planning programmes, the projected peak population has been repeatedly reduced. The latest estimate was just around 70 millions within ten years. This will follow by a period of plateau phase then head for population contraction.

Window of opportunity for rapid high economic growth period is closing for our country. We are seriously preparing for soon-to-come grey society.

BTW: hope for the best for the Phillipines

technoblaze

April 6th, 2008, 01:26 PM

ang reason bat dumaDami ang poor sa pilipinas ay dahil mas marami silang anak keysa sa mga mayaman....:lol:

odyssey

April 6th, 2008, 06:01 PM

EU to RP: Curb population boom
By Edith Regalado
Monday, April 7, 2008
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080406101

DAVAO CITY — The European Union (EU) is urging the Philippines to implement a comprehensive family planning program in an effort to curb the country’s rapidly growing population.

“The phenomenal growth of the Philippine population is one problem that should also be addressed,” French Ambassador Gerard Chesnel told reporters here in a meeting over the weekend.

Chesnel, who was in the city for the arrival here of the French frigate Floreal, said the country’s population used to be the same as that of Thailand.

“But now, Thailand is at 66 million but the Philippines is already at 89 million,” Chesnel stressed.

The ambassador said the EU, of which France is a member, expressed concern that not much effort has been done about the country’s increasing population.

Chesnel said the EU is calling on the government for a comprehensive national family planning policy that would in a way promote access to family planning methods.

“These are the kinds of problems you have to address here. Continued rapid population growth in the Philippines is draining health and economic resources and slowing down economic growth,” the ambassador further said.

The poor, Chesnel emphasized, are the ones who are paying the highest price, both individually and collectively.

The country’s population, now estimated at 90 million, reportedly consumes 33,000 tons of rice everyday, and the agriculture sector is having a hard time coping with the demand.

The country’s population growth rate has reportedly been placed at 2.36 percent according to the National Statistics Office, which actually outpaced the 1.9 percent annual growth registered for rice production last year.

A crisis in rice is now plaguing the country with supply pegged way below the actual demand of the country’s population.

Chesnel, who also delivered the EU statement during last week’s 2008 Philippine Development Forum held in Clark, Pampanga, said that rapid population growth threatens the sustainability of rural livelihoods especially for those in remote areas.

And an increasing population, Chesnel likewise said, also threatens the country’s remaining natural forest and marine habitats.

Chesnel’s statement came as government is also reaching out to the Catholic Church to discuss population issues in the light of the prevailing rice crisis.

The French ambassador said the EU is committed in helping the country fight poverty on the basis of a truly inclusive growth wherein social services shall be strengthened to ensure that additional efforts would benefit the poor, especially those who have been basically excluded from the basic services of health and education.

Chesnel said that the EU has also called on government to address the problem of widespread graft and corruption in the country.

“If there is widespread corruption, it doesn’t give the different areas the chance to develop further. Corruption has to be addressed and efforts to combat it should be stepped up,” Chesnel said.

The EU also asked government to follow through its Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program’s full goals and at the same time achieve its land distribution targets with the necessary support system in an effort to help the country’s farming sector.

Chesnel said the EU is also committed to deepen its support to the ongoing peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He said the EU has pledged at least 12 million euros, equivalent to $20 million, as assistance to the conflict-affected areas once a final peace agreement shall be signed with the MILF.

But Chesnel explained one million of the 12 million euros pledged has already been extended to the affected areas in Mindanao even while the peace negotiation is ongoing.

barrera_marquez

April 6th, 2008, 11:49 PM

ang reason bat dumaDami ang poor sa pilipinas ay dahil mas marami silang anak keysa sa mga mayaman....:lol:

Libangan kasi ng mga mahihirap iyon. yung mga mayayaman naman sobrang busy kasi may trabaho.

Askal82

April 8th, 2008, 02:17 AM

absinthe_888

April 8th, 2008, 02:51 AM

EDITORIAL — Failure of leadership
http://philstar.com/index.php?Opinion&p=49&type=2&sec=25

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/673/startoonke1.gif

All life is precious, and every birth is a cause for rejoicing. But the celebration is quickly dampened by the realities of survival. The national infant mortality rate and maternal deaths related to childbirth remain high, and the key reasons have been the same over the years: poor health and undernourishment, with the victims coming mostly from impoverished families.

Opponents of birth control have pointed out that increasing domestic production, not curbing population growth, is the answer to rising demand for limited resources. That is the ideal solution. But the reality in this country is that the benefits of 31-year record-high economic growth figures are not trickling down to the grassroots because the growth still cannot keep pace with the booming population.

Various quarters have often reminded the government of the need to curb population growth. The latest reminder came from the European Union, which is calling for a comprehensive family planning program to boost development efforts. At the recent Philippine Development Forum held in Pampanga, European diplomats raised the same concern to Philippine officials including Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who could only respond with a laugh. President Arroyo, Duque told the diplomats, has strong views about family planning. Her policy, in a nutshell, is not to plan the size of families at all.

This is a failure of leadership driven by the exigencies of political survival. The Roman Catholic Church has been consistent in its stand on procreation and birth control. Whether the bishops should dictate national policy on family planning is up to the national leadership.

Now even members of the international community, who have lauded the country’s economic performance, have been compelled to speak up about the need to curb population growth. The EU reminder was issued as the government scrambles to ensure food security amid a global rice shortage. Yesterday Malacañang made noises about reviewing the government’s family planning program — or the absence of it. That openness should not disappear after the next pastoral statement.

espresso1018

April 8th, 2008, 11:26 AM

Population is a problem that concerns every citizen of this country. It will be resolved only with the concerted efforts of all the sectors in society, the private sector, the government, the church, and the NGO's. In fact, Malacañang is open to reviewing its population control programs to address the supply issue of rice. Population, increasing every year, is a factor that affects the sufficiency of food supplies in the country. If Filipinos learn to control the reproduction of new Pinoys each year then there would be no instance of a possibly food shortage in our country.

NightDog

April 8th, 2008, 02:10 PM

dapat kasi siguraduhing hinde butas ang condom.

tigidig14

April 9th, 2008, 06:29 AM

dapat ang condom ay hindi yari sa plastic baloon

NightDog

April 9th, 2008, 06:44 AM

bwahahahahaha....dapat! saka yung dulo ng condom yung maliit wag dapat gupitin yun. kasi yung iba daw ginugupit kasi naiilang daw sila.

tigidig14

April 9th, 2008, 06:45 AM

:lol:

barrera_marquez

April 10th, 2008, 05:21 AM

nakakabawas daw ng sensation kaya ayaw nila... :lol:

dinabaw

April 10th, 2008, 10:08 AM

bakit puro daw, raw o dapat mga sagot wala ba kayong experience o nahihiya lang kayo !:lol:

kyle@1008

April 10th, 2008, 10:11 AM

mga virgin "daw" ang mga yan.....

barrera_marquez

April 11th, 2008, 10:39 AM

bakit puro daw, raw o dapat mga sagot wala ba kayong experience o nahihiya lang kayo !:lol:

sorry ka wala pa kaming XPerience kaya ganoon ang mga sagot namin, sa akin lang mas masaya nga yun kasi hindi ka mabubuntis/makakabuntis.

habagatcentral1

April 11th, 2008, 06:34 PM

It somewhat boils down to the often neglected theory in economics:
The Malthusian Theory...

bitoy

April 11th, 2008, 07:03 PM

^^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/f/c/2/fc22c8070ebdc1859c763b693fb5cc43.png

Where P is Popoy and propotional to PoEt. :lol:

pag may nanganak pa sa formula na yan, milagro na naman. :D

le Reine

April 12th, 2008, 05:06 PM

sorry ka wala pa kaming XPerience kaya ganoon ang mga sagot namin, sa akin lang mas masaya nga yun kasi hindi ka mabubuntis/makakabuntis.wushu... kunwari ka pa :lol::rofl::jk:

spearhead

April 12th, 2008, 08:56 PM

sorry ka wala pa kaming XPerience kaya ganoon ang mga sagot namin, sa akin lang mas masaya nga yun kasi hindi ka mabubuntis/makakabuntis.

You mean wala ka pang SeXperience? Sus maniwala kami... :lol:

Why not try the reversible-ligation for women? Ang mahirap lang dyan eh minsan lumuluwang kasi yung tali kaya bigla nalang nabubuntis parin si misis.

Anyway, meron ng bagong imbento na pills dito sa america, para sa mga lalake naman, according to them, 98% works. But you need to wait 3 months for it to be effective as soon as you take the pills. And after 3 months, you have to take it every day. Sounds good? Im sure it will be available soon in asia.

Male birth control pill soon a reality
Implants, patches and creams also on the way

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3543478/

By John Schieszer
MSNBC contributor
SEATTLE, Oct. 1 — - Forty-year-old Scott Hardin says he’s glad that men may soon have a new choice when it comes to birth control. But, he adds, he would not even consider taking a male hormonal contraceptive. Hardin is like many men who are pleased to hear they may have a new option but are wary of taking any type of hormones.

“I would rather rely on a solution that doesn’t involving medicating myself and the problems women have had with hormone therapy doesn’t make me anxious to want to sign on to taking a hormone-type therapy,” says Hardin, who is single and a college administrator.

For the first time, a safe, effective and reversible hormonal male contraceptive appears to be within reach. Several formulations are expected to become commercially available within the near future. Men may soon have the options of a daily pill to be taken orally, a patch or gel to be applied to the skin, an injection given every three months or an implant placed under the skin every 12 months, according to Seattle researchers.

“It largely depends on how funding continues. The technology is there. We know how it would work,” says Dr. Andrea Coviello, who is helping to test several male contraceptives at the Population Center for Research in Reproduction at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Coviello and her colleagues have found that a male contraceptive that releases testosterone over three months is potentially a safe and practical method of contraception. The Seattle researchers have been testing a sustained-released, testosterone micro-capsule, which consists of a thick liquid administered by injection under the skin.

“I never had any real noticeable side effects. I didn’t notice any mood changes. I may have put on a little weight,” says Larry Setlow, a 39-year-old computer programmer with a small software company in Seattle. He has taken part in three male hormonal contraceptive clinical trials at the University of Washington and has received both pills and injections.

“They all worked really well and I was able to look at my lab results and see my sperm count drop to zero,” says Setlow.

Finally, it is the man's turn
Women have had the option of a safe, effective and reversible form of contraception since the development of the female oral contraceptive pill in the 1960s.

Female contraceptives use hormones, estrogens and progestins, to shut off the release of eggs to prevent pregnancy. Male hormonal contraceptives work pretty much the same way: hormones, such as testosterone and progestins, are used to turn off sperm production.

“It seemed like I was getting headaches and then there were times when I woke up sweating at night and I had to change my shirt. Other than that, I didn’t have any side effects,” says 45-year-old Quentin Brown, who lives in Los Angeles and has been a volunteer in a study of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif.

Brown has been taking hormonal contraceptives for more than a year. He reports no problems with weight gain or acne, two side effects that occurred in earlier versions of MHCs tested in the 1990s.

Brown, who is married and has three children, hopes his kids will one day be able to benefit from the new technology. His would like his son, who is now 17, to one day have the option of taking a male birth control pill. Brown believes many men will see “their pill” as a good idea and will want to use it.

“It is time for men to have some control. I think it would empower men and deter some women out there from their nefarious plans,” says Brown. “Some women are out there to use men to get pregnant. This could deter women from doing this. An athlete or a singer is someone who could be a target and they could put a stop to that.”

Studies conducted by the World Health Organization show that men from many countries around the world would welcome MHCs. The WHO has tested MHCs in hundreds of volunteers in various countries around the world and have not found it difficult to recruit volunteers for their studies. Researchers say many men are very willing to become involved in the studies and are anxious to see a male birth control pill on the market.

A range of choices
Over the past 5 years, researchers around the world have had a great deal of success with male contraceptive pills, patches, implants and creams that deliver various amounts of hormones. It is now believed that an MHC in the form of a daily pill could be available on the market within 5 to 7 years and implants could arrive even sooner.

“An injectible or an implant (similar to Norplant for women) will be the first to be approved. The big studies are now under way,” says Dr. Christina Wang, who is heading up the clinical trials of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

She and her colleagues have found that a combination of progestin and androgen implants are safe, effective, inexpensive and entirely reversible.

The California researchers have tested several different products in hundreds of men and are also collaborating with investigators in China. A Chinese clinical trial is now under way at 10 different sites across China and includes 1,000 men. The Phase III trial involves a single injection given once every month. Wang hopes to start a similar trial in the United States within the next 2 years.

We are trying to find the best combination with the least amount of side effects and then the least amount of medication that may be required to get the maximum effects,” says Wang.

Wang adds that in some countries, a low-cost, reversible and long-acting form of an MHC could become commercially available within the next 3 years. However, she says it will probably be at least 5 years before one is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Interestingly, Wang says there is now greater interest in this technology than there ever was in the past and there is now more funding available worldwide than ever before.

But will men take it? Some say yes, some say only if their partners make them, and other say they would never even consider it.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

NightDog

April 13th, 2008, 04:09 AM

^^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/f/c/2/fc22c8070ebdc1859c763b693fb5cc43.png

Where P is Popoy and propotional to PoEt. :lol:

pag may nanganak pa sa formula na yan, milagro na naman. :D

ok tong formula na to a! talagang milagro na pag may nagka-anak pa dito:lol:

I think one of the solutions for our population problem is that filipino men & women should not be ashamed of talking about sex and contraceptives. We were thought (by school, especially church) that people have 3 basic needs: Food, Shelter & Clothing. But in reality there are fourth & fifth: Education & Sex.

sa mga tv commercials sa india sinisimulan na nilang ituro sa mga lalake nila in all walks of life na wag ikahiya ang salitang condom. problema din kasi nila ang population.

barrera_marquez

April 13th, 2008, 10:35 AM

You mean wala ka pang SeXperience? Sus maniwala kami... :lol:

Why not try the reversible-ligation for women? Ang mahirap lang dyan eh minsan lumuluwang kasi yung tali kaya bigla nalang nabubuntis parin si misis.

Anyway, meron ng bagong imbento na pills dito sa america, para sa mga lalake naman, according to them, 98% works. But you need to wait 3 months for it to be effective as soon as you take the pills. And after 3 months, you have to take it every day. Sounds good? Im sure it will be available soon in asia.

Male birth control pill soon a reality
Implants, patches and creams also on the way

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3543478/

By John Schieszer
MSNBC contributor
SEATTLE, Oct. 1 — - Forty-year-old Scott Hardin says he’s glad that men may soon have a new choice when it comes to birth control. But, he adds, he would not even consider taking a male hormonal contraceptive. Hardin is like many men who are pleased to hear they may have a new option but are wary of taking any type of hormones.

“I would rather rely on a solution that doesn’t involving medicating myself and the problems women have had with hormone therapy doesn’t make me anxious to want to sign on to taking a hormone-type therapy,” says Hardin, who is single and a college administrator.

For the first time, a safe, effective and reversible hormonal male contraceptive appears to be within reach. Several formulations are expected to become commercially available within the near future. Men may soon have the options of a daily pill to be taken orally, a patch or gel to be applied to the skin, an injection given every three months or an implant placed under the skin every 12 months, according to Seattle researchers.

“It largely depends on how funding continues. The technology is there. We know how it would work,” says Dr. Andrea Coviello, who is helping to test several male contraceptives at the Population Center for Research in Reproduction at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Coviello and her colleagues have found that a male contraceptive that releases testosterone over three months is potentially a safe and practical method of contraception. The Seattle researchers have been testing a sustained-released, testosterone micro-capsule, which consists of a thick liquid administered by injection under the skin.

“I never had any real noticeable side effects. I didn’t notice any mood changes. I may have put on a little weight,” says Larry Setlow, a 39-year-old computer programmer with a small software company in Seattle. He has taken part in three male hormonal contraceptive clinical trials at the University of Washington and has received both pills and injections.

“They all worked really well and I was able to look at my lab results and see my sperm count drop to zero,” says Setlow.

Finally, it is the man's turn
Women have had the option of a safe, effective and reversible form of contraception since the development of the female oral contraceptive pill in the 1960s.

Female contraceptives use hormones, estrogens and progestins, to shut off the release of eggs to prevent pregnancy. Male hormonal contraceptives work pretty much the same way: hormones, such as testosterone and progestins, are used to turn off sperm production.

“It seemed like I was getting headaches and then there were times when I woke up sweating at night and I had to change my shirt. Other than that, I didn’t have any side effects,” says 45-year-old Quentin Brown, who lives in Los Angeles and has been a volunteer in a study of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif.

Brown has been taking hormonal contraceptives for more than a year. He reports no problems with weight gain or acne, two side effects that occurred in earlier versions of MHCs tested in the 1990s.

Brown, who is married and has three children, hopes his kids will one day be able to benefit from the new technology. His would like his son, who is now 17, to one day have the option of taking a male birth control pill. Brown believes many men will see “their pill” as a good idea and will want to use it.

“It is time for men to have some control. I think it would empower men and deter some women out there from their nefarious plans,” says Brown. “Some women are out there to use men to get pregnant. This could deter women from doing this. An athlete or a singer is someone who could be a target and they could put a stop to that.”

Studies conducted by the World Health Organization show that men from many countries around the world would welcome MHCs. The WHO has tested MHCs in hundreds of volunteers in various countries around the world and have not found it difficult to recruit volunteers for their studies. Researchers say many men are very willing to become involved in the studies and are anxious to see a male birth control pill on the market.

A range of choices
Over the past 5 years, researchers around the world have had a great deal of success with male contraceptive pills, patches, implants and creams that deliver various amounts of hormones. It is now believed that an MHC in the form of a daily pill could be available on the market within 5 to 7 years and implants could arrive even sooner.

“An injectible or an implant (similar to Norplant for women) will be the first to be approved. The big studies are now under way,” says Dr. Christina Wang, who is heading up the clinical trials of MHCs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

She and her colleagues have found that a combination of progestin and androgen implants are safe, effective, inexpensive and entirely reversible.

The California researchers have tested several different products in hundreds of men and are also collaborating with investigators in China. A Chinese clinical trial is now under way at 10 different sites across China and includes 1,000 men. The Phase III trial involves a single injection given once every month. Wang hopes to start a similar trial in the United States within the next 2 years.

We are trying to find the best combination with the least amount of side effects and then the least amount of medication that may be required to get the maximum effects,” says Wang.

Wang adds that in some countries, a low-cost, reversible and long-acting form of an MHC could become commercially available within the next 3 years. However, she says it will probably be at least 5 years before one is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Interestingly, Wang says there is now greater interest in this technology than there ever was in the past and there is now more funding available worldwide than ever before.

But will men take it? Some say yes, some say only if their partners make them, and other say they would never even consider it.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive

TUNGAKS KA PALA EH! KAILAN PA BA AKO NAGSINUNGALING DITO?! AT SAKA I'M JUST A STUDENT.

Naku! Kokontrahin na naman iyan ng simbahan kaya wala rin... mabubuntis pa rin si misis at ngayon pati si mister, nanganganak na rin?!

barrera_marquez

April 13th, 2008, 10:36 AM

^^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/f/c/2/fc22c8070ebdc1859c763b693fb5cc43.png

Where P is Popoy and propotional to PoEt. :lol:

pag may nanganak pa sa formula na yan, milagro na naman. :D

Example nga ng isang solution, hindi ko kasi maintindihan... sorry...

:nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts:

NightDog

April 13th, 2008, 11:00 AM

^^:lol::lol::lol: yung sinasabi ata ni spearhead hinde ibig sabihin manganganak ang mga lalake. contraceptive lang yun para hinde effective ang sperm ng mga lalake na makabuntis ng babae.

:lol::lol::lol:yung sa tinatanong mong formula: ang popoy hinde nakakabuntis. pag PoEt ang gamit lalong hinde nakakabuntis. sorry kung masyadong offensive to para sa iba. pero totoo to. magaling tong formula ni Tsinoy a.:lol::lol:

spearhead

April 13th, 2008, 04:41 PM

TUNGAKS KA PALA EH! KAILAN PA BA AKO NAGSINUNGALING DITO?! AT SAKA I'M JUST A STUDENT.

Naku! Kokontrahin na naman iyan ng simbahan kaya wala rin... mabubuntis pa rin si misis at ngayon pati si mister, nanganganak na rin?!

oi di lahat ng estudyante virgin hehehe.... ikaw naman biro lang yun hehe... :lol:

yang si mister manganganak na ng tae... di ka ba nagbabasa, contraceptives para sa mga lalake yan! :bash::lol:

yun na nga tsk dapat talaga ihiwalay na ang simbahan nayan sa politika at wag nang makinig ang mga susnod nating presidente sa simbahang katoliko... better yet magkaroon ulit tayo ng ala marcos na presidente, better version nga lang.... ito kasing mga naging presidente nating babae, masyadong parelihiyiso epek puro kurapsyon din naman! pati yang cory aquino nayan, bwiset wala ngang kurapsyon, pero pinabayaan ang problema natin sa population! :cheers:

kurom

April 13th, 2008, 04:53 PM

para sa kin ang sulosyon ng population ay trabaho. bigyan ng trabaho ang mga mahihirap. liliit ang mga pinoy. ang mga mayayaman ang konti ng anak.

bitoy

April 13th, 2008, 05:41 PM

Example nga ng isang solution, hindi ko kasi maintindihan... sorry...

:nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts:

^^:lol::lol::lol: yung sinasabi ata ni spearhead hinde ibig sabihin manganganak ang mga lalake. contraceptive lang yun para hinde effective ang sperm ng mga lalake na makabuntis ng babae.

:lol::lol::lol:yung sa tinatanong mong formula: ang popoy hinde nakakabuntis. pag PoEt ang gamit lalong hinde nakakabuntis. sorry kung masyadong offensive to para sa iba. pero totoo to. magaling tong formula ni Tsinoy a.:lol::lol:

That's part of economics that was posted by habagatcentral1

The Malthusian growth model]

Malthusian Theory Explained (http://www.voxfux.com/features/malthusian_theory/malthusian_theory.htm#1.%20MalthTheory)

Mahirap gawin talaga ang population control, it is better for the government to do their best to accomodate and fill the needs of eveyone, from creating jobs, better public services and so on...

barrera_marquez

April 14th, 2008, 12:13 AM

Hindi ba namimigay ng condom dati sa Maynila? Bakit parang wala na?

spearhead

April 14th, 2008, 03:05 AM

Hindi ba namimigay ng condom dati sa Maynila? Bakit parang wala na?

ang nagpasimuno kasi nyan ay si imelda marcos noong araw, and since then naging programa yan ng mga sumunod na administration, pero napabayaan na kaya ganyan kinkapos na sa budget....

NightDog

April 14th, 2008, 05:03 AM

para sa kin ang sulosyon ng population ay trabaho. bigyan ng trabaho ang mga mahihirap. liliit ang mga pinoy. ang mga mayayaman ang konti ng anak.

tama, isa sa mga solusyon ang trabaho. as humans basic need pa rin natin ang sex. kaya kahit may trabaho na tayo hinde pa rin mahihiwalay sa sarili natin ang tinatawag na sex. pero, pag meron tayong trabaho at least naiisip natin, a hinde kasya ang sahod ko kung dadamihan ko ng anak kaya cguro dalawa lang ok na. kawawa naman mga anak ko baka ang iba hinde makapag-aral. so, paano naman ang pangangailangan natin sa sex kung dadalawa lang ang aanakin ko. at dito ngayon papasok ang tinatawag na contraceptives, withdrawals at kung ano ano pa. calendar method by the Church, I don't believe, sex is a basic human need. :)

barrera_marquez

April 14th, 2008, 08:26 AM

tama, isa sa mga solusyon ang trabaho. as humans basic need pa rin natin ang sex. kaya kahit may trabaho na tayo hinde pa rin mahihiwalay sa sarili natin ang tinatawag na sex. pero, pag meron tayong trabaho at least naiisip natin, a hinde kasya ang sahod ko kung dadamihan ko ng anak kaya cguro dalawa lang ok na. kawawa naman mga anak ko baka ang iba hinde makapag-aral. so, paano naman ang pangangailangan natin sa sex kung dadalawa lang ang aanakin ko. at dito ngayon papasok ang tinatawag na contraceptives, withdrawals at kung ano ano pa. calendar method by the Church, I don't believe, sex is a basic human need. :)

but not everyone has been given the right to have sex especially the brokenhearted ones and the forever singles.

kailangan na ng 2 child policy at saka ng 1 woman policy para walang makapandaya.

NightDog

April 14th, 2008, 09:53 AM

but not everyone has been given the right to have sex especially the brokenhearted ones and the forever singles.

kailangan na ng 2 child policy at saka ng 1 woman policy para walang makapandaya.

that's right. not everyone has the right to have sex. religious people, etc. pero aaminin mo man o hinde kasama na sa cycle ng katawan natin ang mangangailangan tayo ng sex. kahit brokenhearted pa tayo o forever singles, mararamdaman natin sa katawan natin yan kaya dapat nating ilabas(maraming pari may mga anak sa labas dahil hinde na nila matiis ang pangangailangan na to). ang sex hinde ibig sabihin kailangan may partner ka, masturbation is considered sex. kahit ginagawa ng mag-asawa ang tinatawag na sex araw araw o every 2 days o 2 times a week dahil sa pangangailangan nila, kung responsable naman sila, alam nila ang gagawin para hinde mabuntis si misis, ok lang yun.

:lol:tama, 2-child policy & 1-woman policy. kaso lalake lang kami, pag ang tukso ang lumapit hinde talaga matatanggihan. kaya dito na naman papasok ang contraceptives para hinde masyadong dadami ang population ng mga anak sa labas natin.:lol::lol:

garzland

April 14th, 2008, 05:52 PM

kurom

April 15th, 2008, 12:19 PM

it is only the catholic church naman ang kumukontra. i am not from this denomination. i am a member of UCCP. we, members, are respected kung ano man ang susundin the method - except abortion of course.

le Reine

April 16th, 2008, 11:55 PM

Official population count reveals...

88.57 million Filipinos in 2007

Final results of the latest Census of Population (POPCEN 2007) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) placed the Philippine population at 88,574,614 persons as of August 1, 2007. Said results down to barangay level were made official with the signing by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Proclamation No. 1489 on April 16, 2008.

The total population of the Philippines in 2000 (based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing) was 76.50 million while it was recorded at 68.62 million in 1995 (based on the 1995 Mid-Decade Census).

Census Year Census Reference Date Philippine Population (in millions)
2007 August 1, 2007 88.57
2000 May 1, 2000 76.50
1995 September 1, 1995 68.62

Lowest population growth rate recorded since the 1960s

The 2007 and 2000 census figures translated into an average annual population growth rate of 2.04 percent for the period 2000 to 2007. As shown below, it was the lowest annual population growth rate recorded for the Philippines since the 1960s

Reference Period Average Annual Population Growth Rate for the Philippines (in percent)
2000-2007 2.04
1990-2000 2.34
1980-1990 2.35
1970-1980 2.75
1960-1970 3.01

The projected average annual population growth rate for the period 2005 to 2010 was 1.95 percent. This projection was based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing.

Calabarzon, NCR, and Central Luzon comprise more than one-third of total population

By region, Calabarzon (Region IV-A) had the largest population with 11.74 million, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 11.55 million, and Central Luzon (Region III) with 9.72 million. The combined population of these three regions comprised more than one-third (37.3 percent) of the Philippine population.

Twelve regions have growth rates lower than the national figure

Twelve of the country's 17 administrative regions have growth rates lower than the national figure. The other five regions had higher growth rates, namely, NCR (2.11%), Region III (2.36%), Region IV-A (3.21%), Region XII (2.41%), and ARMM (5.46%).

Cavite's 2.86 million population tops other provinces

Among provinces, Cavite had the largest population with 2.86 million. Bulacan was second with 2.83 million, and Pangasinan came in third, with 2.65 million.

Five other provinces surpassed the two million mark: Laguna (2.47 million persons); Cebu, excluding its three highly urbanized cities - Cebu City, Lapu-lapu City, and Mandaue City (2.44 million persons); Negros Occidental, excluding Bacolod City (2.37 million persons); Rizal (2.28 million persons); and Batangas (2.25 million persons)

On the other hand, three provinces reportedly had less than 100 thousand population, namely, Batanes (16 thousand persons); Camiguin (81 thousand persons); and Siquijor (88 thousand persons).

Four highly urbanized cities (HUCs) record more than one million population

Of the 32 highly urbanized cities (HUCs), only four had qualified for the Millionaires� Club. Three of such HUCs were in the NCR: Quezon City (2.68 million), Manila (1.66 million), and Caloocan City (1.38 million). The other HUC which qualified for the Millionaires� Club was Davao City with a population of 1.36 million.

About 40,000 fieldworkers were deployed by the NSO during the nationwide census taking last year. The population counts proclaimed by the President as official for all purposes were based on census questionnaires from the different barangays all over the country. These questionnaires were processed in Regional Data Processing Centers adopting a new technology which involved digital imaging and intelligent character recognition. The Census was conducted pursuant to Batas Pambansa Blg. 72 and Commonwealth Act 591.

Final counts by barangay are available at the NSO website - . Regional volumes in print and electronic copies (CD-ROM) can be obtained at the Databank and Information Services Division of the NSO.

le Reine

April 16th, 2008, 11:59 PM

^^actually, nothing much has changed. In the last decade (1990-2000), 1.6M people are added to our total population annually (68.62M X 2.34%). At present, 1.56M was added (76.5M X 2.04%). :ohno:

Fundador

April 17th, 2008, 02:06 AM

Population surged to 88.5M in 2007; NEDA chief alarmed
04/17/2008 | 02:12 AM
MANILA, Philippines- The Philippines’ population rose at a faster rate than its Asian neighbors, increasing demand for food, especially rice, a staple consumed by Filipinos as well as half of the world’s people.

In a report, the government said that the number of Filipinos grew nearly 16 percent to 88.57 million as of August 2007 from 76.50 million in May 2000.

By 2009, with a projected population of 92.22 million, the Philippines will consume 9.75 million metric tons of rice, higher than the expected 9.56 million metric tons to be consumed by Filipinos this year.

In 2000, with a 76.5 million population, each Filipino consumed 103.16 kilograms of rice annually, bringing total consumption to 7.89 million metric tons.

The population surge mean “more mouths to feed," said Augusto Santos, Acting Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Santos, who heads the Philippines’ socioeconomic planning body, said the population growth from 2006 to 2007 is slightly faster than the annual increase for the past seven years. The figure is higher than the government’s target of 1.95 percent up to 2010, he added.

Despite the increasing number of Filipinos, Santos said the government is still not planning to alter its population policy, which is limited to promotion of natural family planning and responsible parenthood.

The reported population surge may also reduce the country’s grain inventories. Although agriculture officials have dispelled reports of a possible rice shortage, more Filipinos may also mean an increased dependence on countries, which produce the grain.

Primarily sourced from the United States, China, Vietnam and Thailand, world prices of rice have reached historic highs since current demand is not expected to meet supply anytime soon.

Demand for the grain has also risen ever since the Philippines, the world’s largest rice importer, have announced plans to import as much as 2.2 million metric tons this year, considered the largest ever in ten years.

Compared with its Southeast Asian peers, the Philippines’ population growth rate was much higher compared to Malaysia, which had a 2.1 increase from 2001 to 2006 and Vietnam with 1.4 percent hike during the same period. The population of Indonesia and Thailand posted a growth rate of 1.3 and 0.8 percent respectively.

The official population count was released by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo through Proclamation No. 1489. - P. de Leon with reports from R. Basilio www.gmanews.tv

barukdok

April 17th, 2008, 03:59 AM

the irony is it's the poor families that breed like rabbits. a woman in her late 20s told me she had 9 children, another had 11. and they're in the cities. the numbers should be worse in the rural areas.

imagine 40 years from now when the country has an ageing poor population in the millions.

Colonel Burger

April 17th, 2008, 04:52 AM

bakit walang statistics for Rizal province dun sa CALABARZON report :(

crappypants

April 17th, 2008, 06:04 AM

parang walang nagiisep sa pamahalaan.

habagatcentral1

April 17th, 2008, 08:57 AM

By the way, NSO said earlier that we have the lowest population growth since the 1960's.

dinabaw

April 17th, 2008, 09:36 AM

its really time to seperate the state and the church , a bright future for the children is still not acceptable to them :ohno:

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Councilors can still go to church: Sara
By Ben O. Tesiorna

DAVAO City Vice Mayor Sara Duterte downplayed Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla's warning that supporters of the controversial Local Development Plan for Children (LDPC) would not receive sacraments from the church, like Holy Communion.

In a text message, the young Duterte said despite the threat made by the bishop, the councilors, who approved the passage of LDPC in second reading, can still go inside the church and attend mass but not take communion.

Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo

LDPC was approved on second reading amid protest by the Catholic Church.

Eighteen councilors voted for LDPC's passage, four opposed it, while two abstained.

Among those who voted "no" were Councilors Teresita Mata-Marañon, Susan Isabel Reta, Peter Laviña, and Pilar Braga, while those who abstained were Councilors Dante Apostol and Conrado Baluran.

The 18 who voted "yes" were Councilors Nilo Abellera, Ma. Belen Sunga-Acosta, Victorio Advincula, Wilberto Al-ag, Leonardo Avila III, Samuel Bangoy, Karlo S. Bello, Louie John Bonguyan, Danilo Dayanghirang, Paolo Duterte, Edgar Ibuyan, Diosdado Angelo Mahipus, Tomas Monteverde IV, Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, Halila Sudagar, Angela Librado-Trinidad, Jose Louie Villafuerte and Rachel Zozobrado.

Sun.Star learned that at least 10 of the 18 councilors are Roman Catholics.

The young Duterte said she is elated by the approval because she believes the plan will truly help the children.

Aside from the much-opposed reproductive health provisions, the LDPC includes programs aimed at enhancing the development of children in terms of education and recreation.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, in an interview Monday afternoon, pushed for the passage of LDPC. The mayor added that LPDC is a "program for all, not just Catholics."

Early Tuesday morning, religious groups staged a silent protest outside the City Council building but dispersed before the morning session was over.

barrera_marquez

April 17th, 2008, 11:13 AM

patawarin niyo po ang simbahan diyos ko hindi nila alam ang ginagawa nila...

technoblaze

April 17th, 2008, 11:39 AM

QUEZON CITY,NCR = 2,679,450

CEBU Province = 2,439,005

:shocked:

barrera_marquez

April 17th, 2008, 01:33 PM

QUEZON CITY,NCR = 2,679,450

CEBU Province = 2,439,005

:shocked:

ano ba iyan, populasyon ng isang probinsya pinagsisiksikan sa isang lungsod?

3cr

April 17th, 2008, 10:29 PM

Population control sought to reduce food supply pressures
04/18/2008
GMA News
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/90042/Population-control-sought-to-reduce-food-supply-pressures

MANILA, Philippines - Two experts on food security on Thursday said a new policy on controlling the population boom and an effective job creation strategy are needed to ease pressures on food supply, especially rice.

They said there are now too many people who cannot afford to buy rice, and the recent report that the Philippine population swelled to more than 88 million meant that the government should update its population policy.

Dr. Isabelita Pabuyaon, associate director of the department of agricultural economics in UP Los Baños, said population growth has outpaced food production.

"We really cannot produce enough rice to support the rapidly growing population of the country," Pabuyaon told GMA News.

“Once and for all we need an effective population policy [to ease the pressures on food supply]," she added.

The government said Wednesday that the Philippines’ population rose at a faster rate than its Asian neighbors, increasing demand for food, especially rice, a staple consumed by Filipinos as well as half of the world’s people.

In a report, the government said that the number of Filipinos grew nearly 16 percent to 88.57 million as of August 2007 from 76.50 million in May 2000.

By 2009, with a projected population of 92.22 million, the Philippines will consume 9.75 million metric tons of rice, higher than the expected 9.56 million metric tons to be consumed by Filipinos this year.

The head of the College of Economics and Management of UPLB (CEM-UPLB) said aside from reducing population growth, the government must tackle creating more jobs.

"We feel that attention should also be given to job generation," Director Liborio Cabanilla, dean CEM-UPLB, said.

In 2000, with a 76.5 million population, each Filipino consumed 103.16 kilograms of rice annually, bringing total consumption to 7.89 million metric tons.

The population surge mean “more mouths to feed," said Augusto Santos, Acting Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), last Wednesday.

Santos, who heads the Philippines’ socioeconomic planning body, said the population growth from 2006 to 2007 is slightly faster than the annual increase for the past seven years. The figure is higher than the government’s target of 1.95 percent up to 2010, he added.

Despite the increasing number of Filipinos, Santos said the government is still not planning to alter its population policy, which is limited to promotion of natural family planning and responsible parenthood.

The reported population surge may also reduce the country’s grain inventories. Although agriculture officials have dispelled reports of a possible rice shortage, more Filipinos may also mean an increased dependence on countries, which produce the grain.

Primarily sourced from the United States, China, Vietnam and Thailand, world prices of rice have reached historic highs since current demand is not expected to meet supply anytime soon.

Demand for the grain has also risen ever since the Philippines, the world’s largest rice importer, have announced plans to import as much as 2.2 million metric tons this year, considered the largest ever in ten years.

Compared with its Southeast Asian peers, the Philippines’ population growth rate was much higher compared to Malaysia, which had a 2.1 increase from 2001 to 2006 and Vietnam with 1.4 percent hike during the same period. The population of Indonesia and Thailand posted a growth rate of 1.3 and 0.8 percent respectively.

But the 2.04 percent population growth is a slowdown from the 2.34 percent average in 1990-2000. It was also lower than the 88.71 million projection earlier made by the government.

"This population growth rate was the lowest annual population growth rate recorded for the Philippines since the 1960s," the NSO said in its report.

And it is expected to ease further in the coming years with average annual population growth for the period 2005-2010 projected at 1.95 percent, based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing.

The official population count was released by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo through Proclamation No. 1489.

3cr

April 17th, 2008, 11:04 PM

Rice and political expediency
EYES SEE By MIRIAM CORONEL FERRER
ABS-CBN News
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=115378

Now political expediency has come full circle. For the survival of this and all succeeding administrations, they don’t need more summits and emergency powers. They need to act on two core social reform areas, agrarian reform and population control, now.

Addressing the rice crisis, no doubt, is a politically expedient matter. After the series of impeachment threats, aborted coups, corruption scandals, and international pressure against the extra-judicial killings, the last thing this administration needs is to be confronted with queues of hungry people turning into angry hordes.

Simply "managing" the crisis would not be enough. More efficient distribution of NFA rice, appealing to the public for calm, and streamlining public issuances are mere band-aid measures. Penalizing pilferers, hoarders and smugglers should belong to the regular order of things, but we see this long arm of the law being flexed only now.

This catastrophe did not descend on us in a sudden twist of fate. Its global dimensions include the increasingly fragile environment and the misguided quest for alternative sources of energy. Now we realize that turning corn into ethanol has been taking food away from the table. That clearing forests and agricultural lands to plant jetropa and the like have negative environmental and socio-economic consequences. Never mind the politicians and bureaucrats who are losing face for being the voice of this ill-advised advocacy. To them we advise: talk less and study more.

Domestically, the high price of rice is a disaster brought about by long-articulated problems and long- acknowledged solutions that have been waylaid under every administration, this one obviously no exception, by the political expediencies of the moment.

Now political expediency has come full circle. For the survival of this and all succeeding administrations, they don’t need more summits and emergency powers. They need to act on two core social reform areas, agrarian reform and population control, now.

Agrarian reform

We have lost more and more irrigated farm lands to unwarranted land conversions by influential landowners skirting the coverage of their lands from land distribution. How did they get away with this? Interestingly, most of the people appointed to the Eminent Persons Group that will advise the President on the crisis were former Agrarian Reform secretaries. To be honest to themselves and the nation, they should address this question first.

In countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan, the cutting up of estates into small family farms decades ago provided the impetus for economic growth. The same can be said with China’s and Vietnam’s more recent experience, when they undertook the shift to "market socialism," disbanded several large agricultural collectives and redistributed lands to farming households in the 1980s. Peasants were spurred to higher productivity. With increased income, they became avid consumers of manufactured goods which, in turn, boosted the manufacturing sector and created over-all growth. Their peasants became their new middle class. Meanwhile, we started to import rice from Vietnam.

High productivity was achieved by giving farmers land security and infrastructure and credit support. Why this comprehensive approach was accomplished in other countries and not in ours requires serious understanding. We have all the technical know-how. The International Rice Research Institute is right here in our soil and how many of our universities offer courses in agriculture? We need to know why our farmers never managed to overcome their poverty and why, among those who were awarded land patents, many ended up selling their lands and indebted to old and new patrons. We can’t just blame the farmers, tough luck, and nature. There’s a serious governance and political problem in all these.

Population control

The problem of runaway population growth was succinctly captured in this week’s BBC report on the rice crisis. A 40-ish woman in a rice queue was asked why she was lining up. Her response: "I have 12 children."

How many kilos of rice each day would this mother need to adequately feed her 12 growing children? Even at the initial NFA price of P18.50, she would need at least twice the government-pegged minimum necessary daily income for a family of six. Recently that survival-income level for a family in Metro Manila has been computed at P858 -- an amount hard to get even for daily wage-earning couples.

Population control has no shortage of critics from the left and the right. The latter argues on the basis of Catholic beliefs that conceive of artificial birth control methods as sin. The influential Catholic Church in the Philippines has been the gatekeeper to this orthodoxy. And because of political expediency, insecure presidents like GMA and devout Catholics like Cory have considered it expedient to have no government population control program.

Meanwhile, there are those from the left who dismiss the problem of high population growth by pointing to maldistribution rather than the lack of resources as the cause of poverty. This "left" critique hinged on social and global inequities remains valid. But we are now better informed by the environmental discourse on how humans are eating up the forest. Meanwhile, the feminist preference for the language of "reproductive rights" has taken the issue on another theoretical and empirical plane focused on responsible parenthood and women’s right to a better quality of life.

The social and economic impact of some 1.8 million more Filipinos every year are mind-boggling. In 40 years, we will have twice the current population. To nourish, clothe, and educate every young Filipino would require exponential growths in agricultural productivity, schools, jobs and government revenues. Even under a more legitimate government, these will not happen without the core social fundamentals in place.

3cr

April 18th, 2008, 07:46 AM

RP population hits 88.57M; anti-contraceptive policy blamed
Malaya
http://www.malaya.com.ph/apr18/news2.htm

THE population of the Philippines reached 88.57 million at a census in August last year, up from 76.5 million in 2000, and NEDA chief Augusto Santos says population growth policies need to be reviewed.

However, the government is unlikely to switch to promoting artificial birth control, experts said.

The Philippines has one of the highest population growth rates in the region, with at least three babies born every minute. The growth dilutes economic gains and the country does not produce enough rice locally to feed its people.

"The population is increasing and it means that government has to more vigorously implement its population policy, which is responsible parenthood and the advocacy for natural family planning," Santos said.

"I think the population commission will have to review its policies," he added. "We really need greater efforts. It means we have to work harder to make the economy function more properly and more smoothly."

At least one-third of the people are poor and the number of poor is growing faster than the population.

Last month, government data showed that 28 million people, about a third of the population, were subsisting on less than P40 per day in 2006, up 16 percent from 2003.

But Santos said artificial birth control remained a sensitive issue.

In a nod to the Catholic Church, the government emphasizes natural family planning over artificial methods, and experts said there was not likely to be any change in this in the immediate future.

President Arroyo, who came to power in 2001 with the backing of the church, has consistently emphasized natural family planning. Government booklets on responsible parenting make no mention of condoms, pills or intra-uterine devices.

"She has made it very clear she will not purchase contraceptives, she will not promote any other method except what the church approves and she has very strong links with the most conservative elements of the church," said Dr. Alberto Romualdez, a former health secretary.

Still, the National Statistics Office said the annual population growth rate was 2.04 percent between 2000 and 2007.

Although that fell short of the aim of bringing the growth rate below 2 percent, it was a drop from the average annual growth of 2.34 percent between 1990 and 2000, officials said.

Romualdez said it was not good enough.

"For me, 2.04 percent is well within the normal variation of population growth rates with or without intervention by government. For me, 2.04 means that the government has not done anything."

Other experts, however, said it was a beginning.

"I think it is a significant drop," said Benjamin de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc.

"But I still have to see in this administration a policy that informs people of the need to space their children, the need to plan their families."

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the average population growth rate in Asia is 1.1 percent.

Solita Monsod, UP professor of economics, said the problem did not lie with the church.

She said most Filipinos want to regulate their families, and providing access to information and funding for civil service groups involved in family planning was key.

"Survey after survey has shown that when it comes to family planning, the church does not make a difference," Monsod said.

"The people don’t have access. Give them what they want and then the population problem will take care of itself."

dinabaw

April 18th, 2008, 02:24 PM

Contraceptive shift and discontinuation »

Apr 18, 2008 | By glenrose | 0 Comments

by Rose B Palacio

Davao City (18 April) — The success of family planning lies on the efficiency of the method used, correct usage, consistency and regularity of use.

Unintended pregnancies among current users are often a result of misunderstanding of the proper way to use the method, switching to a less efficient method or discontinuation of altogether.

The results of the Family Planning Survey (2006) showed that in Davao region, among the 174 thousand currently married women in their reproductive ages who used some supply method in 1995, some 85.9 percent are still using the same method in family planning.

Some 2.0 percent shifted to another method, while 2.5 percent are now currently using a non-supply method. Almost 10 percent of the currently married women who were supply users in 2005 are now currently using any method.

Meanwhile, Davao region posted a Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) of 57.2 percent in 2006, up by 3.4 percentage points as compared to 53.8 percent in 2005. The increase is due to the increase in the use of traditional methods, according to a 2006 FPOP survey results.

Across Mindanao regions, Davao regions posted the highest CPR, while ARMM has the lowest at 20 percent.

Pills still remain the most popular method of family planning in Davao region with 18.5 percent of currently married women taking this daily routine.

Another 11 percent chose to use the traditional method of calendar or rhythm. For the 9.1 percent of the currently women, they opted to have ligation to permanently prevent them from ever becoming pregnant.

Another contraceptive device in family planning is the intrauterine device which is being used by 8.3 percent of the currently married women.

In as far as birth spacing is concerned, FPOP survey (2006) results showed that women in Davao region wait for about 35 months before giving birth to her next child.

Among Mindanao regions, Davao region and Zamboanga Peninsula exhibited higher birth intervals compared to the rest of the Mindanao regions. (PIA)

http://mindanao.p7107.com/davao/

3cr

April 18th, 2008, 11:26 PM

Enter priesthood to curb population growth, says bishop
By Evelyn Macairan
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=2008041896

Enter the priesthood and practice celibacy to curb population growth.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz yesterday said that one way to curb the growing population in the country is by encouraging more Filipinos to join the religious community.

Cruz said the Catholic Church should not be blamed for the population boom in the country since it is not even contributing to the problem.

Priests and nuns, who take the vow of celibacy or abstaining from sexual intercourse, do not contribute to the problem, he said.

Yesterday, former President Joseph Estrada reportedly said that there is a need to address the country’s population problem and that the Catholic Church should be broadminded and accept contraceptives as a means to prevent overpopulation.

He, however, clarified that he is against abortion.

“We cannot say that the Catholic Church, which has existed for more than 2,000 years, does not understand the problem,” Cruz said.

He pointed to corruption in the government as the cause of the population woes.

“The population is not the culprit. It is always the people in government,” Cruz said.

He also pointed out that corruption is present from the lowest up to the highest government unit.

Even the funds for the purchase of contraceptives, which some groups say is the answer to the problem, are not spared of corruption by dishonest people in government, he said.

Cruz explained that having too many people could even be perceived as the country’s “wealth” if they are employed, living adequately, and basic services are made available to them by the government.

Many Filipinos now work overseas and have been regarded as modern-day heroes for keeping the country’s economy afloat witht heir remittances.

The population boom would not be considered a liability if there is a balance between demand and supply, according to Cruz.

He cited countries with big populations but are doing well economically such as China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, Filipinos experience problems in rice, irrigation and availability of fertilizers because of corruption and not population, he said.

As of August last year, the number of Filipinos was pegged at 88.57 million, compared to 76.5 million in year 2000.

Cruz, who also spends time farming, said he understands that it is easier to blame the country’s problems on the size of the population.

But he stressed that the Catholic Church has always preached responsible parenthood.

As for the government, it is also tasked to educate the people so they would have the opportunity to improve their lives, he said.

Many of those belonging to the upper class of society are said to be more responsible in raising their children.

Cruz, who heads the CBCP-National Appellate for Matrimonial Tribunal, said he personally believes that “a jobless person should not get married.”

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, a pro-life advocate and long-time leader of the Pro-Life Movement of the Philippines, said that a solution to the present food crisis is a strong agricultural production program, which the government is pursuing, and not birth control.

Atienza said that population control is a mere “alibi for failure” and definitely a disastrous direction that will lead to the wrong solution.

“From where I am sitting now, I could see an abundance of natural wealth that could sustain a healthy population growth rate. We just have to maximize and fully develop our potentials and ensure equitable distribution of its benefits,” Atienza said.

barrera_marquez

April 19th, 2008, 12:17 AM

3cr

April 19th, 2008, 03:12 AM

^^ That's kind of a presumptuous comment coming from Bishop Cruz I would think. Unfortunately let's not forget that priests in the country and the world have their own morality problems that need to be addressed.

Pope meets with victims of clergy sex abuse
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080417/ap_on_re_us/pope_abuse

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI, after urging bishops, priests and parishioners to heal the wounds caused by the clergy sex abuse scandal, talked and prayed privately with survivors Thursday in what was believed to be a first-ever meeting between a pontiff and abuse victims.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman, said that Benedict and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley met with a group of five or six victims for about 25 minutes in the chapel of the papal embassy, offering them encouragement and hope.

Lombardi said the pope told the survivors he would pray for them, their families and all victims of clergy sex abuse. Each of the victims spent a few minutes with Benedict privately. Some were in tears during the meeting, Lombardi said.

Benedict has spoken repeatedly about the abuse crisis during his first trip to the United States as pope.

He called the crisis a cause of "deep shame," pledged to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood and decried the "enormous pain" that communities have suffered from such "gravely immoral behavior" by priest.

He told the nation's bishops that the crisis was "sometimes very badly handled," and said they must reach out with love and compassion to victims. At an open air Mass on Thursday at Nationals Park, he also urged Catholic parishioners to do what they can to reach out to victims.

Thousands of priests have been accused of molesting minors in the U.S. since 1950 and the church has paid out more than $2 billion, much of it in just the last six years, when the case of a serial molester in Boston gained national attention and prompted many victims to step forward.

Then-Boston Archbishop Bernard Law was forced to step down when it became apparent that he had allowed accused priests to be shuffled from parish-to-parish.

Gary Bergeron, an outspoken survivor of clergy sex abuse from Boston who was not in Thursday's session, failed in his attempt to meet with Pope John Paul II, Benedict's predecessor, when he spent a week at the Vatican a few years ago.

He called Thursday's meeting "a long-sought-for step in the right direction."

"The Catholic Church is partly based on symbolism, and I think the symbolism had he not met with survivors would have been horrendous," the 45-year-old Bergeron said.

In the meeting, O'Malley presented Benedict with a notebook listing the names victims of sexual abuse from the Boston Archdiocese. There were more than 1,000 names.

crappypants

April 19th, 2008, 03:59 AM

or he can advise everyone to turn gay.
hmm.. kase naman yang mga tv shows kabata bata panay mga loveteam loveteam .
walang kakwenta kwenta mga palabas.
Also men here will hate me but they should have mandatory child support .
para hindi sampu sampu mga panganay.
parang lahat pabaya, pabaya sa basura ,pabaya sa traffic, pabaya sa pollution, pabaya sa corruption. wala namang pahayag na nilalabas ang adminitrasyon nato na panibago, meron ba?
we're not rabbits we're humans.

judoman

April 19th, 2008, 04:25 AM

right! these tv stations are only after the high ratings. mga artista kunwari pa makabayan pero mga nag-migrate na rin sa ibang bansa at nang-uuto nalang ng kapwa nila dito. marami na mangmang dahil sa mga palabas sa tv na yan. wala man lang info na makabuluhan. mga artista anakan din nang anakan tapos maghihiwalay. ginagaya naman ng mga tao at tinatanggap na nila na normal yun sa panahon ngayon. sana gawan ng hakbang ng pamahalaan ang paglilinaw ng kaisipan ng mga tao. kaso mas naniniwala pa karamihan ng tao kanila lar santiago at boy abunda.

nood nalang sila ng wowowee at eat bulaga para yumaman sila. sux

jmok

April 19th, 2008, 10:24 AM

3cr

April 19th, 2008, 11:03 PM

Gov't to press info drive on population control
By Marvin Sy
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24

Amid a growing food problem, Malacañang yesterday admitted that there is a need to raise public awareness of population control.

The admission came on the heels of former health secretary Alberto Romualdez’s warning that if the rapid population boom is not properly addressed, the country’s population will hit the 100-million mark within the next five years.

The burgeoning population is seen as a main contributor to the country’s food problems and the government is hard pressed to account for its family planning program.

Based on the latest figures, the Philippine population now stands at 88.57 million from 76.5 million in 2000.

In an interview over state-run dzRB, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye noted that in areas where the government was able to promote its responsible parenthood program, the “natural methods” were successfully adopted.

Questions have been raised about the government’s capability to arrest the rapid population growth, which has caused a significant impact on the supply of rice.

With the Catholic Church opposing the use of contraceptives, the government has been forced to promote natural family planning methods to control population.

But now that the population figures have indicated that the growth rate continues to rise, various sectors are prodding the government to rethink its program.

Bunye said the national government is no longer involved in implementing the birth control program since this has been devolved to local government units (LGUs).

Health programs for each LGU are now under the jurisdiction of the local chief executives.

Poor have more

Romualdez, who served as health secretary during the Estrada administration, estimated that the country is growing at a rate of two million persons per year and that the population would be around 100 million in five years.

“The worst part of it all is that the people who are growing at a faster rate are Filipinos who could not afford. And the rich who have the money, are actually not growing at all, with a growth rate of zero percent,” he said.

Romualdez said the rise in population is part of global warming, and with more mouths to feed, food becomes scarcer, adding more to the country’s food crisis.

He said the increase in food costs makes it even harder for poor Filipinos to buy sufficient needs for their large families. This in turn results in unhealthy and uneducated children, declining the quality of our population.

In a recent survey conducted in Manila, results showed that Filipinos at the lowest sector of society said they would like to have only two or three children, but long after, they still managed to have six or seven.

“That is why it is very important for a very strong family planning program or reproductive program to be implemented in the country. There should be programs would that take care of all the reproductive stages of mothers, as well as programs that would support the children from birth to adult stage,” Romualdez said.

He, however, admitted that the government does not have those kinds of programs.

“The government is just providing information on family planning to the public. The effectiveness of the government’s information dissemination remains unknown,” he said.

Atienza: Stop blaming babies

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza had a thing or two to say against population control advocates as he warned the people “not to be stampeded into perdition.”

“Here we go again, blaming every unborn child for our economic problems,” said Atienza, a staunch pro-lifer and long-time leader of the Pro-Life Movement of the Philippines.

He pointed out that the solution to the present “food crisis” is a strong agricultural production program, which the present government is pursuing and not birth control.

Atienza stressed that the Constitution is pro-life and birth control is a clear violation of the law.

3cr

April 19th, 2008, 11:37 PM

High pop'n growth means high social costs
ABS-CBN
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=115447

In 35 years, experts said the Philippines' population will double if it continues to grow at 2.04 percent yearly.

An expert of the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) said if this happens, more Filipinos will join the ranks of the poor, uneducated, and malnourished.

"More children will have to be educated. The social costs will be much greater," UPPI Director Dr. Grace Cruz told reporters.

Cruz added: "With 88 million people, there is already lack of social services. What more if we double our population?"

The UPPI blamed the country's growth rate on the government's limited population policy, which focuses on natural family planning methods.

Health groups have been pushing the government to supply poor communities with contraceptives, including birth pills and condoms, but the powerful Catholic church has been able to stifle these efforts.

The CBCP hierarchy recently met with government officials, including senators and congressmen, and discussed the government's population policy.

The bishops have urged legislators to pass a law that will stop the promotion of contraceptive use.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, has said that despite the growing population, which is being blamed for the country's poverty problem, the Church will continue to be "pro-life and pro-family."

Where's the P180M for contraceptives?

The UPPI said Congress approved in 2007 the release of P180-million for the government's reproductive health programs.

The fund, however, has not been released. The UPPI said the fund was supposed to be alloted for the government's health units and local government units for the distribution of contraceptives to the poor.

"It's already April 2008. That amount remains untouched," said Mon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc.

Pascual believes the Church is pressuring the government not to distribute the fund.

The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said the fund was expected to be released this year as it has been included in the 2008 Special Allotment Release Order (SARO).

Dr. Lourdes Paulino of the DOH Women's Health Division, however, said the money will be used primarily in the department's campaign against maternal and newborn mortality rate.

RP population up at 88.57 million

Based on the 2007 Census of Population conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the Philippine population has reached 88.57 million.

In Proclamation 1489, or the Declaration as Official the 2007 Population Count of the Philippines by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay as Obtained from the 2007 Census of Population Conducted by the NSO, the President said there were 88,574,614 Filipinos as of August 1, 2007.

Acting Director-General Augusto Santos of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that while the actual number of Filipinos was less than the NSO projection of 90.4 million, the growth rate was slightly higher at 2.04 percent from the annual target of 1.95 percent from 2005 to 2010.

The population in the last 2000 Census of Population was 76.50 million with a growth rate of 2.36 percent a year.
Despite the poor gains in population management, Santos said the government remains confident its population policies are correct, and that government has no plan to change them.

3cr

April 19th, 2008, 11:41 PM

‘Gov’t fear of Church cause of baby boom’
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080420-131493/Govt-fear-of-Church-cause-of-baby-boom

MANILA, Philippines—Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez on Saturday chided the government for cheering the low population growth rate, saying the rate nevertheless would still translate to 100 million Filipinos in five years.

Romualdez said he believed the population would continue to expand rapidly unless the government stood up to the Catholic Church and implemented a vigorous family planning program.

“As far as a sensible, rational family planning program is concerned, I’ve given up on this government. It can’t afford to antagonize even the most minor element in the Church. It’s so insecure,’’ he said.

“The growth rate of 2.04 percent is not good news. That means that we’re adding two million persons a year to the population,’’ Romualdez said at a forum at Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. “That means we will have more mouths to feed, and food is costing more.’’

The National Statistics Office put the population last year at 88.57 million with a record-low population growth rate of 2.04 percent.

Romualdez, who headed the health department during the short-lived Estrada administration, said the ideal growth rate should be one percent or 1.5 percent a year.

“If we are able to achieve that, then government can honestly claim that it has done something to address the problem for the good of our country,’’ he said.

He said he believed that the 2.04-percent growth rate was “natural,’’ and not a result of the government’s family planning program.

Romualdez, now vice president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, said the “worst part’’ of the population growth was that poor women were bearing more children than the rich.

“If you look at the figures of the fertility rate, the women in the top 20 percent are bearing two children in their reproductive lifetime. That means they are at zero-growth rate,’’ he said.

In contrast, women in the bottom 20 percent, were bearing and rearing six to seven children, he said.

“These are the people who can’t pay for the increasing costs. Increase in food costs results in hunger, less healthy children, uneducated children,’’ he added.

Fundador

April 20th, 2008, 02:18 AM

Paglobo sa populasyon isa sa dahilan ng krisis sa bigas’
ISINISI ng grupo ng ilang mga negosyante sa pamahalaan ang kawalan ng mabisang programa na magpapatupad sa pagpigil ng paglobo ng populasyon ng bansa na isa sa pangunahing dahilan sa nararanasan ngayong krisis sa bigas.

Ayon sa kilalang stock analyst na si Astro Del Castillo, panahon na upang magpatupad ang pamahalaan ng mabisang programa na tutugon sa problema ng pagdami ng populasyon na ngayon ay tinataya ng nasa 85 milyon.

Ito aniya ang isa sa mabigat na dahilan kung bakit mas maraming pamilya, hindi lamang sa mga malalayong lalawigan, kundi maging sa kalungsuran ang nagugutom o minsan lamang sa loob ng isang araw kumakain.

Kung nakapaglatag aniya ang pamahalaan ng mabisang programa na kokontrol sa pagdami ng populasyon, hindi lolobo ng husto ang mga pamilyang nagugutom.

Mahirap din aniyang ikumpara ang pagdami ng populasyon sa ibang mga mayayamang bansa dahil kahit lumobo ng doble o triple pa ang dami ng kanilang populasyon, kaya naman ng kanilang pamahalaan na tugunan ang gutom dahil mayaman ang kanilang ekonomiya.

Naniniwala ang grupo ng mga negosyante na hindi pa huli upang ipatupad ng pamahalaan ang mabisang programa na kokontrol sa populasyon lalu na’y unti-unti namang gumaganda ang ekonomiya ng bansa.—Edd Reyes
www.journal.com.ph

3cr

April 20th, 2008, 06:56 AM

Growing population not behind country’s food crisis, says prelate
04/20/2008
Daily Tribune
http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/20080420nat1.html

Former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Oscar Cruz yesterday lashed at health experts and some lawmakers for blaming the rising population growth, now pegged at 88.57 million, for the country’s woes.

The figure alarmed government agencies, particularly the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), saying there might be a need to review the government’s population policy.

Neda chief Augusto Santos said the issue must be addressed in view of the rice crisis and rising prices of basic commodities.

The University of the Philippines Population Institute blamed the country’s population growth rate on the government’s limited population policy, which only focuses on natural family planning methods.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman earlier said the rice supply crisis stemmed from the nation’s “overpopulated” status.

He said the country’s inordinately huge population growth rate threatens food security and aggravates the looming rice shortage.

Pro-choice groups and lawmakers have been urging the government to supply communities with contraceptives, but the Church was able to block these efforts.

They also blamed the government’s alleged subservience to the Church on the issue of population control.

But Cruz cautioned that the food crisis should not be a reason for the government to enact laws that will curb the spiraling population.

The problem, the former CBCP president, is related to what he called “crisis of management” on the part of the government.

“Until now it’s so impossible that the population is behind of the country’s food crisis. The real culprit is the continuing and rampant corruption in government,” Cruz said.

He added instead of blaming the population, government officials should focus on their jobs of managing its people well.

“It’s won’t be right to say that just because we have nothing to eat, we should just kill those who eat. If you have nothing to eat, product more food. Just because there is no rice, you will kill those who eat them. That is wrong,” Cruz said.

But the prelate clarified that the Church never said it is against population control, only that they are against artificial family planning methods.

The Church favors natural family planning and is educating the people on the right framework of procreation.

“The Church is not telling people not to have children. What the Church says is couples should just have children whom they could feed and support,” Cruz said.

Meanwhile, Alfeo Selpa, National Food Authority (NFA)-8 regional operations officer bared there are already 18 operational Catholic Church-based NFA rice outlets in the different parts of the region.

The “Bigasan sa Parokya” program launched by NFA in May 2006, involves parishes serving as cooperators and NFA-accredited and dedicated rice retailers with stores located inside church compounds.

At least nine Bigasan sa Parokya outlets in various parishes in the province of Leyte have been accredited by the NFA.

In the province of Southern Leyte , about four Bigasan sa Parokya outlets are already operational while in Samar province, five outlets are already serving the poor constituents and parishioners.

The nine Church-based rice outlets make 488 the total number of NFA accredited Tindahan Natin, Bigasan ni Gloria sa Palengke and Barangay Bagsakan in the province.

Meanwhile, Speaker Prospero Nograles said the government should reenergize the country’s rural banks by tapping them as its conduits to farmers in the distribution of agricultural funds to modernize farming and boost food production.

Nograles said it is the rural banks and not the “big banks” which have direct access to farmers in providing low-interest loans and should be therefore provided with adequate capital to nourish their growth.

“Most of our farmers, especially those who lack proper education normally hesitate to go to the big banks. So, its the job of the rural banks to reach out to them. This is better than them going to loan sharks and 5-6 usurers,” he said.

Nograles added he will endorse and co-author House Bill 3827, primarily authored by Representatives Justin SB. Chipeco, An-Waray party-list Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel and Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, in an effort to stop the slow demise of most of the country’s rural banks.

The bill, which calls for a two-year suspension of the required “capital adequacy ratio” prescribed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on all rural banks in the country will be also co-authored by Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara and Rep. Joel Villanueva of CIBAC party-list.

He said apart from a two-year moratorium on BSP-mandated capital adequacy ratio, one possible move to put the rural banks in the forefront of the government’s food security program is for congressmen and senators to apportion some of their entitlements as capital for the rural banks.

But the Speaker admitted this proposal should be properly polished and that fool-proof safety nets should be put in place to prevent abuse by rural bank owners.

“They should not be allowed to make a loan for themselves because that would be considered a behest loan. Since government funds will be infused to these rural banks, a tight audit should be conducted on a regular basis,” he added.

Nograles said it is ironic that when rural banks are in trouble, the BSP would not even think twice of shutting down their operations but when the “big banks” are in trouble, the BSP, in most cases, infuse money for their rehabilitation.

“The rural banks know their customers better. We should encourage their growth so that they can continue providing low-interest loans to our farmers,” he said.

Nograles pointed out due to the slowdown in agricultural productivity, which is now being experienced worldwide, banking incomes have fallen due to the inability of borrowers to service their loans.

For their part, Chipeco, Noel and Hataman said their bill was necessitated by the present economic conditions in the countryside which leave farmers vulnerable to economic opportunists and predatory criminal elements which also gives rise to a breakdown in peace and order.

“The continuing increases in the prices of oil in the international market, the worsening weather conditions, and the prohibitive cost of fertilizer, among others, have all contributed to the decline of food and grains production,” they said.

“About sixty percent (60%) of the income of these banks is generated by loans, mostly extended to farmers, cooperatives and small enterprises,” the authors noted.

To remain viable, the authors noted, these banks would have to resort to innovative measures, including imposing very conservative conditions for loan takeouts, which would be more injurious to their clients.

“The immediate suspension of capital adequacy ratios for a period of two years is therefore necessary to allow rural banks to continue serving their clientèle unhampered by conditionalities other than the required standards and conditions of liquidity,” they concluded.

OtAkAw

April 20th, 2008, 04:54 PM

^^Anu bang alam ng isang hamak na pari sa ekonomiya?

absinthe_888

April 20th, 2008, 10:32 PM

the catholic church must stop meddling in politics especially with the issue regarding population growth and control. or if they insist on doing so, they might as well pay taxes!

Population management is urgently needed
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
Monday, April 21, 2008
http://philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008042035

The latest census figures couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time... during a national crisis over the certainty of rice supply. According to Ate Glue’s Proclamation 1489, or the Declaration as Official the 2007 Population Count of the Philippines by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay as Obtained from the 2007 Census of Population Conducted by the NSO, there are 88,574,614 Filipinos as of Aug. 1, 2007, when the survey was conducted.

That means, there are 12 million more Filipinos today than there were in 2000 (based on the 2000 census figure of 76.500 million). I can still remember the hoopla on New Year’s Day 2000... parang kahapon lamang. Yet, we have added about the number of people that populate Metro Manila since that kisap mata moment of seven years.

The 2007 and 2000 census figures translated to an average annual population growth rate of 2.04 percent, more than government’s projection of an average annual population growth rate of 1.95 percent from 2005 to 2010. The population count also represented a growth of 2.36 percent a year from the last 2000 Census of Population, which was at 76.50 million. Our population grew by 3.01 percent a year between 1960 and 1970; 2.75 percent a year between 1970 and 1980; and 2.34 percent a year between 1990 and 2000.

But Acting Director General Augusto Santos of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the government remains confident because its population-management policies are doing well and that there are no plans of changing them. Here is more... Santos also said the policies that seek to promote responsible parenting and the use of natural family-planning methods are “somehow taking effect.”

Stupid, isn’t it? And Santos himself will cite statistics to show how stupid his defense of this administration’s population program is. According to Santos, the population of Vietnam grows by 1.4 percent a year; Indonesia, 1.3 percent; and Thailand, 0.8 percent. Malaysia grows by 2.1 percent, but Malaysia is a different story. It starts with a small population in the vicinity of 25 million and has had to import workers to support its economy’s growth. We should be compared to neighbors more similar to our situation like Vietnam and Thailand.

And to show how an otherwise competent bureaucrat resorts to intellectual dishonesty to defend this administration, he makes the outrageous claim that “the country compares well with its counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in terms of population growth.”

How can a population growth rate in excess of two percent compare well with our ASEAN neighbors? We started off with just about the same population as Thailand. There are today, 20 million more Filipinos than Thais. That’s 20 million more mouths for us to feed. Yet, the Thais produce more food than we do. The difference of 20 million less mouths to feed, educate and provide health services for must be a major factor in Thailand’s being able to dramatically increase its economic growth compared to its erstwhile twin in resources and population, the Philippines.

Let’s go to food. Dr. Gelia Castillo, National Scientist at the NAST, wrote that rice production here has increased from about 5.3 million tons in 1970 to about 15.3 million tons in 2006, an almost three-fold increase (2.88 times) over a 36-year period.

There has been talk about self sufficiency but the national rice self-sufficiency target is a moving target. For example the Philippines produced 13.5 million MT of paddy rice in 2003 while the target was 14.2 million MT. In 2004 this figure was 15.4 million MT for the country to be self-sufficient. According to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, we now need to produce 18 million MT of rice every year to be self sufficient.

It seems, from the numbers, that our rice production has remained at the 13 to 15 million MT level since 2000. In other words, since about the time Ate Glue assumed office, we have 12 million more Pinoys sharing the same amount of rice. This means, people are eating less... more people must be going hungry.

Worse, we have become dependent on importation which was fine until lately, when very little rice is available in the international market at any price. Our tender for rice imports last week failed to satisfy our requirements and offers were at least 25 percent higher than last month’s already high price.

There is more. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), we are “drowning in people...” Demand for rice during the next 25 years, the IRRI estimates, is expected to increase by 65 percent in the Philippines, 51 percent in Bangladesh, 46 percent in India, 45 percent in Vietnam, and 38 percent in Indonesia. In one generation, for example, the Philippines’ population will grow from 75 million to 115 million. “The Philippines is already importing rice. What will it do in 25 years?”

More mouths to feed translate into a need for more “new rice” than what is eaten today. Even if this can be achieved given our serious natural and man made constraints, it will merely maintain current nutrition levels, which are already inadequate for millions of our people.

The really scary part is that there are no more quick fixes. IRRI points out that it may no longer be possible to tap the magic of the Green Revolution formula of more productive rice varieties, more fertilizer, and more water for irrigation that pushed Asia’s rice production off the charts. Agricultural land is now fast being lost to energy crops, residential subdivisions, commercial centers and industrial parks. Food crops are being diverted to energy use. Global warming and fast changes in weather patterns are affecting crop yields.

The closing of the land frontier and uncontrolled population growth are “undoing the good work of the Green Revolution,” says Professor S.R. Osmani of the University of Ulster. “If the entitlement-enhancing effects of modern varieties do not seem to reduce poverty, it’s because these effects aren’t strong enough to outweigh the impoverishing force unleashed by population growth.”

The astute politician that she is, Ate Glue must know that the politics of rice is a numbers’ game — the number of mouths to feed, the number we can really expect to locally produce and the number on the price tag. Maybe Ate Glue is really retiring in 2010 because if she isn’t, she would be feverishly addressing the population problem now as key to her long term survival. Right now, it seems her attitude is… it’s her successor’s problem, and what a problem it is going to be.

Dr. Castillo described the arithmetic of the food and population problem well: “In calculating self-sufficiency, rice production is the numerator and rice consumption of the population is the denominator. The one constant factor in the country’s history is population growth. It only goes up; it does not go down while rice production often does. Without investments in improving rice productivity and efforts to manage the denominator of the rice-population equation, we will have to run even faster just to stay in place.”

Ate Glue should take the advice of a columnist of the Financial Times who last week wrote “governments need to examine their population policies and limit population growth. Although there is enough grain to go round at the moment, you do not need to be a neo-Malthusian to worry about the demand implications of a global population rising by about 80 million people a year or to notice that countries with fast-growing populations – India, the Philippines and Egypt, for example — are especially vulnerable to disruptions in the world’s food trade.

It is difficult to believe our Economics PhD of a President can’t see that.

habagatcentral1

April 21st, 2008, 02:49 AM

^^Anu bang alam ng isang hamak na pari sa ekonomiya?

Was that Oscar Cruz? He has nothing to blame but the current government. Hay, sometimes he kind of pisses me off when he speak, puro kasi accuse the government and only the government. :ohno:

absinthe_888

April 21st, 2008, 06:45 PM

Government urged to include contraceptives in population management measures
Antonio Tiemsin Jr.
http://businessmirror.com.ph/04222008/economy02.html

WHILE the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) linked the record low population-growth rate to the natural family-planning policy, population advocates urged the government to push for modern methods as well.

Neda Acting Director General Augusto Santos earlier said the government’s population policy for responsible parenthood and natural family planning is taking effect since the current figures are close to their targets.

He added that being predominantly Catholic, modern contraceptive methods would not be welcomed by many Filipinos, particularly devout Catholics.

But Santos’s views did not sit well with population advocates who remained firm in saying that the government must still include modern family-planning methods in its comprehensive population policy to further curb the ballooning population.

“Promoting natural family planning is only a part of the solution and cannot alone effectively curb rapid population growth,” the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. (PLCPD) said in a statement.

Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the PLCPD, maintained that the government should continue its efforts on population management.

“If we look deeper into the NSO [National Statistics Office] data, it shows that the highest population growth rates were recorded in poor areas,” he said.

Based on the 2006 Official Poverty Statistics of the National Statistical Coordination Board, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has the highest regional population growth rate of 5.46 percent, is the poorest region in the country where three in every five families are living below the minimum-income requirement.

San Pascual added that the “government efforts to reduce population growth rate should therefore focus on how to assist especially the poor in planning their families.”

Further, University of the Philippines Population Institute Prof. Josefina Cabigon said that despite the fact that the country’s population was lower than the NSO projection of 90.7 million, the 2.04 population annual growth rate reported by the NSO for 2007 “still means that the population is still growing rapidly.”

With this, Rep. Edcel Lagman of the First District of Albay said modern contraceptives, such as birth-control pills, must be promoted by the government. He also said these remain the most preferred method of family planning.

Lagman said 16.6 percent of married Filipino women used it in 2006, compared with only 0.3 percent who used the natural method, according to the latest Family Planning Survey of the NSO.

It is for this reason, the House appropriations committee chairman said the Congress has allocated P2 billion for reproductive health and family planning in the General Appropriations Act of 2008. He said these funds are to be sub-allotted to the local government units for them to purchase modern natural and artificial family-planning supplies for the poor and conduct awareness campaign in their constituencies.

“The issue here is that the Philippines need a comprehensive national population policy to ensure that government interventions aimed at slowing down population growth are consistent and sustainable,” Lagman said.

There were 12 million Filipinos added to the country’s population in the last seven years, placing the total population of the country at 88.57 million, according to the 2007 Census of Population of the NSO.

With this figure, the Philippines is now considered by the United Nations as the most populous country in the Southeast Asian region, next only to Indonesia, which has nearly thrice the population of the country.

The latest Census figure is also one-third larger than the population of Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore combined based on the findings of the UN Statistics Division.

absinthe_888

April 21st, 2008, 06:51 PM

Too much interference
04/22/2008
http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20080422com1.html

We may be a nation populated with some 80 percent Catholics, nominal and practicing. But that fact should not have any bearing on a government’s population policy precisely because under our system of government, there exists the separation of Church and State.

No one takes it against the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter, to impose its beliefs and doctrines on its flock, but that is as far as the church should go. It can persuade its faithful to abide by its rules and even moral precepts, but it cannot and should not impose its beliefs on a government and the body politic.

Similarly, the Philippine government has no business following that which the Catholic Church leaders preach when it comes to state policies — especially in areas of population control, divorce or even abortion, if it comes to that, along with the Arroyo government’s acceptance of bishops’ meddling in strictly government affairs, including land disputes and agrarian reforms, or wage increases.

What the Catholic Church believes in will generally be in contradiction to what the state ought to do, in say, the area of the Philippines’ runaway population growth, especially at this time when the reality of food scarcity exists along with the ever-rising increases in food and oil that are driving more and more of the population into poverty.

But in this particular era of the Arroyo regime, where Gloria has been relying heavily on the Catholic bishops’ support for her political survival, she has done nothing, but nothing, to curb the runaway population growth and has even created the situation where she allows the bishops to dictate policy to her, whether in the arena of population growth, to rice distribution system, to pro-poor project distributions by the church, to its leaders’ insistence on the awarding of land legally already in private hands, and to even some Supreme Court decisions that embrace partisan political lines.

While the Catholic Church bishops in the Philippines are unlikely to admit it, what is evident is that the Philippines continues to be mired in poverty precisely because of the influence of the Catholic Church in these matters.

The Philippines is the only country in Asia that has consistently been a laggard economically and unable to curb population growth precisely due to the church’s constant meddling in state policies, despite the separation principle, which the church constantly breaches.

It has even come to a point where the Arroyo government handed funds in the millions meant for a population curbing program to a Catholic group that believes in church-approved birth control natural methods, which would just be the rythym method and the abstinence, both of which are in truth, unnatural. The church is against contraceptives, calling them abortifacients. Even condoms are a no-no. But ask the bishops what their solution to the runaway population growth in the country, and they have none, merely saying the population growth has nothing to do with food scarcity or even poverty.

Now the food scarcity is real, as the rice crisis is, but there again the bishops were, offering to become the state’s rice traders for the parishes to sell the rice to the poor, which is probably their way of keeping up with their myth that the problem of rice scarcity is not rooted in the problem of poverty and growing population the country is experiencing today, which problem is expected to worsen in the coming years if the church is allowed to continue interfering in the affairs of the state.

The Catholic Church policies and doctrines can and should be ignored by government. It has been proved, too many times, and in too many countries — including Italy, where the Pope resides, that the state won’t collapse if it does go against the doctrines of the church.

There is divorce in Italy and Spain, both of which are populated by Catholics and artificial birth control is practiced freely in these countries.

The truth is, the Catholic religion has lost out to many other religions and other faiths. And even in this so-called Catholic Philippines, the local church has lost a great many in their flock.

And still the bishops haven’t learned their lesson.

Already, there are clear signs that the church leaders have become irrelevant. It won’t take long before they will be scratched off by the Filipinos who will have turned their backs on their faith.

absinthe_888

April 21st, 2008, 06:57 PM

Reconciling our faith with business, politics and the environment
TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS By Babe Romualdez
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008042111

With the looming rice and food crisis reaching global proportions, the need to manage the population, especially in countries vulnerable to food shocks like the Philippines, has become a serious concern. There are many people in this country who know that population management is a major factor in sustaining economic growth, safeguarding the environment and reducing poverty levels. One of them is my brother Dr. Alberto “Quasi” Romualdez who has always been advocating population management even before the time when he was Joseph Estrada’s Health Secretary.

According to recent data released from government, the number of Filipinos has reached 88.5 million in August last year, or an increase of 12 million since 2000 when the population was registered at 76.5 million. That means a population growth rate of more than two percent every year – one of the highest in Asia – and faster than the growth rates in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

It can be recalled that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been donating contraceptives to the Philippines since 1970 but it will stop doing so starting this year mainly because George Bush is a pro-lifer, but government has said it will not allocate funds to cover the shortfall. Naturally, those who need it the most – obviously poor families who have a large number of children – will not spend their scarce resources on contraceptives. So year after year after year, the number of their children – which they could hardly feed – just keeps growing.

While it’s good that government officials acknowledge the need to review population control policies, it’s frustrating to know that they only endorse natural family planning methods – which everyone knows have not been very effective – precisely because they do not want to offend the Catholic Church. Over the years, church leaders have opposed the use of artificial birth control methods and have even threatened to excommunicate those who consult doctors about procedures like ligation and vasectomy, or even the use of pills and condoms.

The Philippines is 80 percent Catholic and of course, we all want to be good Church followers but clearly, there is a need to reconcile our spiritual and moral perspective with what will ultimately be good for the country. Tell me, how can parents in all conscience continue to bring children into this world knowing they do not have the means to adequately feed and clothe them? Politicians afraid of losing the support of the Church have of course continued to toe the Catholic line, refusing to allocate funds for contraceptives.

But if one really looks closely, the myth regarding the Church’s influence in politics is just that – a myth. If one could recall, the Church campaigned against former Health Secretary Juan Flavier when he ran for the Senate because he was a strong advocate of population control – but Flavier came out No. 2. People realize that population management is something we really need to do especially at this time when food scarcity is a looming problem the world over.

In this country however, the Church’s influence goes beyond the issue of population management, reaching other areas concerning government. The Constitution clearly states that “The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.” But from the way things look, there seems to be no distinction anymore between the Church and the State, with priests sounding like politicians and politicians acting like priests, judging from the tit-for-tat between Bishop Oscar Cruz and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales.

Experts find it quite ironic that it is during the term of female presidents that the country’s population management policy seems unmanageable. Despite his shortcomings, Joseph Estrada allowed my brother Dr. Romualdez to push hard for population management – which probably earned Erap the ire of the Catholic Church especially the late Cardinal Sin.

On the other hand, the business sector has long been asking government to address the population problem. As Mike Varela, one of the country’s business leaders had pointed out, the lack of a sound population management policy has compromised the country’s ability to increase wealth, compete globally and provide the minimum basic needs of the people particularly those belonging to the poorest sectors of society.

Of course, we want to attract investments but these should not come at the expense of sacrificing our country’s natural resources, like what is happening with the Korean project in the rainforest in Subic. Everyone knows protecting the environment has become a global concern in light of the critical effects of global warming like droughts, floods, pollution and other health hazards.

As I have been pointing out, it will be quite difficult to sustain any economic growth if the number of people continues to increase at a rate faster than government can provide for in terms of jobs, education, health and other basic services – and most especially food. No matter how much the economy grows, this will not result in a better quality of life for Filipinos with our country’s resources always playing catch-up with the population.

At the end of the day, moderation is the keyword to everything. It does not mean the “moderation of greed” but moderation in how we do business while at the same time sustaining our natural resources, and balancing our spiritual faith with the inevitable need to manage our country’s rapid population growth.

absinthe_888

April 21st, 2008, 07:03 PM

Population
FIRST PERSON By Alex Magno
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Opinion&p=49&type=2&sec=25&aid=20080421110

The authorities happily announced the other day that we have brought down our population growth rate to 2.04 percent, the lowest in nearly half a century of runaway demographics.

That brings small comfort. Still, about 5,300 new Filipinos are born each day. That is more than the number of workers we send out on economic exile on any given day.

At the present “low” growth rate, we will still double our population by 2035. That becomes a chilling piece of statistical information if we consider that our present population of about 90 million is already double the earlier estimates of the “carrying capacity” of our archipelago.

“Carrying capacity” refers to the ability of our land area to feasibly support the needs of the people dependent on it. It might be a dated concept that does not properly take into account advances in technology. It is nevertheless a useful analytical concept.

Remember that as we grew our population through the five decades when we maintained one of the highest growth rates in the world, our available arable land did not increase. It could not. The amount of arable land is a fixed factor — unless we are planning on colonizing sparsely populated regions of the world.

Sparsely populated regions of the world are pretty hard to find these days.

At our present population size, each Filipino relies on about 1,000 square meters of agricultural land to sustain himself. Because each Filipino will need to be housed, will need space for commerce and industry to be employed, we will put added pressure on available arable land.

Therefore, if we double our population size, we will have less than half of the land per capita for agricultural support down the road. There is very little technology can do to compensate for sheer land scarcity.

The amount of arable land now available to support our present population size is not enough as it is. That is the reason we are facing food scarcity reflected in food price inflation.

The urban legend that the Thais studies rice technology at Los Baños and then proceeded to outdo us in rice production is not true. Filipino farmers harvest 3.1 tons per hectare against Thailand’s 2.9 tons even if our neighbor has superior fresh water sources. But that volume comes at higher costs of production because we pump water from aquifers to irrigate our cultivated land.

We are now the biggest rice importer in the world. The reason for that is simply the population-to-arable land ratio.

Like us, Thailand did not increase her land area devoted to rice production. But she remains a net rice exporter.

The difference between Thailand and the Philippines is that our population grew faster while Thailand’s grew only negligibly. Because there are no bishops in Thailand who constantly meddle with social policy, the Thais have properly managed their population growth rate while ours remained completely unmanageable for five decades.

As the biggest rice importer in the world, we are a major cause of the present inflation in grains prices. With the volume of tradable rice stocks in the world market thinning unusually this year because of bad weather in China and infestation of the crop in Vietnam, Filipino demand for rice has pushed up rice prices not only domestically but globally.

It used to be that imported rice was much cheaper than locally produced rice. Our cost of production is pushed up by intensive power usage for irrigation, dependence on fertilizer for the higher yield varieties, poor logistical systems to cut down on grains spillage and wasteful consumption habits of a heavily subsidized commodity. Anything that is heavily subsidized tends to be used imprudently.

But because of thinning tradable stocks, the cost of imported rice has risen dramatically. Imported rice, considering transport costs, is now more expensive than domestically produced rice — even if it is of inferior quality. Thus government will now have to spend dramatically more to subsidize rice for the poor.

That will cast a large shadow of doubt on our much-vaunted fiscal management. Remember that as we are allocating more to subsidize rice, we are cutting revenues by withdrawing tariffs on steeply rising oil products to cushion the inflationary effect of fossil fuel costs on our economy.

The problem of inflated rice prices will not be solved by Joseph Estrada’s obscene political circus of distributing bags of the commodity to poor communities. That is an exercise of populist politicking at its worst, deepening the culture of dependence on dole-outs.

Sure, we can aim for rice self-sufficiency. But we must understand that this goal requires sacrificing alternative uses of the arable land we have. Those alternative uses of the land might produce greater value for the economy.

By committing our arable land to rice production, we will constrict the amount of land available for other uses. This will bring about land inflation and make housing even more inaccessible for the homeless. It will also mean less land available for industry, the means to soak up our large army of the unemployed.

There are no quick fixes to the rice predicament we find ourselves in. But one thing is sure, by allowing our population growth rate to balloon as much as it did for five decades, we set the stage for the predicament at hand.

The least the bishops can do is to help government sell cheap rice to the truly needy — and, possibly, to keep their hand off social policy from hereon.

3cr

April 21st, 2008, 11:44 PM

Government, church need not clash on population policy – Lagman
By Jess Diaz
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080421127

The Church and the State need not collide on the issue of population control, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the principal authors of the Reproductive Health Bill, said yesterday.

“The Catholic Church can continue to preach natural family planning methods, while the State advocates without bias both the natural and modern methods to afford women and couples the freedom of informed choice,” he said.

“It is important to underscore that the natural and modern methods of family planning have a common principal objective, which is to prevent unwanted pregnancies,” he said.

Lagman pointed out that the rice crisis and the reduction of only 0.30 percent in the country’s population growth rate seven years after the 2000 census recorded a 2.34 growth rate should prompt Congress to enact a law “responsibly mitigating the population problem.”

“Although the population growth rate has started to decline, population size is still increasing. This is due to a demographic condition called population momentum, which refers to the percentage of the population who will eventually reach reproductive age, bear children and contribute significantly to population size,” he stressed.

He noted that there is a big number of young people capable of bearing children.

Earlier, Lagman said President Arroyo now appears open to family planning and population management, a program that her government has refused to undertake due to opposition from Catholic bishops.

He said an indication of such openness is the President’s decision not to veto the Congress-approved P2-billion population management fund in the P1.227-trillion 2008 budget.

It was Lagman who included the P2-billion population management fund in the 2008 budget. He is the first appropriations committee chairman in the post martial law Congress to take the initiative to allot a huge amount of taxpayers’ money for population control.

He said population explosion is as much to blame as dwindling agricultural land for the rice crisis.

Under the 2008 Appropriations Law or the national budget, P1.2 billion of the P2-billion population control fund would be used for the procurement of “reproductive health commodities.”

Such products would include “modern natural and artificial family planning devices, which are medically and legally permissible, for free distribution to poor family planning acceptors.”

The remaining P800 million would be used to educate people on the need for family planning and how to plan their families using both natural and artificial means.

Based on the most recent census conducted by the National Statistics Office, Lagman estimates that the country’s annual population growth rate is 2.3 percent.

But according to Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III, who is a former agriculture secretary, a population watchdog based in Washington DC has calculated that the Philippine population grows by 2.6 percent a year. This figure includes poor families not covered by official surveys.

The official growth rate of 2.3 percent means that 2.1 million Filipinos would compete with the current 91 million for rice and other food products next year.

At that rate, there will be 94 million Filipinos to feed in 2010, 103 million in 2015, 111.8 million in 2020, and 120.2 in 2025.

The Arroyo government is trying to bring down the population growth rate to 1.9 percent.

Lagman said while the government is trying to solve the rice crisis from the perspective of production, or the supply side, it should simultaneously tackle the burgeoning population issue, or the demand side.

3cr

April 24th, 2008, 01:16 AM

Gov't should curb corruption, not population growth - bishop
GMA News
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/90357/Govt-should-curb-corruption-not-population-growth---bishop

MANILA, Philippines - Instead of controlling population growth to secure the country’s food supplies, the Philippine government should focus its efforts on curbing corruption, a senior Catholic bishop said on Saturday.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz issued this piece of advice to Malacañang one day after twitting the government for using the rice problem as an excuse to push for population control.

“The real problem in the country is corruption more than population. We have so much money for agriculture that had been lost to corruption," Cruz said in an interview over a radio program.

According to Cruz, the country had once been an exporter of rice and other agricultural goods but corruption had turned the situation around.

Cruz cited the P728-million fertilizer mess, where the proceeds allegedly went to President Arroyo’s campaign in 2004 and a multibillion-peso irrigation controversy.

The prelate said even Quedancor’s multibillion-peso swine program was not spared, citing lawyer Harry Roque Jr.’s earlier assertion that funds may have gone to the senatorial bets of administration candidates in the 2007 senatorial race.

Cruz also reiterated that the Church is for responsible family planning, but using only natural methods, out of respect for the mother’s health.

“The Church’s position is pro-nature," the archbishop said during the program. “The female body has its cycles on when it can reproduce and when it cannot. Please do not think the Church is being irresponsible and opposing family planning. What the Church wants is to respect the health of the mother."

Lucentino

April 24th, 2008, 08:32 AM

A group conducted a survey (http://www.gmanews.tv/video/21480/Family-of-6-needs-P858/day-to-survive-in-Metro-Manila) and said that a family with six members would need around 860 Pesos daily to survive in Metro Manila...

Instead of bashing the government, and protesting for a wage increase, why don't people think that a family with six members is considered "over populated"... especially at this point in time...

metrosuburban

April 25th, 2008, 02:02 AM

^^ unfortunately those people cannot even think! big population would mean bigger number of idiots & vagabonds everywhere...

let's demand the catholic church pakainin nila tung mga taong to total sila naman gusto dumami sila...

crappypants

April 25th, 2008, 02:47 AM

hindi lang pagpakain pati pangeskuela, pangdamit, pabahay,
unless gusto nating maging shantyville of the world.

NightDog

April 26th, 2008, 06:56 PM

860pesos/day. mahirap kitain to sa maynila. mangilan ngilan lang ang kumikita ng ganito at sila pa ang tigdadalawa lang ang anak. ang mga hindi kumikita ng ganito sila ang madadaming anak.

magandang business kasi ng simbahan pag madaming mahihirap dito sa atin. mas marami silang tulong na matatanggap kunyari itutulong nila sa mahihirap.

crappypants

April 26th, 2008, 09:25 PM

Metro Manila slowly dying
BABE’S EYE VIEW By Babe Romualdez
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Having spent last weekend in Hawaii for the inaugural flight of Hawaiian Airlines from Manila to Honolulu, those of us who are afflicted with allergic rhinitis found the trip a heaven-sent opportunity to give our sensitive nostrils a much needed respite. It was truly “Blue Hawaii” — a tropical paradise with its clear blue skies and crystal clear waters made even more attractive by the smog-free, cool environment.

Completely surrounded by water, Hawaii is made up of hundreds of islands that offer a variety of activities which have made the islands such a big tourism draw. As a matter of fact, tourists who visit the islands — estimated between seven to eight million — far outnumber Hawaii’s population of 1.3 million. Knowing how important tourism is to their economy, they have made it a point to keep the waters pristine and maintain a pollution-free environment through strict environmental laws, zoning regulations and sustainability policies.

Government and the business sector work hand-in-hand to promote environment-friendly practices to reduce hazardous waste and prevent pollution, like the Hawaii State Department of Health’s pollution prevention and waste minimization program that teaches specific techniques in minimizing waste generation by substituting hazardous materials with less- or non-hazardous substances, product redesigns, better operating procedures and recycling.

In Oahu, they have a “curbside recycling” program that turns trash into reusable materials, like beer bottles becoming asphalt aggregates. Residents toss recyclable materials into blue recycling bins which are then brought to a recycling facility, loaded on a conveyor and manually sorted by workers armed with safety gloves. The sorted waste materials are then shipped to the US Mainland or China where they are turned into new products.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann says they will expand the curbside recycling program to include more homes on the North Shore and in Honolulu neighborhoods. There are also plans to buy a $43-million H-Power garbage-to-energy facility to give them more control of their solid waste stream. The curbside recycling project has become so successful that people are calling it a “new cycle of life” for waste — which also brings in additional revenue to the island.

No doubt all these are important environmental initiatives which come at a critical time when the island’s landfill has almost reached capacity level. Of course, Hawaii can afford all these initiatives and projects but the bottom line is that the people themselves do their part to keep their place pollution free.

As we were coming in to Manila, even those who have no problem with rhinitis were starting to sneeze â€‘ an indication of the poor air quality. The pollution level of late has become one of the worst in Metro Manila, in spite of the fact that we’re supposed to have a Clean Air Act — a law which majority of Filipinos never even follow.

According to a study by an international group, pollution is a major cause in increased lung diseases in the Philippines, among them Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Of the 10 leading causes of death among Filipinos, pneumonia and tuberculosis are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. The sad part is, children have become major victims of pollution. All over the world, four million children below five years old die yearly due to pollution. Asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases have become serious health concerns for children â€‘ notably in Mexico, China, India, Brazil and the Philippines because of “degraded air quality.”

Older people with respiratory problems also find their condition aggravated by other ailments. What is worse is that a doctor friend of mine said complications are likely to arise as you grow older, since the body tries to protect you from the adverse effects of pollution. As a consequence, the other systems are neglected and start to break down with all kinds of complications. Research by physicians from the University of Kentucky and Maastricht University revealed that COPD gets worse with age. Among the 12 countries included in their study, the highest rate of incidence of the disease was in the Philippines at 46.6 percent, while the lowest was in the US at 19.2 percent.

Loren Legarda is probably right â€‘ the time may just come when people will be forced to buy oxygen the way they buy bottled water today if we don’t do something about the worsening air pollution. A 2007 estimate by the Philippine Environment Monitor claims that respiratory and cardiovascular diseases kill 4,968 people in Metro Manila every year because of exposure to polluted air. This is exacerbated by sewage and garbage problems caused by an overflowing population of 12 million in a city made for five million people.

Metro Manila is slowly dying â€‘ and all of us will die with it unless we start doing our share to save it from turning into an uninhabitable and unlivable metropolis where the very air you breathe is the same one that could kill you.

* * *

A Fil-American whom I met recently told me what this country really needs is a true-blue, honest-to-goodness moral revolution to change the people’s way of life. And to my surprise, he mentioned El Shaddai leader Brother Mike Velarde as the person who could most likely lead this moral revolution.

I have only had the pleasure of meeting Brother Mike once, but in that meeting, I was very much impressed by his charismatic appeal. And now, I understand why he can actually enthrall his followers. I am told he has a solid following of three million people who will most likely abide by whatever decision he makes. Multiply that number by five and you easily have 15 million people rallying behind Brother Mike â€‘ if he decides to lead this country into a “new moral order.”

barrera_marquez

April 26th, 2008, 11:52 PM

azriel915

April 27th, 2008, 07:20 AM

Councilors can still go to church: Sara[/B]
By Ben O. Tesiorna

DAVAO City Vice Mayor Sara Duterte downplayed Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla's warning that supporters of the controversial Local Development Plan for Children (LDPC) would not receive sacraments from the church, like Holy Communion.

^^ What surprises me is the blackmailing being used by the Catholic church against these RESPONSIBLE politicians. These priests/bishops insists that what they're doing is what is "rightful" in the eyes of God and that the reason for sex is procreation, therefore, any tampering with that is a "sin". If so, how come they're not threathening all these FILIPINO PERSONALITIES that we always see on TV? They trade spouses as if they're trading toys and even one of them shamelessly announced on national television that s/he was infected by an STD by his/her already married lover! Isn't adultery no longer considered a sin by the Church then? What a double standard. Perhaps the reason is because these people GIVE MORE to the Catholic Church and are more "religious" (since that's what they try to portray on TV) than these mere city councilors. Tsk tsk

le Reine

April 28th, 2008, 12:22 AM

Kung mga pari na lang kaya iboto natin kasi parang sila lang ata nakakaalam kung paano tayo uunlad eh. Pagkatapos dumami ng sandamukal ang mga Pinoy dahil sa kanila ngayon naman kung anu-ano na naman sinsabi nila. Wala na, balik na naman tayo sa Spanish-era Pinas. :ohno:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080428-133083/P5-B-aid-anti-poor,says-Church-group
P5-B aid anti-poor, says Church group

Caritas: Dole will only breed laziness
By Margaux Ortiz, Delfin Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 01:01:00 04/28/2008

MANILA, Philippines—The Arroyo administration’s program that gives a family living below the poverty line up to P1,400 a month will just make the poor dependent on the government and, thus, encourage them to be lazy, the social arm of the Archdiocese of Manila said Sunday.

“It is anti-poor, gives the poor no dignity, and only breeds dependency,” said Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila. He said teaching the poor to be dependent was not part of the long-term solution to the soaring cost of basic necessities, especially food.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said on Saturday that the national government had allocated P5 billion this year to fund a P500 monthly stipend for each of the country’s poorest families to help them cope with the escalating prices of basic necessities.

Under the Ahon Pamilyang Pilipino (APP) program, a family will get an additional P300 for every child who logs at least 85 percent class attendance in a month. At most, three children per family could avail themselves of the stipend.

But due to budget constraints, the five-year APP program could cover only 300,000 families in the 20 poorest provinces, or 7 percent of the 4.7 million poor households in the country.

Dole

Pascual said the stipend for the poor could be considered a “dole-out.”

“The government, through this subsidy, only teaches the poor to be lazy and depend on the government or on other people for their daily needs,” he said in an interview over the Church-run Radio Veritas.

“The government should instead employ the poor as street sweepers, canal sanitizers and garbage collectors to teach them the value of work,” he said.

He said the government should also make the poor attend seminars on livelihood, skills training and micro-entrepreneurship, and require them to undergo family planning seminars and values formation.

Pascual said that the problem with expensive basic commodities, especially food, could be solved through partnerships between the government and other groups.

Band-aid solution

“The present administration should cooperate with non-government organizations, nonprofit organizations, cooperatives, micro-finance institutions, faith-based and church groups successful in livelihood, education, health and housing programs and social entrepreneurship,” the priest said.

He added: “If everyone works hand in hand, the crisis the country is going through would be resolved.”

Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III (LP-4th District, Quezon) described the APP as a “Band-aid” solution to the country’s poverty problem.

“The P500 monthly worth of stipend for the poorest families is just a Band-aid, short-term solution to the growing poverty and hunger problem,” Tañada said in a phone interview.

He added: “Yes, we may give the poorest of the poor P500. But what happens if there is no rice to buy or if the cost of rice is still beyond the reach of the intended beneficiaries? Five hundred pesos is not enough and will never be enough.”

The lawmaker urged the government to spend heavily on irrigation and agricultural support needs of the farmers in order to address the rice shortage and poverty in the rural areas.

Publicity

A militant fishers’ group called the APP a “multibillion-peso publicity blitzkrieg” to boost the sagging image of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a statement, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the program also appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the 2010 national and local elections where funds would be funneled to the local government units allied with Malacañang.

“If the P5 billion is for poorest of the poor, how about the poorer and poor people. Are they not entitled to any government help? Is there such a thing as bracketing of the poor population of the country into poor, poorer and poorest?” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap asked.

He said most of the 88.5 million Filipinos were suffering from the “chronic and intensifying economic crisis.”

Because of the sharp rise in the cost of living over the past months, more families are expected to cross below the poverty line.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board showed that 4.7 million families—equivalent to 26.9 percent of the total number of Filipino families—were poor in 2006, marking an increase from 4 million poor families in 2003.

It also said poverty incidence—the proportion of those considered poor to the total number of families—was at 26.9 percent in 2006, compared with 24.4 percent three years earlier.

c0kelitr0

April 28th, 2008, 05:56 AM

2007 Population Census Final Count down to Barangay Level (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/pr0830tx.html)

Weina

April 28th, 2008, 06:57 AM

Askal82

April 28th, 2008, 07:12 AM

Lucentino

April 28th, 2008, 07:23 AM

^^I wonder if those "poverty stricken" people ever go to church...

I believe most of them are in the cockpit arena, on queue at a local lotto outlet or NFA rice center or brgy. deep well to fetch water, playing pusoy or mahjong all day, loitering along the railroad tracks, tricycle drivers notoriously sleeping on top of their cycles almost all day (which has become a good reason to say they have a job), being paid to attend a rally at Makati, etc, etc... they're too busy to go to church... or maybe they do go to church to pray for that winning number!... no prejudice, just being observant... :)

Weina

April 28th, 2008, 07:29 AM

^^well at least that's what i observe on our place before, they go to church and they are even active on those catholic church parades:lol:

barrera_marquez

April 28th, 2008, 10:57 AM

Teka guys at girls tanong ko lang, lumabas na ba ang resulta ng census noong 2007? Kailangan kasi namin yung mga bagong population data ng mga lungsod at bayan sa Pilipinas. Salamat!

kevinb

April 28th, 2008, 11:17 AM

2007 Population Census Final Count down to Barangay Level (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/pr0830tx.html)

Thanks Fhoy! I've been looking for this! :)

Weina

April 28th, 2008, 11:19 AM

2007 Population Census Final Count down to Barangay Level (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/pr0830tx.html)

Teka guys at girls tanong ko lang, lumabas na ba ang resulta ng census noong 2007? Kailangan kasi namin yung mga bagong population data ng mga lungsod at bayan sa Pilipinas. Salamat!

thanks to cokelitro

barrera_marquez

April 28th, 2008, 12:02 PM

thanks!

le Reine

April 28th, 2008, 07:13 PM

the church power will be stronger in a place with higher poverty levels that's why maybe they're happy if the philippines remain poor... maybe it's time for filipinos to tell the catholic church to shut up and clean their mess instead and do their function that means to educate their flocks well especially the poor that they too have responsibility in a society. look at the baptists and the other religious organizations most of their flocks are not that really poor, please correct me if i'm wrong. sorry i'm not for these other religions but the way i see it with the catholic church is too much interfering with the affair of the states already.The Church talks as if they're the only institution in this country who knows what to do when in fact they cannot even do something about the values of their flock esp those in the higher levels of government who always broadcast to the world that they are "proud and devout Catholics". They talk about how government is not doing its mandate when clearly, even the Church is a failure at this. For 400 years that they are here in this country, it seems that they have failed in their mission to "Christianize" the islands. And they failed miserably! As what my prof told us on our first day: "The Philippines would not be so poor if it is not a nominal Christian country." It means that we wouldn't be so poor if we would just be real Christians who should not give more importance to ceremonies and pageantry but rather substance. And at this point, the Church have failed in their duty just like the government.

I just read the whole article. Street sweepers? Canal sanitizers? to solve the problem of dependence instead of dole-outs? Maybe they should provide them employment in the church. :lol:
These church people literally got no idea what they're going through.

What the country needed are loads of investments to generate jobs and effective POPULATION CONTROL and not the load of b/s coming from their holy mouths. :lol:True. Well, there's actually some economic concept for that-Keynesian economics but that is more effective in a crisis-like situation. And good grief, if they only knew how much canal sanitizers and street sweepers we have in MM! Are they so detached from reality that they don't even know how many of these people we already have in the metro?!? :ohno:

dinabaw

April 29th, 2008, 07:50 AM

dapat sa pinoy wiseguy.....way sulod ang lagay :lol:

NightDog

April 29th, 2008, 09:56 AM

^^hahahahaha. dinabaw..ok to a. withdrawals?

kiretoce

April 29th, 2008, 10:22 PM

Nearly 89 million and counting (http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441987a7f7011996bcf19400e4_Nearly_89_million_and_counting.do.html)

The population of The Philippines has ballooned to nearly 89 million as of 2007, 15.8 per cent higher than the 76.50 million in May 2000. President Gloria Arroyo issued the official census number — 88.57 million — last week.

President Arroyo has resisted use of contraceptives and other forms of family planning other than natural methods — a move applauded by the Roman Catholic Church but criticized by those who blame overpopulation for rampant poverty in The Philippines and recently for the food shortage.

The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic nation, has one of the highest population growth rates in the region, with at least three babies born every minute. The growth dilutes economic gains and the country does not produce enough food to feed its people. “The population is increasing and it means that government has to more vigorously implement its population policy, which is responsible parenthood and the advocacy for natural family planning,” Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos told Reuters last week.

“I think the population commission will have to review its policies,” he added. “We really need greater efforts. It means we have to work harder to make the economy function more properly and more smoothly.” At least one-third of the people are poor and the number of poor is growing faster than the population.

Last month, government data showed that 28 million people, about a third of the population, were subsisting on less than $1 per day in 2006. But Santos said artificial birth control remained a sensitive issue. In a nod to the powerful Catholic church, the government emphasises natural family planning over artificial methods, and experts said there was not likely to be any change in this in the immediate future.

President Arroyo, who came to power in 2001 with the backing of the church, has consistently emphasised natural family planning. Government booklets on responsible parenting make no mention of condoms, pills or intra-uterine devices.

“She has made it very clear she will not purchase contraceptives, she will not promote any other method except what the church approves and she has very strong links with the most conservative elements of the church,” said Dr. Alberto Romualdez, a former health secretary.

The National Statistics Office said The Philippines’ annual population growth rate was 2.04 per cent between 2000 and 2007. According to the United Nations Population Fund, the average population growth rate in Asia is 1.1 per cent.

Solita Monsod, professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, said the problem did not lie with the church. She said most Filipinos wanted to regulate their families and providing access to information and funding for civil service groups involved in family planning was key.

“Survey after survey has shown that when it comes to family planning, the church does not make a difference,” Monsod said. “The people don’t have access. Give them what they want and then the population problem will take care of itself.”

davee08

April 30th, 2008, 11:04 AM

i can't believe that the philippines is already 89 million :ohno: from 55 million in just 20 years its :nuts: i thought it was crowded when i was young but having returned from recent xmas vacation there was just people everywhere best example is in my cousins street five years back in a little street with at least 14 houses had around 20 people under 20 and five years later has blown out to 70 under 20 so it was kinda crowded :lol:

3cr

April 30th, 2008, 12:06 PM

Ecop wants gov’t to define population control policy
Daily Tribune
04/30/2008
http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20080430bus6.html

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) has sought from government a comprehensive national population policy in the wake of the nagging rice crisis.

“If the government is indeed serious in solving the current crisis, it should first address the issue of population growth. We need direction, and this direction can only be provided by the government through a comprehensive national population policy. Managing our population effectively will have lasting positive impact on resources and productivity,” ECOP stressed.

Expressing grave concern over the rice crisis, ECOP noted that unmanaged population has taken its toll on the country’s resources. “As far as the business sector is concerned, the ballooning population impacts not just on rice and resources but on business productivity as well,” ECOP pointed out.

The latest count of our population is 88.57 million and the population growth rate (PGR) is 2.04 percent, lower by 0.3 percent from the 2000 census based PGR of 2.34 percent. Despite the drop in PGR, our population is still ballooning. With the current PGR, our population will be more than 100 million 10 years from now.

ECOP cited that a high PGR can only be sustained by a high economic growth. Studies have indicated that the country needs a steady eight GDP growth in order to compensate the negative effects of high PGR. Unless there is productivity growth, the business sector for that matter would find difficulty in coping with higher wages mandated by the government.

ECOP said it is not insensitive to workers’ demand for wage increases but businesses are also burdened by fuel price hikes, rice crisis, and other issues.

kiretoce

May 1st, 2008, 05:58 PM

Population debate in the Philippines (http://www.upiasiaonline.com/Society_Culture/2008/05/01/population_debate_in_the_philippines/2393/)

The global food price crisis has revived the population debate in the Philippines. Analysts insist the high population growth rate of the Philippines is not sustainable. Food production may be increasing over the years but the number of Filipinos is increasing at a faster rate. Today, the Philippine population is around 90 million.

Policymakers are beginning to realize the importance of providing family planning supplies to poor Filipinos. The government has recently approved the release of additional funds for this purpose. As expected, the powerful Catholic Church is opposing this program. The church equates artificial family planning with abortion.

A Filipino economist notes there are three contending views in the population debate: the population pessimists, the population optimists, and the population revisionists.

The population pessimists do not want a high population growth. They assert that a high population growth rate adversely impacts all indicators of human development: health, education, food security, shelter, employment and environment. They also believe that a high fertility rate also impacts negatively on economic growth. High consumption of families retards savings and increases government expenditures. In short, rapid population growth aggravates and even abets inequality.

The population optimists think that population is the ultimate resource. They point out that high population growth brings tremendous possibilities for technical change since the rate of return in the economy is larger. There are more entrepreneurs, more creators, and more innovators in the economy. Industries benefit from the stable supply of young workers.

The population revisionists believe population growth may or may not be detrimental to economic and human development. High population generates different impact on societies. It depends on time, place and circumstances.

These contending views have influenced government policies over the years. But it is the church which has exercised the greatest power in manipulating the government's population control program. Church intervention has distorted and weakened the capability of the government to manage the country's population.

The government's population policies are inadequate. They contain weak measures to deal with high fertility rates. The programs are couched in vague language in order not to provoke the opposition of the Catholic Bishops.

The Philippine Population Act was enacted in 1971. The Commission on Population was eventually established. A special committee recommended that fertility or family planning policies should be formulated within the context of the family welfare objective.

During the 1980s the right of couples to determine the number of children was emphasized and family planning was packaged as a health intervention. During the early 1990s the link between rapid population growth and poverty was recognized. The family planning function was devolved to local governments.

A decade ago population growth reduction focused on unmet family planning needs. The principle of contraceptive self-reliance was adopted. For the first time, the government allocated subsidies for the purchase of contraceptives.

The current administration recognizes family planning as a component of women's health and as a means to achieve the fertility desires of couples. Four pillars of population policy were identified: responsible parenthood, respect for life, birth spacing and informed choice.

In the last three decades the church has succeeded in preventing the government from completely endorsing artificial family planning methods. The church has used its clout to dilute the government's population programs.

During public hearings in Congress, officials of the Commission on Population rejected a population control bill, since according to them the government is only supporting the natural family planning method. Even Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has ordered the Department of Health to stop procuring artificial family planning commodities.

This has led to disastrous consequences. Condoms and pills were removed from many health centers. Poor women are washing used condoms since the free family planning supplies are no longer available.

An administration lawmaker is irked by the government's insistence on relying solely on the natural family planning method. He said, "For so many poor and uneducated couples, learning the natural family planning method as the only means of family planning is too difficult, cumbersome and needs much discipline and spirituality. Many are not able to make it. The poor are already deprived of so many things. And to deprive them of lovemaking when they spontaneously feel like doing so is to make their lives even more miserable."

Perhaps sensing the futility of convincing lawmakers about the need to pass a national law on population control, some NGOs have directed their lobbying efforts toward local governments.

NGOs are reminding local officials about how population dynamics plays an important role in provincial income growth. They cite studies which show that provinces with a high proportion of young dependents have a high level of poverty.

The traditional thinking is that lower population growth can decrease the tax earnings of local governments. But this can be offset by higher per capita income. Provinces with lower population growth have a higher budget surplus. This means local governments can manage population growth and still be assured of benefits in terms of budget surpluses which can be plowed back into social and economic programs.

Meanwhile, the church and its allies are still exerting strong pressure to prevent national and local politicians from implementing artificial family planning programs. They are also gaining support in their persuasive argument that poverty in the Philippines is caused by corruption and not by overpopulation.

They are also accusing the West of undermining the sovereignty of poor countries by forcing governments to impose population control measures. This accusation is not without basis. According to an article written by Joseph Brewda for the Executive Intelligence Review, the U.S. National Security Council completed a classified study in 1974 which claimed that population growth in poor countries was a grave threat to U.S. national security. Brewda added that the study outlined a covert plan to reduce population growth in poor countries through birth control, and also, implicitly, war and famine.

The study paid special attention to 13 countries in which the U.S. has a special political and strategic interest, namely: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.

The population debate in the Philippines will continue to divide the country. Right now, the population optimists have the upper hand in the government. Things may change once the Philippine population reaches 100 million in the next few years.

c0kelitr0

May 2nd, 2008, 03:53 AM

hope there's an illness na pag tamad ang isang tao, batugan at walang trabaho, nababaog. hehehe.

Waldenstrom

May 3rd, 2008, 03:01 AM

^^ sana nga may ganung sakit. :D

lazybum

May 3rd, 2008, 05:27 PM

Just a little over a year ago, I posted this on 4/26/2007 responding to a fellow named Louman...and yet we still find ourselves here debating the issue, rehashing points over and over and over again. Only proves that the issue of over population is a tough one for mortals lilke us to solve, and probably will stay with us during our lifetime, unless a natural calamity will resolve it for all us.

Originally Posted by Louman
...I think something similar can be achieved through tax breaks or tax penalties of some sort.

Hi Louman, yours is the kind of critical thinking that the country needs. You have hit the nail in the head! Encourage the Filipino to practice birth control by providing incentives like what you have suggeted - that is just a great idea! Or maybe offering free college education to a family that adheres to population control. There are many more. But I do think an adversarial approach will only provide ammunition to the other side that advocates perpetual poverty. Thanks for your insight - you are truly the NEW Filipino with a NEW FILIPINO THINKING!! KEEP IT UP!!

Asturiano

May 4th, 2008, 02:01 AM

The government inept ability to make law that will stop this population explosion is horrendous. How can the philippines move on into the first world, when it is too heavy burden for her to support half of its population who live in poverty. This is like burying one of your feet in the deep mad while the other is not. Right now, they claimed that our economy is growing but this has not affected the lower class of our population because more people are living in poverty and their livelihood did not improves. Our government can built mall in every street corner and the Philippines can still be called poor because
only the few who felt it while the rest of the country did not.

kevinb

May 4th, 2008, 12:27 PM

hope there's an illness na pag tamad ang isang tao, batugan at walang trabaho, nababaog. hehehe.

Nice one, Fhoy.:lol:

barrera_marquez

May 4th, 2008, 01:43 PM

masarap ba talagang mag-sex tapos mabuntis tapos manganak, hindi ba nakakamatay minsan ang manganak?

Waldenstrom

May 5th, 2008, 03:45 PM

^^ yup, nakakamatay minsan manganak. maraming causes. :)

tigidig14

May 5th, 2008, 03:49 PM

isa pang tanong, dapat bang magsex kahit ang babae ay buntis

absinthe_888

May 5th, 2008, 03:50 PM

dapat pag mahirap at alang trabaho, pag 2 na anak, brutal force na ligation o tali na para hindi na mabuntis.

tigidig14

May 5th, 2008, 03:53 PM

itakin ang utin ng lalake haha..

icarusrising

May 5th, 2008, 04:04 PM

^^ Araguy! Wag naman... :lol: I-promote na lang natin ang contraceptives kaysa aputol...

papable

May 5th, 2008, 04:39 PM

i think the influence of the catholic church on the population issue is not as strong as before. In fact, most catholics do not really follow the church teachings against contraception, and control their birth rates anyway.

If you look closely at the population statistics of the recently released 2007 census, most provinces increased their population by less than 2% per year, some even by just about 1%. There maybe few provinces which have higher growth rates (notably calabarzon provinces like cavite, rizal and laguna, and bulacan), but this is because of high migration to these areas and the spill over from metro manila.

The most increases (from 2000 to 2007, according to the census) are recorded by Muslim dominated provinces or provinces with substantial Muslim population. They grow by 5% to 10% per year. There are even towns in these areas which recorded as high as 15% growth per year. This is notwithstanding the high migration rates of Muslims to other provinces (everyone can attest that there now big and fast growing Muslim communities almost everywhere). Without these growth areas, the rest of the country have a much slower growth, perhaps just slightly higher than other countries.

This is something that population planners and national and local political leaders should ponder upon.

absinthe_888

May 5th, 2008, 06:10 PM

buti nalang nawala na yung mga squatter sa riles, pag dumaan ang tren, magigising si mister, kulbitin si misis...patay na hehehehe

May 7th, 2008, 07:11 AM

what about if the government will offer free vasectomy and ligation and giving incentives to those families who are willing to participatre? di ba na isip ng gobeyrno natin un? Like free education, housing etc.. to those who are willing.

barrera_marquez

May 7th, 2008, 09:09 AM

bukid

May 7th, 2008, 04:33 PM

hanggang ngayon ba pinoproblema pa ninyo ang population. sa dami na ng RB ngayon, pinoproblema niyo pa rin yan? ang lalake ngayon ay para na sa lalake at ang babae ngayon ay para na sa babae... kaya bat niyo pa proproblemahin ang pagdami ng population?

le Reine

May 7th, 2008, 05:30 PM

barrera_marquez

May 8th, 2008, 12:01 AM

bukid

May 8th, 2008, 01:20 PM

^^ marami nang teenagers ngayon na RB noh. kung hindi mo lang alam malaking kabawasan na yan. tapos ang mga natitirang mga straight ay pangit kaya no way silang bastat makakaparami. sabagay, basta nakainom ng RH kahit ang pangit gumaganda at gumaguapo.

amigo32

May 8th, 2008, 01:22 PM

hehehehe

bukid

May 8th, 2008, 02:05 PM

hay salamat, wa na gyud! di na ni maglalis ron. at last, the debate has ended. :D

the conclusion: the only problem with the population is the increase in membership to the RB federation. and the end of the beautiful and handsome human race. ewan ko ba kung bakit ang mga guapo at magaganda ay mga RB. samantalang ang mga straight kadalasan ang papangit.

barrera_marquez

May 8th, 2008, 02:39 PM

may tanong lang ako, may pagkatanga kasi ako, ano ba yung RB at RH na iyon?

May 8th, 2008, 05:36 PM

expect protests from the church... ganoon lang.

fuk the church :bash:

bukid

May 8th, 2008, 07:13 PM

may tanong lang ako, may pagkatanga kasi ako, ano ba yung RB at RH na iyon?

:D RH = Red Horse RB = Red Bat (puang kwaknit)

barrera_marquez

May 9th, 2008, 12:02 AM

:D RH = Red Horse RB = Red Bat (puang kwaknit)

salamat!

tigidig14

May 9th, 2008, 12:43 AM

kala ko rb ay rorong barok, puang kwaknit pala gid

NightDog

May 9th, 2008, 02:35 AM

isang medicol tablet lang ang kailangan para hindi na mabuntet si esmi.

ipitin ang tableta sa gitna ng dalawang tuhod ni esmi. wag hayaang malaglag ang tableta para hindi mabuntet si esmi. pag nalaglag ang tableta, wala na tayong magagawa dyan. buntisan na naman.

absinthe_888

May 9th, 2008, 06:16 PM

‘RP good in reproduction, poor in production’
By Rudy Fernandez
Saturday, May 10, 2008
http://philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20080509110

An economic adviser of President Arroyo has pointed to the country’s growing population as the main cause of the rice shortage.

Speaking at the 18th National Convention of the Philippine Association of Research Managers Inc. (PHILARM) at the Casablanca Hotel in Legazpi City, Albay Gov. Jose Salceda said the country’s demand for food has risen because there are more mouths to feed, but agricultural lands to cultivate are dwindling.

“The Philippines is good in reproduction but bad in production,” he said.

Salceda said when farmers produce less, expect the prices of food to increase.

Food production affects how the country’s agricultural lands are being used as there is a structural limit to land expansion, he added.

Salceda told the about 100 research managers from all over the country who attended the conference that rice is a good policy instrument, and researchers and research managers have a crucial role to play in it.

“For every problem in the sector, there must be a research because every research answers a policy,” he said.

Salceda’s presentation, entitled “Nature’s Vengeance, Farmers’ Revenge: A Roadmap to food Security,” provided the participants insights on the current food production status and, more important, policy options and sequencing in response to the current food price crisis.

The conference’s theme is “Mobilizing research managers for food and energy security.”

Other speakers were Department of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) director Nicomedes P. Eleazar, Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal and Bicol University (BU) vice president Helen Llenaresas.

Eleazar emphasized the need to meet the growing food needs of the country given the constraints in resources.

The challenge, the research administrator said, “is for the research community to make further shifts in the yield potential of rice by developing high-yielding varieties to reduce farmers’ agricultural inputs and increase their incomes.”

On energy security, Eleazar underscored the need for research managers’ aggressive pursuit to make this area a contemporary strategic field for research and policy.

“The advent of biofuels may forecast well for agricultural producers owing to the new markets that will be potentially available,” he said.

“However, its implications to food security, poverty and environments need to be more closely examined. Integration of its research, development and extension (RDE) should be imperative.”

PHILARM is a professional organization established in 1989 to promote and enhance the role of managers in improving and sustaining productivity in research.

It is headed by Dr. Heraldo Layaoan, vice president of the Batac City, Ilocos Norte-based Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU).

PHILARM has now more than 1,000 members, mostly from the fields of research and research management.

‘Promote nutrition’

President Arroyo asked women yesterday to help promote proper nutrition and birth spacing in the face of a looming rice crisis.

Speaking to members and officers of the Soroptomist International of the Philippines Region (SIPR) during a luncheon in Malacañang, Mrs. Arroyo said the government is addressing demand and supply sides to reduce hunger.

“And as you continue to help our women through health, in the environment, in education, in human rights and in economic and social development,” she said, “I hope that in these trying times of the world, you will also take up the challenge of promoting food nutrition and birth spacing. The ultimate winners of your program combined with nutrition and birth spacing will be the Filipino people and the Filipino women.”

The government is increasing food production and enhancing the efficiency of logistics and food delivery, she added.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government’s agricultural modernization program has allowed the country to increase rice production by more than the population growth rate of 2.04 percent.

“On the demand side, we’re challenged to put more money in poor people’s pockets. That’s why we’re creating programs in training women,” she said.

“We are challenged to promote good nutrition. We are challenged to promote birth spacing.”

“Because even if our rice production is growing more than our population, we have been importing rice since the Spanish times and we have not closed that gap in a sustainable manner.”

Mrs. Arroyo said the SIPR’s programs to improve the poor and marginalized Filipinas’ health, environment, education, human rights and socio-economic development “hew closely” to the government’s programs.

“World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report ranks the Philippines number six in the world among all countries and the only Asian among the top ten in closing the gender gap, the only Asian country and one of only six in the world to have closed the gender gap on both education and health,” she said.

The Philippines is number one in gender parity in the world in terms of literacy rate and enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education; among managers, professional and technical workers, and on life expectancy, Mrs. Arroyo said.

barrera_marquez

May 9th, 2008, 11:38 PM

kung pwede lang talagang pumatay e...

absinthe_888

May 10th, 2008, 11:05 AM

dapat siguro ipagabawal sa mga squatters bumoto.

barrera_marquez

May 10th, 2008, 12:16 PM

dapat siguro ipagabawal sa mga squatters bumoto.

hindi naman pwede iyon, anti-poor na kasi iyon. we need something to stop the baby factories here not sanctioning the poor.

IndioBravo

May 11th, 2008, 07:17 PM

barrera_marquez

May 11th, 2008, 11:42 PM

GMA and all the trapos are afraid of the church influence specifically the Catholic Church.I'm afraid our population will continue expanding.There are no future presidentiables either.All of them will vow to the Catholic church.Unless, we vote a left wing candidate.The question is are we ready for a socialist govt.?:)

Nope and I don't like a socialist government, it is authoritarian.

Anyway, the government should learn that there is a clear line between the church and the state. It doesn't mean that we should follow the church always since they are also humans and commit mistakes. What the government should do is to do things for the good of the people. But of course, they should still do it while abiding at the law.

Think of President Ramos, did he followed the church during his term? Is his term that good?

le Reine

May 12th, 2008, 12:56 PM

IndioBravo

May 12th, 2008, 07:08 PM

barrera_marquez

May 13th, 2008, 06:00 AM

No,it's a misconception:).It does not mean that if it's a socialist govt. it's authoritarian.It will still be democratic, but their vision will be different from a right wing party (as in our current political parties).Religious tolerance will be promoted,no one religion will be influential.Religious views will be heard but not necessarily followed,unless it benefit the majority.

Marieantoinette is correct,political parties in our country are very poor in establishing political platform.They have no specific agenda,like what's their stand in Population control,improving Transportation,improving healthcare,inviting/promoting foreign business.What about foreign ownership of lands? They all try to avoid such queeries,which is frustrating.I wonder what's Bayan's/Gabriela stand on such matters.Are these 2 groups plain communists or socialist's.:hm:

Now what happened in the USSR and China? USSR is socialist and China is communist, both authoritarian governments. Socialism and communism follows an ideology and to preserve that, they prosecute religious people and the "enemies" of the state.

Now, before replying to this thread, remember Tienanmen Square massacre. And China has the world's largest population, 1.1B people!

What happened to Alexander Dubcek and Mikhail Gorbachev? I know they are socialist reformers and I applaud them for that but what happened to Alexander Dubcek during the Prague spring? The Warsaw Pact invaded his government and reinstalled communism and Mikhail Gorbachev was house-arrested when he introduced glasnost and perestroika that ultimately lead to the dissolution of USSR.

technoblaze

May 13th, 2008, 11:46 AM

hindi naman pwede iyon, anti-poor na kasi iyon. we need something to stop the baby factories here not sanctioning against the poor.

mas maganda ciguro kung mgimplement tayo anti poor policies..:lol:
para naman ung mga tao mag trabaho at hindi aasa sa gobyerno..

ex:
Bawal vargancy,Bawal Sqatting, Bawal magtambay, Bawal Bumili ng Non-basic needs PgWala pang trabaho, Requirement dpat ang Makatapos ng Highschool

le Reine

May 13th, 2008, 01:20 PM

mas maganda ciguro kung mgimplement tayo anti poor policies..:lol:
para naman ung mga tao mag trabaho at hindi aasa sa gobyerno..

ex:
Bawal vargancy,Bawal Sqatting, Bawal magtambay, Bawal Bumili ng Non-basic needs PgWala pang trabaho, Requirement dpat ang Makatapos ng HighschoolAlthough though it was a joke, I don't think it's proper. :ohno:

The problem is actually easy to solve unless the government would have balls to make a long-term solution to this even though it would go against the policy of the Church.

IndioBravo

May 13th, 2008, 07:55 PM

[Now, before replying to this thread, remember Tienanmen Square massacre.And China has the world's largest population, 1.1B people!

A socialist govt. is different from a communist govt.Religious stuff isn't allowed in a communist leadership.I'm not condoning China's behavior,but look at their economy now.What about Vietnam,they have overtaken us economically already.But again,we are not talking about the Philippines becoming a communist country rather giving other options on ways of charting the Philippines's future.We are anyway a rightwing country for hundreds of years already,and we are still struggling economically.

barrera_marquez

May 13th, 2008, 11:30 PM

Animo

May 13th, 2008, 11:51 PM

AFP - Friday, May 9 (http://beta.ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080509/tbs-philippines-commodities-rice-food-in-059e858.html)

MANILA (AFP) - - Birth control at home and friendly ties with the world's top rice exporters will help the Philippines survive soaring food prices, President Gloria Arroyo said Friday.

Even though yields are growing above the population growth rate of 2.04 percent thanks to state investments in the farm sector, Manila is some way off self-sufficiency in the staple grain, she told a group of businesswomen here.

One of the world's largest rice importers, Manila has been hard-pressed to meet its import target this year of 2.7 million tonnes as prices have soared due to bad weather, the rise of the biofuels industry, urbanisation, and strong global demand, among others.

"We are challenged to promote birth spacing because even if our rice production is growing more than our population we have been importing rice since the Spanish (colonial) times and we have not yet closed that gap," Arroyo said.

Population control programmes in this Roman Catholic country have often foundered in the past due to opposition from the church, which says artificial contraceptives promote sexual promiscuity and immorality.

Arroyo also gave herself a pat on the back for having anticipated the rice price crisis.

"The critical reaction is for exporting countries to husband their own stocks because prices are going up even in the exporting countries," she said.

"We have reached out to Vietnam and Thailand long before the shortage."

Arroyo said "traditional relationships are a key element as sellers are forced to choose between hordes of willing buyers."

She said "the buyers who bought early are the only ones with rice. Only those who come to the party early leave with party favours. Thank goodness the Philippines is one of them."

IndioBravo

May 13th, 2008, 11:53 PM

^^France had a socialist govt. as well as UK.Both are far from being a communist country.In fact are quite liberal than so-called democratic countries.And may I add Spain as well.Prime Minister Zapatero is with the socialist party of Spain.Now,before condeming my point of view,why don't you read a bit on this liberal idea.

Mercato

May 14th, 2008, 12:06 AM

AFP - Friday, May 9 (http://beta.ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080509/tbs-philippines-commodities-rice-food-in-059e858.html)

One of the world's largest rice importers , Manila has been hard-pressed to meet its import target this year of 2.7 million tonnes as prices have soared due to bad weather, the rise of the biofuels industry, urbanisation, and strong global demand, among others.

Well, I'll be... the AFP is bein' too modest. Because in most foreign publications like Newsweek, Financial Times Europe & the Straits Times, Manila is pretty much IT - THE World's Biggest Importer of Rice.

In stark contrast to the '70s & early '80s when Manila was one of the world's biggest rice exporters at the height of IRRI's glory when Thai & Indon students flocked to Los Banos to study the methods of rice production. Today Thailand btw is THE world's biggest rice exporter.

technoblaze

May 14th, 2008, 06:14 AM

Although though it was a joke, I don't think it's proper. :ohno:

The problem is actually easy to solve unless the government would have balls to make a long-term solution to this even though it would go against the policy of the Church.

sorry for the wrong choice of words :) , but I really hope that the government would implement rules to eradicate that “Juan Tamad” ideology

barrera_marquez

May 14th, 2008, 08:54 AM

Well, I'll be... the AFP is bein' too modest. Because in most foreign publications like Newsweek, Financial Times Europe & the Straits Times, Manila is pretty much IT - THE World's Biggest Importer of Rice.

In stark contrast to the '70s & early '80s when Manila was one of the world's biggest rice exporters at the height of IRRI's glory when Thai & Indon students flocked to Los Banos to study the methods of rice production. Today Thailand btw is THE world's biggest rice exporter.

Alam ko hindi nananakaw ang katalinuhan... ang problema kasi natin, ang mga magsasaka natin, konti lang ang kita. E kung palakihin mo kita ng mga iyan at tirahin ang mga 5-6 ng mga magsasaka baka tumaas ang ani natin.

3cr

May 21st, 2008, 07:40 AM

Reproductive health debate linked to price of rice, population issues
CLAIRE DELFIN
GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/94963/Reproductive-health-debate-linked-to-price-of-rice-population-issues

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – The sizzling heat of the noonday sun worsens the agony of at least a hundred urban poor settlers trying to line up to buy the government-subsidized rice from a so-called rolling store outside the Commonwealth Market in Quezon City.

The line of people carrying umbrellas to protect them from the sun stretches to as long as 100 meters.

Housewife Virginia Tindogan has to endure the sweltering heat. She brought along her teenage daughter to be able to bring home six kilograms of rice. The National Food Authority has issued a guideline limiting the sale of rice to only three kilograms per person a day.

The NFA rice is currently the cheapest available in the market, with the “regular variety" being sold at 18.25 pesos per kilogram and 25 pesos per kilogram for the “premium variety." The prices are way cheaper than that of the commercial rice that are already being priced at 38 pesos per kilogram.

“Dinala ko na ang anak ko kasi paano kakasya ang tatlong kilo, e anim kaming kakain sa bahay (I brought along my daughter because how can three kilos of rice be sufficient when there are six of us who eat in the house?)," said Tindogan.

Rice is a staple for Filipinos and, like Tindogan, most Filipinos have rice on top of their list of food to buy. Rice, being a source of carbohydrates, is particularly important for the poor who perform difficult tasks or heavy labor. In many occasions, the poor carry on their day with only rice sprinkled with salt or soy sauce as food.

Filipinos consume as much as 29,000 metric tons of rice a day, but with the country’s growing population, rising faster than its Asian neighbors, the demand for rice is also increasing.

The government has announced that the number of Filipinos grew nearly 16 percent to 88.57 million as of August 2007 from 76.50 million in May 2000. By 2009, with a projected population of 92.22 million, the Philippines will consume 9.75 million metric tons of rice, higher than the expected 9.56 million metric tons that Filipinos will consume this year.

Rice production, however, is not increasing.

City ordinance

The Quezon City local government said it cannot afford anything worse. Worse is when there is a long queue of people buying subsidized rice but supply is good for only half of them.

Quezon City councilor Joseph Juico said the situation is one of their reasons why the council passed the so-called RH (reproductive health) ordinance, establishing a population and reproductive health management policy, which institutes various family planning programs, both natural and artificial, for couples.

The ordinance was passed before the “rice crisis" started. But Juico said similar problems will come up unless the growing population is restrained.

“It’s an urgent need for the city and the country. No matter how many schools we put, no matter how many children we feed, but if the population continues to widen, we cannot do so much," he said.

Quezon City is the largest city in the country in terms of population, growing 2.92 percent between the years 2000 and 2007. From 2.17 million in May 2000, the city’s population leaped to 2.68 million in August 2007. The city’s population comes close to that of the whole province of Cavite, which registered a total population of 2.86 million in 2007, making it the largest province.

barrera_marquez

May 21st, 2008, 12:05 PM