Population Explosion in the Philippines
The Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country, with a population of over 90 million as of 2008. This is according to this article.
This is not surprising, given the stance of the Catholic Church on birth control method. Click here for the official Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines statement on Contraceptive Mentality.
The way the government seem to agree with the church regarding the issue is also a factor which contributed to the fact that the population boom is escalating and there are really clear actions how to stop the numbers from escalating.
The USAID has been supporting The Philippine Family Program for years and the objectives that they have outlined are agreeable with me. Click here to read the Factsheet.
The WQ#11 was inspired by the answer of Lovelyn to WQ#10 regarding the Little Girl and I want to know your opinion on this very important and controversial topic of Family Planning Issues and the ballooning population of the country:
Should people heed the call of the Catholic Church to not use artificial means of contraception/reproductive health products and services OR should they go ahead, talk to their doctors and plan for how they want to practice family planning?
My answer:
I believe in the stance of the church that people should not contradict the “fruitfulness of human reproductive capacities given by the Creator and hence are morally wrong”. But on second thought, the church should not pass judgment on people regarding their stance on the use of artificial contraception as morally wrong.
The numbers alone are astounding and although I am in no position to say or predict what will truly happen a few years from now if population will not be controlled is still a dreadful thought to me.
Don’t we even ask why we have a scarcity of food?
Don’t people feel uncomfortable about living in a cramped house and with their children getting hungry but there is not enough food to eat.
Don’t we ever ask why schools are overflowing with children and that there is not enough budget to get all the resources needed to improve the learning conditions?
Don’t we ever ask why there are lesser and lesser lands to farm because people are making these lands their homes?
Don’t we ever ask why, the church, who do not promote the artificial means of contraception not helping these people?
Does the church provide for free education to the masses not accommodated in the over-populated public schools? No, it doesn’t, instead it’s schools offer sky-high tuition fees for the moneyed people.
I am afraid a stirred a hornet’s nest with my questions and have not answered the question I should have answered first. But one thing for sure, my husband and I have three children and we stopped at that number.
Three is fine with both of us and we believe that in doing so, we would be able to provide a good future for our children.
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We have an exploding population if left unchecked will bring us nothing but misery and starvation. Some drastic measures need to be done to bring our population growth to zero or close to it and it should have been done yesterday. What say you?
Bert, it is not just misery and starvation that I see everyday, its much more. The urban poor is growing in numbers tremendously. Just this afternoon, even in downpour, there are so may children drenched in rain, begging for money. What kind of future await these children? What kind of mindset do their parents have, making their having their children as pawns just so they can get by and have a meal bu the end of the day?
The rural folks have nothing to eat because most of them are too old to farm since the younger ones are flocking to the cities to look for jobs. So they end up selling their lands for malls, gasoline stations and subdivisions.
Yes, I believe, these drastic measures should have been done yesterday. It should have been done a long time ago, whether the RC approves of it or not.
Thank you for your piece of mind.
Have a great week
My apologies for the errors, I am in a hurry to answer. Our phone line is dead and I am using a mobile connection which is taking forever to load. Sigh…
just dropping by…
hello sis, havent got the email. but will grab the question later. ok?
thanks for playing along.
Thanks, Mhar
Thanks, Arlene, will be emailing it again,have had some connection problems during the last two days.
Hello, Miss Julie! I just had mine up at http://faerydancing.blogspot.com/2008/08/weekly-question-11.html
We really need to get a grip on our worsening population problem. I’m not so fussy about how to achieve this end, what’s important is achieving it. Instead of fighting against each other, the government and the Church ought to work hand in hand in solving problems such as this.
Hi Miss Julie! your points really made me think…the points you shared are indeed true…it’s a sad reality…
Here’s mine Weekly Question #11: Au Naturale?
mine is now up, sister Juls. i dunno if i had the right title. hehehee
Thank you for answering this question. I agree about the church and the government working hand in hand to curb the problems.
Have a great week
Z, yes, definitely a sad reality but if no concrete actions are taken now, we are in for a long haul.
Thanks
You had it right Arlene
Thanks for candidly answering the WQ.
this is indeed a personal question, T. Julie. i don’t mind if you managed to stir the hornet’s nest, but this is a reality which needs to be addressed (and I hope that something can really be done about it … soon!).
sensya na, sabay na naman yung WQ10 and WQ11 ko …
will try to do better next time!
Happy Thursday!
[...] This week, Teacher Julie asked a question very close to my heart: “Should people heed the call of the Catholic Church to not use artificial means of contraception/reproductive health products and services OR should they go ahead, talk to their doctors and plan for how they want to practice family planning?” [...]
Hi Ms Julie!
I posted my answer here: http://pencilpushin.com/?p=446
Hi Teacher Julie,
Dito nalang ako mag-answer ha. May matatamaan kasi akong reader sa aking blog eh. Mahirap na.
I would only agree with the stand of Catholic Church, if and only if they would actually give the basic needs of the children incase the parents cannot provide.
It’s very disturbing to find out that the Philippines is that crowded knowing that the resources are very scarce. I have no problems when people pro-create as many children as they can as long as they can provide them with their basic needs, give them individual care and love. The problem is that the people who don’t think of college costs are the ones making so many babies. Gawa ng gawa wala naman maipakain, ang kawawa yung mga bata. The children end up begging in the streets, subjected to child prostitution and then they themselves become parents…and the cycle just goes on in exponential form. What kind of quality of life would that be?
How different is natural from artificial methods of contraception, if they meant to do the same purpose- prevent conception? Natural is only effective when you actually follow the procedures properly. With lives being so busy that last thing you want to do is keep track of the safe and non-safe days. If a couple is not financially capable of having more than 2 kids, why risk having 5?
The “quality” of population is also a big concern here in the States, the ones who are reproducing faster are the ones who rely on welfare. A single mother under the age of 25 with five kids in the projects is very common. College graduate couples are the ones very conservative when it comes to the number of kids they have because they know they have to pay the mortgage, save for a college fund and save for retirement.
Children here are not expected to take care of their parents financially when the parents can no longer work unlike in the Philippines.
Ciao Teacher Julie,
I’m wayyy behind! Here’s mine: http://myracounteurattempt.blogspot.com/2008/08/weekly-question-11.html
Thanks and Bouna Domenica!
Hello! I think the basic idea that the Church wants people to understand is that sex should be practiced by responsible, married couples (yeah, I know, I didn’t follow this, and see what happened!) Sadly, most of the masses end up having lots of kids that they cannot feed because they are not informed as to how to practice natural family planning. I dunno, maybe I’m just saying this because I don’t have a partner so I don’t have a problem of getting pregnant again. I think what the Church should do is to help educate the masses, and not focus on judging people’s “morality”. The past cannot be changed, but we can change the future.
Everything starts with the FAMILY. Let us do our part, starting with our children. 
(I would of course educate my child on “safe sex”, but it’s better not to encourage it, di ba?)
The problem is that the RCC do not want people learning about artificial contraceptives because allegedly, it will make people more sexually promiscuous. But then, how could there be an informed decision, if people are not given all the information they need to make one? The Reproductive Health bill does not take away NFP; it offers artificial contraception education alongside NFP so that people can make informed choices.
But, I guess the Roman Catholic Church, does not want the population to decrease. More people = more followers = more money. ‘Nuff said.