The Philippines is known to be the only predominantly Catholic country in Southeast Asia. The traditions and culture of the Filipinos are shaped and nurtured by the Catholic Church which guided them through the supernatural world. But it doesn't mean that the church is always right. For this reason Filipinos need to think for their future in deciding their birth control. According to the Philippine National Statistic Office (NSO) the population of our country in 2010 is approximately 91,983,000; this means approximately 2 million babies are born in the Philippines every year and Manila alone had a population of 10 million. And in this present economy of ours I can see half of it was hungry or starving. Overpopulation in our country is not a myth it's a documented fact. The Philippines is one of the most populated countries in the world in relation to its land mass.
According to the study of NSO (National Statistic Office) among Filipino women, the lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes is one in 100. And maternal deaths contribute 14 percent of all deaths in women aged 15-49 years. Without legal artificial contraceptive, women with unwanted pregnancy for various reasons (mostly poverty) will resulted to an illegal abortion which in the eyes of God and Law is a mortal sin. Some politicians who are against this RH (Reproductive Health) bill said that population growth make economic sense. They cited China and India, because of their large population these countries economy is booming. But they didn't mention that those countries had a strict policies on their birth control. In fact China had a one child policy, otherwise the family will be penalized known as (social compensation fee). The fee for the penalty is an amount which is four times bigger than the annual income of the ordinary Chinese.
In its January 2010 Labor Force Survey the NSO said, that the number of unemployed Filipinos was 2.8 million, not to mention the incoming march graduates. We should think that we are in a third world country category, and we should think that we need to develop ourselves to have a good standard of living. How can we do it if we cannot control our population? How can a Filipino bread winner feed and educate his big family if he doesn't have enough for himself, and how can he go to church and pray if his mind and stomach is starving. Let us be practical and we should not be hypocrite.
Despite of our minute economic growth, poverty is on the rise and many economists believed that one of the reasons is a rapid population growth. They said that our economy and our society will be better if we addressed this population problem at least two decades ago. But until now we are still reluctant to face this problem. The view of the Catholic Church believed in the natural law of contraception, and the church believed that the artificial contraception is against the natural law. But another more recent NSO survey results shows that 70 percent (70%) of ordinary Filipinos believed that the government should be required by law to distribute contraceptives. It will come to a question that, is the government had been dictated by the church rather than the will of the ordinary citizen? RH bill is a Philippine bill aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. Progress against poverty and hunger is possible, is happening lets follow the trend.
Despite of our minute economic growth, poverty is on the rise and many economists believed that one of the reasons is a rapid population growth. They said that our economy and our society will be better if we addressed this population problem at least two decades ago. But until now we are still reluctant to face this problem. The view of the Catholic Church believed in the natural law of contraception, and the church believed that the artificial contraception is against the natural law. But another more recent NSO survey results shows that 70 percent (70%) of ordinary Filipinos believed that the government should be required by law to distribute contraceptives. It will come to a question that, is the government had been dictated by the church rather than the will of the ordinary citizen? RH bill is a Philippine bill aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care. Progress against poverty and hunger is possible, is happening lets follow the trend.
