By Argyll Cyrus Geducos

President Duterte said the Catholic Church’s opposition to alternative family planning methods was the reason for the surge in the country’s population.

In an interview with Sonshine Media Network, Duterte said that the Philippines remains as one of the countries with the fastest population growth rate in the world, noting that this was because of the Catholic Church.

“We are the fastest… ang population (in population growth) and I squarely blame the Catholic Church. Sila lang nagpipigil ng birth [control], family planning (They are the ones stopping birth control and family planning),” he said.

“They think just spewing out human beings by the millions every year is a gift from God. Not this generation, but four or five generations, to your lament, you will know who to blame,” he added.

The President then urged health officials to implement the government’s family planning programs, or just resign if they find it against their religious beliefs.

“Itong mga (To the) health officials, if you cannot follow the family planning law of the government, you better resign,” Duterte said.

“You go out or I’ll assign you to an empty room, all of you there. Total eh kung hindi ko matanggal, ganoon ang style ko (That’s what I do if I can’t fire people). I’m thinking of that. You are not performing? You are not following government policy? It gets into your religious beliefs? Then step down. Leave the government,” he added.

Duterte then said that because of the high population growth rate of the country, the Philippines was starting to look like a baby factory.

“We are now 110 [million], we are the second highest. If you look at the figures of population growth all over the world, the Philippines is a baby machine,” he said.

“You are forced to believe… wala nang ginawa ang mga Pilipino kundi mag-rapapap (that Filipinos have nothing better to do than have sex),” he added.

In March this year, President Duterte approved the full and intensified implementation of the National Program on Family Planning which will provide 11.3 million women with modern contraceptives.

“The approval of the aforesaid plan is expected to reduce poverty incidence in the country, which currently has the highest fertility rate and fastest growing population in the ASEAN region, from the current 20 percent to 14 percent in 2022,” Malacañang said in a statement.

In 2017, Duterte issued an Executive Order intensifying access to modern family planning despite Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on some provisions of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act.