Accents

Overpopulation: a problem awaiting solutions

The dream of a brighter day for little Juan and Juana continue to elude the horde of families that grapple with daily existence in the hovels of city slum areas and in the rickety shacks of rural Philippines – families overburdened by mouths to be fed, let alone children to be clothed and properly sheltered. Clearly, overpopulation with all its embedded problems cries for solutions. In last week’s column, I was explicit that I am in favor of the use of contraceptives to cut population growth, and that abortion should be resorted to only when continued pregnancy will endanger the life of the mother. Abortion does kill, unlike contraceptives that, as the term suggests, only prevent the conception of life.

As a way of observing World Population Day, July 11, I asked members of the e-group Worldwide Filipino Alliance for comments on curbing the exploding population in the home country. Some members, most of them in diaspora, have sent in comments which I excerpted hereunder. My riposte follows with every quote for you, dear reader, to mull over:

Engineer Satur Respicio: “The thrust to have sex education in public schools appears to be shut with the appointment by President BSC Aquino of a member of a Catholic brotherhood, a celibate at best, to head the Department of Education, as Secretary. …The earliest that WFAians and their contacts in our island country work towards the resignation of the celibate brother, the better the fight to eradicate overpopulation, if not diminish it. …And there is no better time than now. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is too late. … Overpopulation will surely negate a trust towards ameliorating the plight of our suffering countryfolk. …Clerics, amahs, religious prosyletarians and their kind should shut up. Necessarily, even made to shut up, really.”

Right! The one to head the Department of Education should not be affiliated to any religion that assiduously, painstakingly, religiously (to be redundant about it) promotes its own system of belief and practices. Let’s see how the Reverend will hurdle the Commission on Appointments.

Irineo Goce aka Ka Pule: “Balikan po natin ang dakilang kautusan ng Amang Maykapal: “Humayo kayo, at magpakarami.” Go forth, and multiply.... Anong malay natin na baka yung hinahadlangan nating mabuhay – kung matuloy isilang – ay siyang magiging katubusan ng ating hali at bansa pagkaraan ng ilang siglong nakaraan ng ating paghihirap at pagiiging alipin ng ibang mga bansa at lahi?”

That would be like Waiting for Godot, Ka Pule, like waiting is forever. For all you know, the savior that you envision might already be among the present crop of young people. Further, the age-old Go forth, and multiply…does not apply anymore. With Mother Earth crying environmental degradation caused by the foraging for food, the biblical mandate is gathering molds in the archives.

Dr. Carmelita Mangilit: “I worked in the inner cities of the USA, as a pediatrician and understood more clearly that the contraceptives are not the solution for the perceived population explosion. There are many vacant uncultivated lands not only in the Philippines but also in the first world. If the super rich of the Philippines and those working in the first world share as the gospel suggested, there will be work and men will not have the time to be preoccupied with sex, therefore less children and they will have the means to get recreational outlets other than mistresses etc. Dr. Flavier belonged to a big family. One religious told him that if his parents practiced contraceptions, he would not be around. I believe in responsible parenthood and the liberty of women to be loved, respected and cared for. Contraceptives are not the solution to good parenting skills. It is an instant solution to a complex social and work availability problems…”

Responsible parenthood is being able to provide your children the basic needs – food, clothing, and shelter plus two others, medical assistance and education, down in the hierarchy of basic needs. How can the parents at the huge base of the social pyramid provide these needs to half a dozen or a dozen children? I strongly believe in the use of contraceptives to limit the number of offspring to be fed. Regardless of what the religious had told Dr. Flavier, still he espouses the use of contraceptives.

Like what Engineer Respicio had described, Dr. Flavier’s parents didn’t have it easy and comfy for their big family. Me and my husband? How we kept our noses to the grindstone providing four children education and all. If we didn’t use contraceptives and had eight instead of just four, some might not have reached college or just settled for a vocational course. Said my friends, you have two doctors (a Phi Kappa Phi, a Best Intern and Best Resident and a Dean Lister at the Asian Institute of Management, gosh, me boasting to drive home a point), and they asked why we did not bear more children. Oh, well, quality trumps quantity. (Don’t you think so, Ka Pule, with your DOST and PhilSci scholar?)

Dr. Greg Mariano: “I believe in family planning based on the couples wishes and circumstances. I am a member of the First United Methodist Church so unlike the Catholic hierarchy, I do not have any problems with the use of artificial birth control. For the children, I favor sex education at home and in school. And for what it’s worth, I believe vasectomy could be the cheapest birth control method; it could be done quickly in the office under local anesthesia and the government may decide to subsidize the procedure for the poor under PhilHealth.”

I am a Catholic, Dr. Greg, but I strongly agree with you on the use of artificial birth control. I will certainly propose vasectomy to our Puericulture Center doctor and nurse, et al. as soon as I find myself in the homeland.

Prof. Cesar Torres: “I think poverty is one reason for the exploding population. It is a vicious cycle. Not necessarily because the Catholic Church frowns on population control. Tingin ko, ang Catholic Church hindi na masyadong pinaniniwalaan ng masa. …Perhaps, if the rebellions will stop, and there is an effective, rational political and governmental leadership, especially among the military and the local government units, a more efficient system of family planning might be effected. Then we may not have the sad situation of a family of nine, mother is just a labandera, tatay is jobless, nangingikil ng pambili ng alcohol, children out of school, the very young girls selling sampaguita and their young bodies.”

You’ve just pictured the shacks beside Manila’s railroad tracks and the slums in the cities of Bangsa Kasuko-an, reflective of the congested streets of Calcutta and of many other Third World countries. Sex education is a must and an effective system of family planning goes with that. Perhaps, if the rebellions will stop… I’m hoping and praying for that, too.

Mr. Roger Bantiles: “There must be something to learn about the drop in birthrate that seems to have occurred in the economically developed countries coincident and contemporaneous with their high stage of economic development, so much so that they now have difficulties maintaining a stable and demographically balanced population. …Maybe, we have to revisit Maslow’s hierarchy of values and become adept also at making our country highly developed to make a dent on the population problem. …Why should our population be a problem? At the rate the population is graying in many parts of the world, Pinoys are needed to repopulate it. Hhmmmm......”

Hey, you make me smile. Better to have problems balancing a graying population enjoying all the comforts of life than to have problems of a burgeoning population whose song is “Isang kahig, isang tuka, ganyan kaming mga dukha.”

Along with the smiles and the laughter, interspersed by tears, hard work and sacrifice, we really have to do something for the teeming downtrodden: work on solutions to halt overpopulation. “And there is no better time than now. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is too late.” Maybe slowly but persistently, one step at a time as the catch phrase would have it – all for Bayan Ko, onward to a better world.

Email: lagoc@hargray.com