|
A few years ago, I was assigned to one of our Good Shepherd Convents located in Pandacan, a poor area with old wooden houses so close to each other, no play yards or gardens to speak of, and often, a family of five living in one room and another family in each of the other rooms. Some are related to each other, others are renting and have never met each other till they started to live there. Outside those houses as vendors, cigarette and newsboys. Traffic is bad, and there are always people in the streets 24/7 (that means 24 hours a day, seven days a week).
|
My office was only one jeepney ride away, but my travel was always a stressful experience, especially when I had overtime and would go home past six pm. Men and women, boys and girls would scramble to get into the jeep and I would be pushed aside because I was too polite to shove my way in.
Indeed, there is overpopulation, I thought. Then one day, I arrived at the waiting shed to see a long rope with people all lining to get into the jeep. A man was barking orders which jeep would go next, and so on. Do you know that in two minutes I found myself seated comfortably?
It was not a matter of too many people then. All it needed was order and system. And if all places here in our country could just practice systematic order, we will not think that there are just too many Filipinos so we should have population control.
Despite what you may have heard in media and in your classroom, there is no overpopulation. Abortion, euthanasia (mercy killing), contraception, sterilization and infanticide are not needed to stop an over abundance of the human race. There could be rapid population increases in some countries and areas of the Philippines in the lat century but this is not because of soaring birth rates. It is rather the plunging death rates
because of advances in science that have lessened the number of people dying of TB, malaria and other infections and increasing their life span.
In fact, many of the rich countries are now worried because they have so many elderly citizens needing medical care and there are not enough young ones for the work force. In 73 countries around the world, including the United States, the total fertility rate is below replacement level. A nation should have a fertility rate of 2.1 children (or two to three children per couple)so that its population will not drastically fall and destroy the economy. Many governments in Europe are now giving incentives for couples to have more children unlike here in the Philippines where our government is telling people not to have any more children.
Many people think that the cause of poverty in our country is too many people. But if you study the demography of Japan, Singapore, Hongkong, or Holland, you will se that they have heavier density (number of people per square mile) than in our country. Well, we all know that those countries are rich, and maybe because they have a good population who are educated, industrious and disciplined. What about some countries in Africa? They hardly have any people but are they developed. We hear that they experience famine, wars and extreme poverty. Do you agree with me when I say that much poverty is due to corruption and not to overpopulation? Even if there are only ten people in a place, if two of them are greedy and selfish, the rest of the eight would suffer!.
The Philippines has a lot of land area not yet developed. I see it when I travel by land to the provinces in Luzon, or by air when I go to the Visayas and Mindanao. And my heart bleeds when I see so many people cramped in the slum areas in the cities because they are escaping the lack of opportunities in the rural areas – no schools, no hospitals, no jobs, no decent housing and above all, no assistance from the government for their farms to be truly productive.
Is it true that there is not enough food? It is shameful to see so much food wasted in restaurants, food getting spoiled in the markets because of lack of buyers, food thrown away by choosy people (I hope you re not one of them, ha?) while we have lots of people getting hungry because they have no money to buy their daily needs. In the gap between the rich and the poor, where do you belong?
We need to start looking at the real reasons for poverty and real solutions, rather than spreading the myth (lies and half truths) of overpopulation and the “need” for abortion and birth control through contraceptives and ligation.
Schools should stop teaching their students that being a responsible parent means they should have only one or two children through the use of birth control. Instead, they should insist on the importance of discipline and responsible use of sexuality, health relationships, and proper preparation for their career and vocation in life. Above all, they should be reminded that all life comes from God, and human life above all is to be protected, respected and cared for.
|
|
