Debunking the Myths of over Population
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According to the Lagman Report, there are 58 million of Filipinos who dwell below the poverty line. There exists a very malignant social malaise and to be able to prescribe the right remedies, its symptoms should be properly diagnosed, otherwise, more adverse consequences shall take place.
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The question we would like to raise is "Why do we encounter economic difficulties?" Or simply expressed, why are we poor? The Philippines is said to be one of the countries in the world richly endowed with natural resources.
Let us look at these figures.
Causes of economic difficulties leading to mass poverty and hunger1. Foreign debts servicing
More than 60 % of our budget goes to payment of foreign debt which has already increased to $34 billion. This huge foreign payment has resulted in budgetary deficits amounting to $613 million. The Lagman Report shows that most of these loans were incurred by the late Pres... Marcos during his despotic rule; 417 private corporations pass on their P417 billion loans to tax payers; 94 corporations left to Central Bank their P300-billion private corporate debts.
What is repugnant about foreign debts is that the bulk of revenues collected are being used to pay off debts and only a tackle goes to basic services such as health, food and nutrition. Moreover, we are forced to yield to unequal terms and conditions of the World Bank and the IMF in order to get fresh loans, a large chunk of which goes back to debt-vicing.
In 1992, the Philippines paid P113 billion foreign debt which consisted of 62% of revenues collected from taxes, fees, and earnings from Treasury Bills. The total collection was P180 billion, P6.96 billion lower than the agreement with the IMF. This agreement was made in return for fresh loans. Since September, 1992, P86.1 billion went to foreign debt servicing. The huge payment resulted to budgetary deficit. Lawmakers fault the government for surrendering to IMF/World Bank control. Documents obtained from the Department of Budget and Management show that most of the government expenses went to loan payments instead of productive programs. PD 1177 automatically sets aside funds for loan payments.
2. Unequal distribution of land and other resources
Only 20 % of our population own and control, legally or fraudulently 80% of agricultural lands. In Negros, 95% of sugarlands are owned by only 3% of the population; in Mindanao, the prime lands are owned by close to 130 corporations, 52 of which are multinationals who own 1/3 of the total land area of the island.
3. Undercultivation of agricultural lands
Of the 30 million hectares total land area of the country only about 13 million hectares are actually cultivated. If these lands are cultivated they could supply the food requirements of 82 million Filipinos and if modem farming technologies are applied and the production per hectare is increased, these lands can support even 122 million Filipinos. Of the 7, 100 islands, only 730 are inhabited.
4. Smuggling, graft and corruption, pilferage
Revenue losses reach P88 billion yearly by tax evasion, smuggling and non-payment of taxes on illegal exportation. P5 billion is lost to illegal loggers; pi billion is lost to electricity pilferage. Among these pilfers are huge manufacturing firms belonging to the top 1000 corporations. 45 super rich families in Forbes Park, a professional basketball player, an actress, a senator, a foreign embassy. MERALCO collects from all of us this loss in terms of "systems losses.
5. Import liberalization, deregulation of prices of commodities and trade monopolies.
Philippine government trade policies are geared towards the protection of traditional and big names in the business sector. The existence of powerful cartels which manipulate prices of commodities, create artificial shortage of goods like the Big Ten Rice Cartel and the Binondo Central Bank attests to this fact.
E.O. No. 8 lifts all qualitative and quantitative restrictions on around 3,000 imported items. Its implementation has led to billion peso losses for over 6 million rice and corn planters and 60,000 workers in the P64 million rice and corn industry. Aside from rice and corn farmers, those who are affected are copra, banana, cassava meal producers, molasses and fish meal producers
While most ASEAN countries provide incentives just to attract private sector investment, most Philippine government policies are geared towards protection of monopolies that hampers competitiveness. Examples of local industries affected by the monopoly are food-processing and fruit exportation. Food processing buys so much from agriculture where over 60% of the population and 2/3 of those below the poverty line are based. Growth in food exports will mean growth in agriculture, more jobs and higher income in the countryside's.
When an economic system is capital intensive, the tendency is to protect monopolies resulting in the demise of competitors in the market. Moreover, when the ruling elite who also controls the country's riches invest their profits and incomes in foreign banks, they divest the country of much needed resources for local job creating industries.
6. Misappropriation of funds at the expense of basic social services
6.1 Family Planning: P5.3 billion are earmarked for the purchase of contraceptives, condoms, pill, sterilization and abortion gadgets. This amount could be used to fund delivery of basic social services such as socialized housing, environmental protection, creation of job opportunities and delivery of health services.
6.2 Only.04% of the national budget is allotted to housing when in fact 680,000 units are neededpar annually.
6.3 Military spending 6.4 Debt-servicing
Causes of environmental ruinIt is a well-known fact that the world's pollutants are products of industrialized countries, for instance, toxic wastes, acid rain, etc. Hence, it cannot be said that it is population growth that is solely responsible for pollution of the environment. The following data point to the fact that it is multinational corporations whose plants and factories situated on Philippine soil that greatly cause environmental ruin.
The Non-Aligned Movement of Nations like Cuba and Libya lashed at Western nations for foreign interference that starts with human rights and environmental issues. It insisted that nations have the right to use their resources. They urged developed countries not to use environmental concerns as an excuse for interference in the internal affairs of developing countries nor should they be used to introduce conditionalities in aid.
Let us examine these facts:
1. Toxic wastes disgorged by huge factories
Millions of tons of poisonous lead and mercury mostly from oil refineries and chemical factories are excreted daily causing considerable ruin on marine life. Of the 400 rivers in the country, 80 are heavily polluted and 40 are virtually dead due to poisoning. Industrialization is the culprit.par par
2. Too much use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
Twenty-two provinces suffer soil degradation due to massive use of fertilizers. Among these are Ilocos Sur, La Union, Misamis, Cotabato, Bukidnon.
3. Logging, legal and illegal, mining operations and quarrying
There are 480 logging concessionaires majority of them foreigners who have raked in $2 billion profit in the last 30 years. Trillion metric tons of silt have already accumulated in the river beds of Pangasinan due to mining operations in the Cordilleras. The floods that hit Ormoc and Nueva Ecija sometime ago which claimed more than 4,000 lives can be traced to illegal logging.
4. Commercial fishing and poaching:
Annually foreign poachers haul 620,000 metric tons of fish from Philippine waters without paying the government anything.
5. Farm conversion:
Farms have become smaller because they have been used for other purposes other than farming giving rise to landlessness and food shortage.
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Re: The Truth about Philippine "Overpopulation"
