POPULATION AS AN ELECTION ISSUE

The Philippine Star
03/26/10

As the country moves full speed towards election day, choosing the right candidate for the Presidential seat based on his stand on key issues is a must. Today, let’s focus on the very hot issue of population management, something that I have been very vocal about since this column started.

A look at public hospital maternity wards

A quick look at our public hospital’s maternity wards is enough to jolt us to the realization that something must be done on the population issue.

At the newborn section of the charity wards, row upon row of sick babies can be viewed, indicating gravity of the problem. These babies are usually born of mothers who are exposed to malnutrition or drug use. The newborns will linger in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care section for days or weeks. Those that are healthier get to be discharged; the less fortunate will die.

The other more pathetic side is the mothers who will try to visit their babies everyday – or as long as they can. Many will not realize how neglect of good nutrition during the pregnancy stage plays a crucial role in how well (or sickly) their baby is when born. Many realize that such angst could have been avoided through many ways at little cost.

Many of these mothers had made their first trip to the hospital only on the onset of labor pains. Coupled with the abuse on their unborn child during the months of pregnancy, there is a big chance that their babies will be born sickly, clearly already a disadvantage in their chance to survive this world.

The biggest problem however lies in mothers that don’t make it after childbirth. The Philippines continues to have the highest maternal casualty rate, and definitely will not meet the Millennium Development Goal set against maternal deaths for 2015.

Campaign posturing

It is imperative therefore that we choose the right president who will have a good stand on the population issue and will have the resolve to carry it through.

In the platforms of our presidential candidates, there are several facets of the issue that stands out: abortion, use of contraceptive for family planning, sex education, the reproductive health bill that is expected to be pushed in the next Congress, and government’s role in population management.

The first three are simple enough. So far, all candidates have said that they do not agree to abortion. As a deeply religious country, the onset of life at its earliest stage, i.e., when the sperm meets the egg inside a woman’s body, is held with great respect. And this is how it should be.

Pro-choice and pro-life

All except one candidate are pro- choice in their view of contraceptives use as a tool for planning the family size. Actually, only JC delos Reyes of Kapatiran has declared a stand against any artificial means to controlling pregnancy.

Again, most presidential candidates support sex education in schools although there are varying views on when best to start this. The underlying reason for supporting sex education in schools seems to be the need to educate our youth on the virtues of responsible planning.

Support for the Reproductive Health (RH) bill however has changed complexion, with a lot of last minute changes in positions by presidential candidates mainly because of the strong opposition by the Church and pro-life advocates.

As of today, only JC delos Reyes continues to firmly oppose the bill. Manny Villar and Gibo Teodoro are no longer supporting it, with the latter saying it would be better to leave behind such a muddled debate. The rest seem to be saying that changes need to be made to make the bill acceptable.

On how government should respond to the issue of population management, most agree that government resources should not be used to promote artificial means of contraception, and instead look at having more anti-poverty or improved education programs.

Real challenge – short term and long term solutions

Apparently, and fortunately, most candidates view the population issue not as a single independent problem but as an adjunct of low economic growth and inadequate education problems that breed poverty and ignorance, and have spawned this runaway population growth.

It would bode well for the forthcoming chief executive of the country if he spouses and will be committed to proper anti-poverty and improved education programs that will curb population growth. But these are long term solutions that have long gestation periods.

In the meantime, until solutions become institutional and take positive effect, the immediate problems of a huge population that is growing at unrestrained levels may negate any economic initiatives aimed at spurring economic growth.

Let the debates on the RH bill take their full course. Laws acceptable to the majority of the country are one way of solving the population problem. But let this not be the end-all. Something immediate must to be done to slow down our unmanageable population growth.

Immediate threats and concerns

Our country may not be able to survive bigger immediate issues such as reduced food supply because of a globally changing food pattern. We are already seeing droughts that affect our farm lands, and with more mouths to feed, where in the world will our poor countrymen find food?

We need more doctors and hospitals to take care of the many pregnant mothers exposed to malnutrition and poverty, and for babies that are born underweight and needing hospital care to be able to make it through the first weeks of birth.

Like it or not, we have a population that is growing faster than available current resources. Again, it is only prudent that something must be done to immediately effectively curb population growth while coaxing the economy to continue growing.

On the first day when the new President sits in his office, this must be a priority. And neither can we wait for another six years to solve our population problem.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, SalcedoVillage, 1227 MakatiCity. Or e-mail me at reydgamboa@yahoo.com. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net