The Philippine Church, State, and People on the Problem of Population (original) (raw)

The politics of population policy-making in the Philippines

2010

Diese Studie untersucht die Interdependenz zwischen Akteuren und Institutionen, die an den Beratungen und Debatten uber den Gesetzesentwurf zur Bevolkerungspolitik und/oder zur Politik reproduktiver Gesundheit, welche in den Akten des dreizehnten und vierzehnten philippinischen Kongresses zu finden sind, beteiligt sind. Diese Gesetzesvorlage stellt einen Schlusselaspekt in der Bevolkerungspolitik des Landes dar und ist auf den Philippinen sehr umstritten sowie ein in der Offentlichkeit vielfach diskutiertes Thema. Uberdies bildet es den Schauplatz fur den Konkurrenzkampf unter den Akteuren, die das Recht auf Abtreibung befurworten und jenen die dies ablehnen. Das Ziel der Studie im weiteren Sinne ist es deshalb, Licht auf das Mysterium um die Bevolkerungspolitik zu werfen. Dabei wird durch die Analyse der dafur wichtigsten Politikarena, der nationalen Gesetzgebung, eine Erklarung fur die stetige Dominanz der Abtreibungsgegner geboten. Die Studie ist in Pierre Bourdieus Theorie der P...

WORLD POPULATION COLLAPSE: LESSONS FOR THE PHILIPPINES

2007

A hundred countries today face increasing economic, socio-cultural, political and security problems while their populations age and start to decline, a result of Total Fertility Rates (TFR's) falling below replacement levels since the 1960's. As their population pyramid gradually becomes inverted, their ageing workforce, which foresees little replacement, needs to support a growing number of elderly. To resolve these difficulties, their governments desperately encourage their citizens to raise more children. If ever they succeed, their few working people in the future will be doubly burdened, as they must support not only the many elderly they already have, but also the many children they wish to have. All this the Philippines will also have to experience after its fertility rate sinks to levels below replacement by 2025, brought about by today's general trend of parents bearing less children, coupled with increasing emigration of individuals and families. It would be pointless to abandon the normal population pyramid we still have today, and then, like rich countries at present, wish to regain it by all means. A serious study of the latest world demographic data will reject population control as a quick-fix solution to poverty in the Philippines, and hopefully encourage efforts towards good governance, both in the public and the private sectors: steps that will allow the Philippines to take full advantage of its rich human resources, which it can share to ageing countries desperately in need of them.

Population Management should be mainstreamed in the Philippine Development Agenda

The performance of the Philippine economy has been hindered by the country’s bourgeoning population due to its rapid population growth. For the last decade, the Philippines had the highest annual population growth rates in the Southeast Asian region. In 2009, it has become the second most populous country in the region with a population of more than 92 million, next only to Indonesia. Unfortunately, these have resulted to forgone economic growth, losing the chance to improve the poverty situation in the country. Thus, it is imperative to speed up the demographic transition in the country through proactive government population management policies aimed at harvesting the demographic dividends quickly. By performing simulation analyses on total fertility rate (TFR) under two scenarios, it was shown that the Philippines can hardly experience in the near future the Goldilock period, or the generation when fertility rate is neither too high nor too low, especially when the government doe...

PHILIPPINE POPULATION

This paper reviews the literature on population policy in the Philippines. While other developing nations have achieved lower fertility rates the Philippines is still trying to find its direction. This paper will serve as a review of the literature on population growth and economic development in the Philippines. This paper examines what the research has shown on the effect of population growth on different aspects of development such as poverty, health, education, gender and the environment. The paper shows that population growth has an effect on different aspects of development.

Sources of future population growth in the Philippines and implications for public policy

Rapid population growth, poor and uneven economic performance, and slow progress in health and education are interrelated phenomena. However, while there is strong support for public policies aimed at economic recovery and human resource development in the Philippines, there is still a lack of consensus on the need for public policy to moderate population growth and on the role of a government-sponsored family planning program in overall population and development activities. This paper examines alternative population projections and analyzes the contribution to future population growth of unwanted fertility, high desired family size, and population momentum. The aims are to highlight the multiple policy responses that are needed to moderate rapid population growth and to clarify a number of factors that have prevented the development of a consensus on Philippine population policy.

DRAFT 1 Population Stabilization : Philippine Case

2010

The World Leaders’ Statement on Population Stabilization signed in 1994 by heads of seventy-five (75) countries including the Philippines, acknowledged that the degradation of the world's environment, income inequality, and the potential for conflict exists because of rapid population growth, among other factors. With early population stabilization of interest to all nations, each agreed to adopt the necessary policies and programs consistent with their culture and aspirations supported by voluntary measures that respect individual human rights and beliefs.

Bautista, J. “Church and State in the Philippines: Tackling Life Issues in a Culture of Death.” SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 25(1): 29-53, April 2010

This paper reflects upon the “life issues” of population growth and reproductive health in the Philippines in the context of the ongoing congressional deliberation of House Bill 5043. Specific attention is paid to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church upon this process, through an analysis of the institutional pronouncements and edicts made by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). It still remains to be seen whether HB5043 will be passed into law. What can be observed even at this stage, however, is that there may well be a discordance between Church proclamations regarding faith-based sexual morality on the one hand, and popular opinion and actual practices under difficult economic and social circumstances on the other. In this respect, sustainable population control in the Philippines continues to be an uphill battle, given the Church’s persistent association of artificial contraception with a pernicious “culture of death”.