Breaking the Facade

Before I am pro-RH Bill because I thought our booming population is a major weakness for our country: more mouths to feed which makes it harder for Pinoys to live a good life. I thought having a booming population will just cause a lot of problems which would make it hard for the government to lead our country to develop and grow. But after I read John Sison’s article in the Philippine Star newspaper last Monday, I now see the RH bill in a different political and economical perspective. Is there really a population boom? Does having a big population a weakness or more of an advantage?

According to the National Statistics Office, there is a trend of declining population growth since 1960 up to the present i.e., from 3.01 % to 1.95%. This clearly shows that we don’t have a booming population which the promoters of this bill are saying. Having said that, we still have a really big population but is it a weakness? Yes, it is a weakness, but not for our country but for those developed countries who have a small, old working population. According a Canadian Analyst Abid Ullah Jan, the most populous nations, which include the Philippines, will dominate the world in the next century. This explains the willingness of the developed countries to encourage births at home and at the same time making outrageous steps to encourage population control in developing countries, so to prevent a shift in power at some time in the future.

This experience of mine thought me that with every issue, there are a lot of aspects to look in to. We should keep our minds open, so to see the truth that lies beneath what seems to be good for us.


Written By: Louis Gomez