EU to RP: Curb population boom

DAVAO CITY — The European Union (EU) is urging the Philippines to implement a comprehensive family planning program in an effort to curb the country’s rapidly growing population.

“The phenomenal growth of the Philippine population is one problem that should also be addressed,” French Ambassador Gerard Chesnel told reporters here in a meeting over the weekend.

Chesnel, who was in the city for the arrival here of the French frigate Floreal, said the country’s population used to be the same as that of Thailand.

“But now, Thailand is at 66 million but the Philippines is already at 89 million,” Chesnel stressed.

The ambassador said the EU, of which France is a member, expressed concern that not much effort has been done about the country’s increasing population.

Chesnel said the EU is calling on the government for a comprehensive national family planning policy that would in a way promote access to family planning methods.

“These are the kinds of problems you have to address here. Continued rapid population growth in the Philippines is draining health and economic resources and slowing down economic growth,” the ambassador further said.

The poor, Chesnel emphasized, are the ones who are paying the highest price, both individually and collectively.

The country’s population, now estimated at 90 million, reportedly consumes 33,000 tons of rice everyday, and the agriculture sector is having a hard time coping with the demand.

The country’s population growth rate has reportedly been placed at 2.36 percent according to the National Statistics Office, which actually outpaced the 1.9 percent annual growth registered for rice production last year.

A crisis in rice is now plaguing the country with supply pegged way below the actual demand of the country’s population.

Chesnel, who also delivered the EU statement during last week’s 2008 Philippine Development Forum held in Clark, Pampanga, said that rapid population growth threatens the sustainability of rural livelihoods especially for those in remote areas.

And an increasing population, Chesnel likewise said, also threatens the country’s remaining natural forest and marine habitats.

Chesnel’s statement came as government is also reaching out to the Catholic Church to discuss population issues in the light of the prevailing rice crisis.

The French ambassador said the EU is committed in helping the country fight poverty on the basis of a truly inclusive growth wherein social services shall be strengthened to ensure that additional efforts would benefit the poor, especially those who have been basically excluded from the basic services of health and education.

Chesnel said that the EU has also called on government to address the problem of widespread graft and corruption in the country.

“If there is widespread corruption, it doesn’t give the different areas the chance to develop further. Corruption has to be addressed and efforts to combat it should be stepped up,” Chesnel said.

The EU also asked government to follow through its Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program’s full goals and at the same time achieve its land distribution targets with the necessary support system in an effort to help the country’s farming sector.

Chesnel said the EU is also committed to deepen its support to the ongoing peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He said the EU has pledged at least 12 million euros, equivalent to $20 million, as assistance to the conflict-affected areas once a final peace agreement shall be signed with the MILF.

But Chesnel explained one million of the 12 million euros pledged has already been extended to the affected areas in Mindanao even while the peace negotiation is ongoing.