EDITORIAL - Population explosion

The results of the 2007 Population Census have shown that there are now more than 88 million Filipinos living in the country. From 76.50 million in 2000, the country’s population, however, only grew by 2.04 percent, the lowest since 1960 according to the National Statistics Office.

Despite the slower growth during the past seven years, the overall picture will tell that the Philippine population is still growing at an unprecedented rate. In the next few years, the number of Filipinos is expected to hit the 100-million mark.

Because the Philippines has one of the highest population growths in the world, the fruits of the country’s growing economy are not enough to help the government improve the standard of living of the poor, who comprise majority of the population.

With too many mouths to feed, the government is still fighting an uphill battle in its bid to reduce, if not eliminate, the country’s poverty.    

The rising population has been taking its toll on the economy, and the government has really been helpless in its drive to control it. One of the reasons is the highly influential Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to the government’s family planning programs.

Lest it gets the ire of the Church, the government cannot implement measures putting a brake to the streaking population growth. This is the result of the government’s continuing subservience to the will of the Church that has never learned to keep its hand off the affairs of the state. 

While we respect the stance of the Church against any means to control the population that is against the Bible’s teachings, it too cannot escape the blame for the explosion of the population. Church officials cannot deny the fact that they have been unwilling to encourage the faithful to discard the idea on the importance of having a big family.

Now, with no concrete steps aimed at controlling the country’s swelling population, the government can never win the fight against poverty. Unless of course government officials have the courage to summon their political will and start outlining drastic measures to arrest the problem on overpopulation.