Combine condom’s use and abstinence and you get a double barreled shotgun to maim population explosion. But these potent combinations can never get worked together, sorry to say, in the Philippine setting. Why, because the predominantly Roman Catholic voters in the Philippines are heavily influenced by the Church’s stance against contraception, such as condom. The Philippine’s political leadership, don’t have the guts to put the use of condom as a government policy for fear of not getting elected. The Church favors abstinence, but abstinence is a sacrifice, stupid, and a killjoy. Not many Filipinos like it.
However, as the deadlock ensured the increase in population, this augurs well for the Philippines. Migration is on the rise. The country reached now the 1 million mark deployment of OFWs around the world. What this means is, the remittances of Filipinos who migrated and the OFWs, will reinforce its crucial role as one of the economic pillars of the Philippine. Had the politicians got the guts endorsing condom’s use, and the people abide to abstinence, the big surge of migration and OFWs, are unlikely to occur.
The population’s pressures, resource scarcity, for example, and its negative impact to society, trigger migration and forced these OFW’s to leave the country. The more poverty the nation get, the more people desire to go somewhere else, for hope. If there were no population boom, of course, there would be no stiff competition for jobs. There would be less unemployment. That would deter people to leave their loved ones behind. Deterrence, then, means less migration and less OFW’s. Less migration and less OFW’s means less U.S. dollar reserves for the Philippines, less payment for debts and imports, etc… The population boom that creates poverty impelled people to get out the pit they holed in.
The Philippine Government’s muted response to the use of condom, and the Church’s insistence on abstinence, paid off dividends, somehow. These politicians and Church authorities, it is as if they have this crystal ball, they see this phenomenon of dwindling population among the industrialized nations coming. It is as if they were saying – Don’t’ worry about this population boom. “Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed as one of these” – a passage from Luke, the Church could use, to bolster complacency. Other nation will absorb our people in time, relax. We’re creating here a valuable commodity for export: our people.
True enough, these politicians and Church authorities have tongue of an angel. Develop societies of the world succumbed now to this alarming trend of falling birth rate, and rise of life expectancy rate. The gap ratio between the ageing citizens and people joining the workforce is widening. The industrialized countries resorted to accepting immigrants, as temporary measure, at least, to close the gap. The Philippines, very timely, is one of the countries that fill the gap.
The Philippines politicians must be commended for their passive position on condom’s use. Also, the Catholic Church Hierarchy must be praised for insisting abstinence – factors that for now helps unchecked the population growth for temporary gain!