Viewpoint
It is quite surprising how a small country like the Philippines is one of the world’s leading baby-makers. Just a look at the countless shanties near the sidewalk and the number of unemployed Filipinos tells us that our country is indeed overpopulated.
The country’s population problem poses a grave predicament. For every child not born into a well-off family, living in a much too crowded country like ours is not a very pleasant idea. In a developing country where buildings and factories sprout like mushrooms, staying healthy and alive is a hard thing to do. The baby will obviously be faced with fierce competition for resources and living space. Also, the high amount of pollution will leave him/ her susceptible to all kinds of diseases.
A key factor needed to ensure survival is education. But let’s face it. Quality education is almost an impossibility when you have very few resources. In public schools, the teacher-student ratio is irritatingly large and there are not enough books and much facility to go around with. Overall, only a handful excel, or even stay, in school, leading the rest back to where they started – at the bottom of the mountain of insurmountable poverty.
Evidently, the country is in desperate need of population control. Our government, rather than be afraid of seeding the ire of the Church, should provide everyone with sufficient information about the significance of family planning and birth control methods – both natural and artificial. In the end, whether people go with the natural birth control method or artificial contraception or neither is up to them. At least, we know the government did something to address this problem.
Respectfully,
Milanie Joy Lee