State of the nation’s population

The people already know the state of the nation. Angelo de la Cruz and his family of eight children present a clear and very graphic picture of our present condition as a nation; economically, politically, culturally, and demographically.

We have seen in this family the kind of grinding poverty stalking our land and how the poor are trying to cope to the extent of taking hazardous jobs abroad. We have seen in the supposed "happy ending" of the latest episode in their life, the kind of politics being played by our leaders as they try to hide behind "national interest" in-order to avoid the possible backlash of mass action that seriously threaten their shaky grip on power if the ending was anything but "happy". We have seen how damaged our culture has become with the manner we over-glamorize an individual who came back alive after placing the entire nation in a predicament by indiscreetly and unnecessarily risking his life mainly for some temporal economic benefits.

And through the size of this family, we have seen the typical reason behind the population growth that is now being blamed for the economic mess we are in.

In a preview of the possible topics of her SONA address, the President makes no mention at all about the link between the alarming increases in our population and our economic problems. The absence of any proposed national policy on population control in any of her ten point plan of action evidently shows her belief that we can get out of the present economic difficulties by giving priority to solving other problems besetting our country aside from overpopulation.

Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, a retired professor of moral theology based in Japan and a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population answers this argument about the need to check population expansion to attain economic growth with a terse but fitting statement that: "we have difficulties with traffic problems too, but we solve them by building roads, not by putting a quota on the manufacture of cars". He even cited "big league economists" who "do not paint themselves into an order by stating that limiting population growth is the sole and inescapable road to economic development".

In truth there is nothing in any of the pertinent papal documents showing that Catholic Church has explicitly agreed in principle to the need to limit population growth according to Fr. Zimmerman. He emphasized that "Church documents past, present and presumably in the future do not teach parents to reduce births in-order to limit national or world population growth" and that natural family planning is (or should be) practiced by parents for the benefit of their families (perhaps because of severe genetic defects or because of an inability to cope or to educate) rather than for a national demographic policy".

In the Philippines, particularly in the prelature of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur under Bishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., parents seem to be meeting with success in responsible parenthood with the help of concerned professionals, doctors, nurses and care-givers through the use of a new method called the Standard Days Method (SDM). The SDM has been proven to be 95 percent effective among the Ipil mothers who tried it. Maybe Bishop Ledesma’s project can be replicated in other Dioceses for parents who find the need to space or avoid births in the family. After all, the right to make the decision about children belongs to the parents, not to the governments. It is the parents who should exercise responsible parenthood by adopting natural family planning to properly space the births of their children for the benefit of their family and ultimately, of society. The government’s role is simply to serve and support, not to control through artificial means, the size of the family as the basic unit of society. Determining the size of the family is the inherent right and responsibility of parents.

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