EDITORIAL - Opposing is one thing. Providing alternatives is another.

Those who oppose the Reproductive Health bill now pending in Congress have one thing in common with those who oppose the operation of coal-fired power plants: They have no alternative proposals to go along with their opposition.

No problem with the opposition. Everybody has the right to be heard. And, to many in the general population, the opposition is valid. But opposition alone does not solve the problems that the RH bill and the coal-fired power plants seek to solve.

The RH bill seeks to help solve the problem of a runaway population that shrink-ing food and natural resources can no longer effectively address. Coal-fired power plants are the fastest and cheapest means to address the power crisis that is getting worse by the year.

Granted the country, because it is about 80 percent Roman Catholic, gives in to pressure and gives up on the RH bill, how then does it seek to deal with its already 93 million population that is already the 12th largest in the world?

Those who oppose the RH bill have no proposal on how to alternatively address the problem that the RH bill was supposed to address. Instead they wash their hands and toss the problem back to government, the very government they are stopping from trying to solve precisely that problem.

Granted the country, because of some health concerns, gives in to those who op-pose the continued operation of coal-fired power plants or the construction of more, how then does it seek to deal with a power crisis that is no longer looming but is actually here?

Those who oppose this type of power generation, despite advances in technology that now make it possible to eliminate or drastically minimize the health concerns, have no plans on how to address the crisis that coal-fired power plants have wanted to address.

So what do we do? Do we just fold our arms and wait until food riots erupt and daily life as we know it grinds to a complete halt because the power that drives that life has completely been extinguished?

If that doomsday scenario is what oppositors have been aiming at all along, then well and good. At least they are getting what they wanted. But if they are just as scared of it as are the rest of us, then they better step aside and let those who can do something at least do something.