EDITORIAL - 100 million and counting

New life is always cause for rejoicing, so Filipinos should celebrate the birth today that will officially place the nation’s population at 100 million. The challenge is providing a decent quality of life for every bundle of joy that arrives in this country.

Tackling that challenge has been an uphill battle. Despite sustained economic growth in recent years, approximately 40 million Filipinos live below the poverty line, accounting for a considerable chunk of the 2.2 billion people worldwide classified as “poor or near poor” by the United Nations Development Program. The UNDP reported that natural disasters, armed conflict and soaring food prices – problems Filipinos are familiar with – are threatening to exacerbate poverty around the world.

In its 2014 Human Development Report, the UNDP said the challenge is not only “getting to zero” in eliminating extreme poverty but also staying there. This is an even greater challenge for the Philippines. Official statistics released last year showed that despite being one of Asia’s best economic performers, the Philippines has barely made a dent in eliminating poverty.

Equitable growth also remains elusive, as even the government has acknowledged. President Aquino is expected to confront this problem as he enters his fifth year in office. As the UNDP report has indicated, his job is made harder by the numerous natural calamities that hit the country every year and long-running armed conflicts.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that tackling growth inequality is the “defining challenge” of the times. The UN also reports that while the world is on track in achieving most of the Millennium Development Goals, it is slipping in the achievement of certain targets such as reducing maternal and infant mortality.

In achieving this goal President Aquino now has the Reproductive Health Law. With the green light from the Supreme Court, all that the RH law needs is effective implementation. As important as providing universal access to reproductive health care, however, is creating an environment that will improve the quality of life of all 100 million Filipinos.