Of street kids, poverty and over population

While dining at McDonald's last night, a little girl approached our table and begged for food. Since there was no decent food left on our table except for french fries, I gave them to her. Yet, she requested for the chicken which Fox and I finished already. I asked her: "Yung manok? wala nang laman yan. buto na lang. Gusto mo pa din ba?" She nodded. I gave her mine and Fox gave his as well. I told Fox that I don't like seeing scenes like this. It just breaks my heart. As I write this entry, I realized how stupid I was last night! I could have stood up, went to the counter and ordered decent food for that kid. But why didn't I? I know that it was not my responsibility to feed that kid.  I know that there is an anti-mendicancy law. But what the heck! I am a Christian and it was my obligation to help that poor kid.

______________________________________________________

I remember writing my baby thesis in high school about mendicants. I can still remember that I went to Cubao, interviewed an old man asking for alms in a Cubao pedestrian overpass (no MRT yet at that time). I was 16 years old, very unfamiliar with the ways of Metro Manila but I braved that area where thieves and beggars proliferated. That was the first time I talked to a beggar. It was indeed a very humbling experience.

______________________________________________________

Metro Manila has a total of 11 million people. And it is pretty obvious that poverty is everywhere. Millions of informal settlers (as squatters are called right now), thousands of mendicants and a lot of them are children, plus hundreds of thieves waiting for their prey.

The Philippines is a poor country. A country with lots of resources yet, they're not utilized enough so that majority of the population would benefit. A lot of people are jobless (count me in). Universities and colleges produce thousands of graduates every year, yet, not all of them get decent jobs. A lot are either underemployed or underpaid. Prices of commodities have not gone down. The purchasing power of the peso is far from what it used to be. The poor are getting poorer. 

Is there hope? I do believe that there is. SOLUTIONS? It still boils down to government policies and priorities. If government will prioritize the improvement of people's lives, i.e., job generation and quality education, etc., then we can slowly eradicate poverty. It's gonna be a long process but at least, something is being done. 

Of course, not everything should be done by government. The private sector has its role as well. The citizenry's cooperation is definitely needed.  If the government and its people work together, then we would all have better lives.

________________________________________________________

"Go forth and multiply" That's what God said when he created man. 

With a population of almost 100 million, should Filipinos continue to multiply?

A couple of weeks ago, I read in an article online that Roilo Golez mentioned that the Philippines is not overpopulated. DUH!!! who the hell is he kidding? Does he even look at statistics? Is he even in-touch with reality?

Let's compare the Philippines and Thailand. Thailand, as we all know, is very much similar to our country but more progressive and is bigger in terms of land area.

                      Philippines                      Thailand            (in millions)

1960                   27                                 27

1970                   37                                 37

1975                   42                                 41

1980                   48                                 47

1990                   60                                 52

2000                   77                                 58

2010                   98                                 66

Why can Thailand do something about its population growth and we cannot? 

To quote one study conducted by a Filipino scholar: 

Thai experience, strategies that Philippine authorities can adopt in crafting a more effective population program for the country were proposed. Although fertility in the Philippines continues its gradual decline, the country’s total fertility rate remains high in comparison to the level achieved in the neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

Several factors have constrained the formulation and implementation of an effective population policy in the Philippines.  Danguilan (1997; 1993), for example, documents the role the Catholic Church has played and notes that Church pronouncements influence the manner in which the government executes its population policies. 

                

"Thailand’ population program has been recognized for its dramatic success.  As the country’s Ministry of        Public Health (1998) points out, “In only 25 years the country moved from a pronatalist stance, during which the fertility level hovered between 6.3 and 6.6 births per woman and a few married couples used contraception, to a contraceptive friendly society with fertility levels at nearly replacement level." 

I definitely disagree with pro-life advocates who keep on saying that population does not have any relation with poverty. What in the world are they saying? Just go to the far flung provinces or even in the metro. You would see that those who have less in life are those who have more than 3 kids! Some would even have 6 or even 9! Why do they have an enormous number of kids? It's because some consider kids as their only riches and they expect these children to bail them out of poverty in the future! "Go forth and multiply!"

With a country overburdened with so many problems, how can you expect these poor people to improve their lives if they have those number of children? And how can you expect a government with limited funding to uplift the lives of these people?

Unless, this government passes the Reproductive Health Bill, our country's population will continue to soar and it might even reach levels which cannot even be contained by government.

___________________________________________________

If government is continuously pressured by the Catholic Church to give up its stance on population management, we will continue to see the likes of the little girl whom I saw last night....