Why the Reproductive Health Bill Debate Affects Every Filipino

In CBCP News, Archbishop Aniceto, justifying the continued population explosion, claimed that European countries and even the Americans have begun to suffer from a “demographic winter” in which the elderly population significantly outnumbers the younger demographic. He says this as an argument against the Reproductive Health Bill, justifying inaction to current situation where thousands of poor Filipino families could no longer support their children’ schooling or sustenance, simply because there is just too much of them.

For decades, Filipinos have been practicing natural family planning methods such as “withdrawal” and it is simply not working. According to a study done by WEDPRO (Women, Education, Productivity, Research Organization) on family planning methods in the rural areas, women have even resorted to using Coke and toothpaste as spermicides, as well as utilized the rubber in tires as condoms. Many women obviously don’t have access to adequate information, much less the social services needed to make sure that their health is maintained during the delicate time of pregnancy and childbirth.

What this population control debate boils down to, however, is a simple supply and demand dynamic. Supply and demand is the basic law in economics that argues that the precarious balance of supply and demand determines prices. Now, what does this mean for wages? As long as there is plenty of supply, say in a huge population like ours, in a country with fluctuating economic growth and therefore unreliable job creation and job market, Filipino wages will always be kept at a bare minimum. Why? Because the slow growth in Philippine economy simply cannot keep up with the number of people who need jobs. Why? Because in a climate of heightened competition, there are always plenty of people willing to work for less. This means that workers are often easily exploited and taken advantage of. Their rights are not upheld because the boss always has the upper hand –”fail to comply and you can always be replaced; there’s always plenty of you out there.”

Education is a basic right of children, and with parents bringing in minimum wages that simply cannot feed their kids, how can we educate Filipinos, much less make them competitive in an increasingly global market?

What is alarming with Archbishop Aniceto’s rhetoric that it’s okay for Filipinos “to go forth and multiply” as it compensates for the aging population elsewhere. Does it then justify the brain drain and mass displacement of Filipinos going abroad, isolated and separated from their families because they cannot get good well-paying jobs in their own country? How is this, in line with the government’s valorization of OFWs, “preserving and upholding the dignity of the Filipino family”? As it is, many Filipino families are already torn and fragmented –with children left alone here while their mothers go abroad to take care of the children of those in richer economies. If, by withholding effective birth control methods, the Catholic Church’s aim is to keep the Filipino family intact, then it has already failed its objective.

Archbishop Aniceto is right however –some European countries, Canada, and even Japan’s population is aging. But what does this have to do with Filipinos, unless we bring to light the fact that right now, several million Filipinos are out there serving these “aging populations” as domestic helpers , caretakers and even as trafficked and prostituted women?

We can’t allow population to keep booming, and then justify that it’s okay, because we can just deploy Filipinos all over the world and leave them to fend for themselves. We have barely secured the rights of Filipinos who set off and risk their luck abroad. Migrant Filipinos, for instance are scattered in over 180 countries all over the world. As it is, we only have bilateral agreements with around 80 of them.

The Filipino state is a metaphor for our parents, and it simply cannot accommodate such an exponential growth in its children, which, according to a 2007 Inquirer article is about 15% faster than our ASEAN peers. We simply can’t blame it on the bad parenting or “corruption” on the parent’s part. The simple logic is this: if you can’t sustain your children, then you better be prepared to stop having children. The old methods have failed. Unless we do something, our women will continue to be at risk for harassment as servants, entertainers and playthings elsewhere, families will continue to be torn apart, and the wages for many hard-working and persevering Filipinos will never be enough for what they deserve.

Submitted by Cai Mariano

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