Outpacing economic growth
One of the few sources of pride of the administration is the country’s economic performance. But the good news is always tempered by the fact, admitted by the administration, that the benefits of economic growth have not trickled down to the masses. There are several reasons for this, a number of which the government is moving to address. But one of the most glaring has been consistently ignored by the administration: economic growth cannot keep up with population growth.The National Statistics Office, which launched the other day a nationwide census, expects the population to grow by less than two percent this year. The growth rate has slowed down in the past years, but this year’s growth will translate into a population of 88.7 million. That’s still a huge number that will put additional strain on limited resources and basic services.
As things stand, the government can barely provide those services. Public schools are filled to capacity and the deterioration in the quality of education has taken its toll on the quality of the nation’s workforce. Health centers are shutting down due to an acute lack of doctors and nurses. In densely populated cities, new mothers share beds in government hospitals. For want of decent jobs and livelihood opportunities, people continue to leave the countryside, turning urban migration into a serious problem. The growing lack of agricultural workers threatens the nation’s food security.
The government can boost national production and generate employment to meet the needs of a growing population. Unable to do this, the growth in demand can be tempered through an effective family planning program. This the administration has refused to undertake, with President Arroyo invoking her religious beliefs to explain her stand on family planning.
The position has earned the President brownie points with the Catholic Church, which frowns on all forms of artificial contraception. But as a result, millions of couples lack information on options in planning the size of their families, and women are deprived of information on their reproductive rights. Until the government finds the political will to intervene, population growth will continue to outpace economic growth, and economic benefits will continue to elude the poor.
