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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| 205 Billion Pinoys
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov 28, 2006 For the Standard Today, November 30 issue My article Doomsday Scenarios (Nov. 08) drew instant reactions from non-Filipino readers overseas, which indicates that it was relayed by either Yahoo or Google Alert monitors that scan cyberspace for articles on certain topics, for the benefit of those who have registered to be Alert-ed when such articles appear anywhere in the cyber-world. That article discussed the Stern Report, commissioned by the British ministry of finance, on the costs to the world economy of the deleterious effects of global warming. The author, Sir Nicholas Stern, formerly chief economist at the World Bank, put the price tag at $6.98 trillion. That article also included my endorsement of hydrogen fuel cells as the ideal energy source of the future, as I have advocated several times in this space. Reader Daniel Miller asks where the hydrogen will come from to feed into fuels cells, and cites the limitations imposed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics. His letter and my reply appear in full in www.tapatt.org, together with the letters of others and my replies to them. Miller insists that the �carbon sequestration of fossil fuel burn-off is the only way to go.� But, I countered, how do you sequester the carbon dioxide (and solid particulates) from the exhaust of 400 million motor vehicles, which will become 600 million or more motor vehicles by 2050? Reader John Said, with an Australian email address, writes: �I view hydrogen fuel cells as an important step forward only if we use renewable energy to supply the hydrogen, e.g. using photolysis to break the bonds (between oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water) or using an electric current from a wind turbine or solar panel.� But, of course. My earlier articles on fuel cells had proposed the use of wind turbines to extract hydrogen from water through electrolysis. Current designs of wind turbines limit their use to certain rural locales with constant wind velocities. But if the purpose is merely to extract hydrogen from water through electrolysis (and not to feed the electricity generated into a grid), it is feasible to install a new design of turbines even in urban settings. But I will not go into details until I have secured a patent for my idea. Reader Henry Bakker, from the European Climate Exchange in Amsterdam , asks �if President Arroyo has a national policy with regard to energy independence and weaning the country away from carbon-intensive sources of energy.� Actually, yes. More than any other Philippine president, President Arroyo has pursued a national policy of developing alternative non-petroleum sources of energy. But her radar screen is limited to bio-fuels and bio-mass, both of which are still carbon-based and will still spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned. I do not think President Arroyo is aware of hydrogen fuel cells and the lead of Iceland in shifting to a hydrogen-based economy. Reader Ed James, with an American aol email address, laments that my article made �no mention of the underlying reasons for many current problems, i.e. over- (and growing) population and over-consumption�.. �I am puzzled as to why intelligent observers such as you may know this but focus on the effects such as global warming, rather than on the fundamental causes, which are population and consumption. Is it because we feel helpless to change the equation?...� Excellent point. But I have actually written more articles on population than on global warming, as can be seen in the archive of my articles in the website www.tapatt.org. My most recent article touching on population was Hundreds of Years (Nov. 15), in which I took Joma Sison to task for his prediction that the allegedly inevitable victory of Communism �will take a very long time, hundreds of years�.� I brought to Joma�s attention my extrapolation in Anim, Pito, Walo�Patay si Angelo (Sept. 01, 2004) that even if our population growth rate were to progressively decline from 2.3 to 2.0 to 1.7 to 1.3 percent per annum, we would still wind up with 424.6 million Filipinos by the year 2100. That�s only 94 out of Joma�s hundreds of years. �In February 1997, President Ramos announced with a straight face that, having achieved kuno his administration�s goal of making the Philippines a NIC (or newly industrialized country) by the year 2000 (which many will dispute), he was now gearing up the country for the year 3000. I wrote a column about this, titled Philippines 3000 � Ready for 205 Billion Pinoys? in the Feb. 17, 1997 issue of The Philippine Star.� The extrapolation goes like this: even assuming our population growth rate were to drop to one percent per annum after the year 2100, the population would still double every 100 years. Or less, if the rate were compounded annually. Our 424.6m Filipinos in 2100 will become 849.2m by 2200, 3.2 billion by 2400, 12.8 billion by 2600, 51.2 billion by 2800, and 204.8 billion by the year 3000. Joma should tell us exactly when in the above timeline he expects the inevitable victory of Communism to happen, so that we can start making hammer-and-sickle pins, banners and T-shirts, by the billions, to welcome that auspicious event. We have to start the manufacturing process NOW while there is still some elbow room along the railroad tracks and under the bridges. It may be standing-room-only by the year 2050. Am I not exaggerating? Of course, I am. And I am exaggerating to drive home the point that even a one-percent population growth rate (births minus deaths) will drive many underdeveloped countries, like the Philippines , over the edge into chaos and oblivion, as populations double every 100 years or less. I was invited to a population management forum at the Asian Institute of Management last week, but I could not attend because of a previous engagement. The theme centered on what the Philippines would be like with a population of 100 million, or something like that. By my extrapolation, we will reach that benchmark in or near the year 2014, or only eight White Christmases away from today. A Philippines with 100 million people will not be much different from a Philippines with the 85 million people that we now have, except that it will be that much more crowded, with that much more people to house, feed, clothe, educate and find jobs for, and with that much more consumption of water, electricity, fuel, food, minerals, firewood and other resources. But a Philippines with 150 million people, which at the present growth rate will happen in or near the year 2040, would likely be no longer manageable. And it would not just be the Philippines . The fastest population growth rates in the world are occurring in the countries least able to afford it. First and foremost, Black Africa, followed by some predominantly Muslim countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, and some predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Latin America plus the Philippines. Europe (along with Russia) whose indigenous populations are actually shrinking (including in largely Roman Catholic Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic), is in real danger of being overwhelmed by rapidly multiplying legal and illegal immigrants from these happy places. When Pope John Paul II visited the Dark Continent in 1994, he exhorted Black Africans to totally abstain from sex rather use condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancies. It was not recorded how many Black Africans died laughing at that exhortation, but the total population of Africa (including non-blacks) is expected to rise from 800 million in 2000 to 1.3 billion by 2025. That�s only 19 White Christmases away from today. The Global Warming that the Stern Report and Al Gore�s �An Inconvenient Truth� and many others have warned us and are warning us about, is raising ocean levels as the polar icecaps and Alpine and Himalayan glaciers melt. This is expected to inundate vast areas permanently and cause droughts in other areas, and make refugees of some 200 million mostly poor people, according to the Stern Report.. The optimistic side of this projection is that other hitherto sparsely inhabited areas of the planet may become arable and habitable, such as the tundras of Siberia , the steppes of Central Asia , the icy wasteland of northern Canada , and the outback of Australia , as weather patterns change. But it can assumed this early that, should that happen, the governments of Russia, Canada and Australia will not allow this �second chance� of mankind to be despoiled with the same reckless and irresponsible breeding that ruined the Late Great Planet Earth. This means that, rightfully, they may not and should not allow immigration by ethnic and religious groups and individuals who now multiply like tilapias and who will not accept any limitations on their scandalous fertility. I am optimistic that long before we reach a theoretical population of 205 billion Filipinos, (and even before we reach an actual population of 150 million Filipinos), there will be universal acceptance of the idea of population management by artificial methods of birth control, and that zero population growth (births equal deaths) will become the conventional wisdom. The appropriate Biblical quotations can always be found to justify the new paradigm.***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org. . FOR YOUR INFORMATION. To help you choose which countries to consider for immigrating to, look at the population growth rates as culled from the 2006 World Almanac and Book of Facts: Negative growth rates: Austria (-0.09), Belarus (-0.33), Botswana (-0.60), Bulgaria (-0.46), Croatia (-0.18), Czech Rep (-0.15), Estonia (-0.33), Germany (-0.22), Greece (-0.04), Hungary (-0.34), Italy (-0.14), Latvia (-0.47), Lesotho (-0.38), Lithuania (-0.23), Poland (-0.01), Russia (-0.47), Slovenia (-0.13), South Africa (-0.28), Swaziland (-0.09), Ukraine (-0.58). Zero to near-zero growth rates: Argentina (0.93), Armenia (0.93), Australia (0.48), Belgium (0.03), Bosnia and Herzegovina ((0.07), Canada (0.31), Chile (0.97), China (0.62), Cuba (0.48), Cyprus (0.49), Denmark (0.09), Finland (0.07), France (0.31), Georgia (0.12), Iceland (0.71), Ireland (0.66), Japan (0.05), Kazakhstan (0.63), Korea, North (0.90), Korea, South (0.43), Luxemburg (0.37), Macedonia (0.33), Malta (0.22), Mauritius (0.88), Moldova (0.25), Myanmar (0.83), Netherlands (0.25), Namibia (0.68), New Zealand (0.64), Norway (0.22), Portugal (0.04), Romania (0.10), Serbia (0.16), Singapore (0.53), Slovakia (0.12), Spain (0.05), Sri Lanka (0.91), Sweden (dead zero), Switzerland (0.13), Taiwan (0.63), Thailand (0.70), United Kingdom (0.06), USA (0.59), Uruguay (0.50), Zimbabwe (0.63). Growth rates of 1.00 to 1.99%: Albania (1.00), Algeria (1.25), Azerbaijan (1.05), Bahrain(1.40), Bolivia (1.61), Brazil (1.07), Brunei (1.56), Cambodia (1.76), Central African Rep (1.55), Colombia (1.52), Costa Rica (1.43), Dominican Rep (1.75), Ecuador (1.84), Egypt (1.81), Fiji (1.71), Guyana (1.01), India (1.40), Indonesia (1.45), Iran (1.13), Israel (1.20), Jamaica (1.48), Jordan (1.91), Kuwait (1.95), Kyrgyzstan (1.54), Lebanon (1.30), Malaysia (1.80), Mexico (1.63), Mongolia (1.45), Morocco (1.67), Mozambique (1.48), Panama (1.67), Peru (1.46), Philippines (1.98), Qatar (1.09), Tunisia (1.04), Turkey (1.09), Turkmenistan (1.89), United Arab Emirates (1.45), Uzbekistan (1.83), Venezuela (1.40), Vietnam (1.09). Mostly Hopeless: Afghanistan (2.30), Angola (2.11), Bangladesh (2.16), Belize (2.37), Benin (2.71), Bhutan (2.11), Burkina-Faso (3.00), Burundi (2.87), Cameroon (2.07), Chad (2.95), Comoros (2.91), Democratic Rep of Congo (3.05), Congo Rep (2.97), Cote d�Ivoire (2.06), Djibouti (2.06), El Salvador (2.12), Equatorial Guinea (2.10), Eritrea (2.49), Ethiopia (2.36), Gabon (2.43), Gambia 2.74), Ghana (2.12), Guatemala (2.53), Guinea (2.64), Guinea-Bissau (2.09), Haiti (2.43), Honduras (2.36), Iraq (2.70), Kenya (2.55), Laos (2.42), Liberia (2.17), Libya (2.33), Madagascar (3.03), Malawi (2.39), Mali (3.26), Mauritania (2.90), Nepal (2.20), Nicaragua (2.04), Niger (3.01), Nigeria (2.35), Oman (3.29), Pakistan (2.20), Papua New Guinea (2.26), Paraguay (2.49), Rwanda (2.43), Saudi Arabia (2.69), Senegal (2.33), Sierra Leone (2.27), Somalia (2.87), Sudan (2.60), Syria (2.34), Tajikistan (2.42), Tanzania (2.15), Timor Leste (2.09), Togo (2.72), Uganda (3.26), Yemen (3.45), Zambia (2.12). ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �205 Billion Pinoys�
Dear Mr Abaya No matter what President Arroyo does to limit carbon emission, it will never help if she does not aggressively pursue population control. And if the Catholic Church does not do what it must do to sanction artificial birth control methods without the fear of damnation bamboozled into these poor, illiterate and disadvantaged people, Arroyo will not succeed, much less even make a dent in total carbon emission. Maybe if we can add the wind power from our politicians in a collective fart, it might just work as they are all full of bullshit in the first place. Other than that, I really do not see how anyone can win against new mouths to feed that gets delivered into the doorstep of the Philippines every minute. P.S. 205 billion Filipinos in year 3000?!!! Well, I am not worried about the Philippines coping with such a population explosion. But will the USA and the Middle East be able to cope with so many Pinoys, you think? Tina Peralta, [email protected], Denmark, Dec. 01, 2006 MY REPLY. I once suggested, only half in jest, that undernourished Filipino babies be left at the communion rail of all churches, for the bishops to feed, house, clothe and educate. I suggested that the movement be called �Iwanan sa Simbahan.� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Thanks for never failing to send me a copy of your articles. Africans "died laughing" at the papal exhortation to abstain from sex rather than use condoms. Would the Pinoy die laughing at this African reaction, or would he be scandalized at such irreverence? Most likely the Pinoy won't show any reaction, waiting until he can die laughing by himself or with those of similar mind. At any rate, neither alternative will be taken by the Pinoy who doesn't give a hoot about what the Pope says or anything from the Stern Report about responsible copulation. Note: I use "responsible copulation" rather than "responsible parenthood" because the latter stems from the former. Cheers, Rose Olsen, [email protected], Norway, Dec.01, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: My hope is that long before the actual population of the Philippines reaches 150 million, a number which the country may in all likelihood not be able to support, the government and the Catholic Church could come to their senses and finally agree on a population management program using all available artificial methods of birth control until such time that the rate of growth of the population goes down to zero, and then goes down still further progressively negatively till the total population of the country, as an absolute number, is one which the country's resources can sustain adequately. My fear, however, is that such hope may be unrealistic, if not utopian. Mariano Patalinjug, [email protected], Yonkers, New York, Dec. 01, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Why do we worry about overpopulation in the Philippines ? All we have to do is ignore illegal logging and hope that Millenyo type of typhoon follows. That will check and balance us. No need to worry about communism too. If you see those karitons around (try Malate, around PGH. That's where I see them) with 5-10 children coming out of it, think about the kind of parenting they are having. Think of each child growing up each to bear 5-10 children, parenting them with the kind they have had. If they turn out to be addicts and criminals, they can be hired by the PNP to assist the military in fighting the communists. That can be another check and balance. Can we survive another 100 years? I�m more worried about the now events. Will GMA survive her recent hospital admission? Will Noli de Castro remain as apparently ethical and moral as I perceive him to be? Pura Flor Isleta, [email protected], Dec. 01, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Way before one billion Pinoys, we won't have food to eat and that means we'll have to consume each other. Sarap Pinoy will have a new meaning. Maybe even utilize Pinoys for fuel, for fertilizer and other uses. (No name given), [email protected], Dec. 01, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thank you Mr. Abaya. I am sharing this with friends among the Samarnons. They are deeply involved in the FPOP program in Samar . They are poor. But determined. It seems they are going to have some vasectomies in Calbayog City . I asked them, "Why not ask those horny Samarnons to use plastic?" The response: "There is no money to buy condoms anymore." I said, I understand. The approach of the powerful in the Philippines and in America to curbing massive population explosion is the direct approach. Buy guns! It will enrich some people also. Cesar Torres, [email protected], San Francisco, California, Dec. 02, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I agree with anyone who expresses profound concern about our galloping population growth rate. To me, there is really nothing absolutely wrong about an increasing population so long as it is QUALITY population imbued with the right values (i.e. not self-centered and shabby, hypocritical, stupid, proud but incompetent, cunning more than righteous, values ambition "at all costs", professes "loyalty" but cannot even be loyal to one's spouse, professes to be God-fearing but commits every possible sin in the great book, shallow, skin-deep, etc). The quality of life found in any country, including its governance, is only as good as its population. With over half of the Filipino population below the poverty line (along with it lack of access to quality education, quality home life, good nutrition, inculcation of spiritual values, quality social circle, etc), misrepresented by self-appointed lying, cheating, stealing, tolerating elites, no wonder the country is like it is. Even demagogues and false prophets like Joma exploit the situation for their own ends and so far get away with it ... like most get away with just about anything in this country ... a lack of black and white ... too much gray area (because it pays). We now have a society predominated by a culture of mediocrity ... Only an increasing minority still subscribe to the increasingly becoming extinct Filipino culture of excellence ... Driven by a misplaced culture that values even unprincipled power, fame, and wealth (for patronage and self-promotion purposes) more than true public service, delicadeza, and propriety, just about anybody now thinks that the loftiest positions of power anywhere are within anyone's reach and to be gotten "at all costs" including the destruction of every value, principle, what's left of these ... the sacrifice of institutions ... the destruction of Filipino society itself! And all willing tools, who say one thing but actually do another (for their own ends of course) are fools of the highest order. And we, the pearls of the orient seas, call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ! CHRIST!!! Col Dennis Acop, [email protected], Dec. 02, 2006 United States Military Academy , Class of �83 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww This a rejoinder to your emailed news report: 205 Billion Pinoys By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov 28, 2006 For the Standard Today, November 30 issue ...(Sic) Reader Henry Bakker, from the European Climate Exchange in Amsterdam, asks "if President Arroyo has a national policy with regard to energy independence and weaning the country away from carbon-intensive sources of energy... ....Actually, yes. More than any other Philippine president, President Arroyo has pursued a national policy of developing alternative non-petroleum sources of energy. But her radar screen is limited to bio-fuels and bio-mass, both of which are still carbon-based and will still spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned. I do not think President Arroyo is aware of hydrogen fuel cells and the lead of Iceland in shifting to a hydrogen-based economy.(Sic) Yes! While bio-fuel and bio-mass are still carbon-base, and emit carbon dioxide, but when ENKONIZED, the hydrocarbons that contain in "fuels" will be converted to "carbon hexaflouride", a gasceous compound, non-toxic, non-reactant and non-irritant. It is sad to note that BIO-FUELS (bio-ethanol & bio-diesel) are nothing but a petrol-base fuel ADDITIVES. Bio-fuels could be a misnomer in terms of finding/formulating a "genuine", bio,eco and/or environment-friendly fuel --- possibly, a renewable source of an energy. --- it's a misnomer indeed to come-up with an alternative energy that the same would contain inorganic petrol-base (methanol & ethanol) and acidic/toxic Sodium/ Potassium Hydroxide Catalytic Reactants, that could lead to corrosion and damage on engine parts. (Correction, please. Methanol and ethanol are alcohols and are therefore organic compounds. But they are not petrol-based. ACA) Bio-diesel is just for mixture at 5%-20% to petro-diesel, If it goes beyond 10-percent or 20-percent use, it will not be good for the vehicle. "We cannot use 100 percent (B100) of coco fuel in the engine", according to Usec. Eduardo Ma�alac, former Usec., of the Department of Energy, now is the President of PNOC." Thursday, March 11, 2004 @ 10:12 PM GMT - 12-Baguio testing use of coconut fuel Ecology. Petroleum Based Fuel Adulteration: (TAKE NOTE ON THIS SERIOUSLY) On the product Standardization of Petrol-Fuel Oils, International Trade Standard Specification, the general requirement stipulates - "The fuel oil specified herein shall be hydrocarbon oils FREE from INORGANIC ACIDS and FOREIGN MATTER." Bio-ethanol is just a mixture of 10% ethanol & 90% petro-gasoline. It would not be good also for the engine if the mixture would go beyond 35% because it will eat-up the rubber and plastic parts of the engine, thus increases the engine temperature. Looming Petroleum Crisis Solution Found in Cebu , Philippines ! "In an effort to realise this long overdue alternative clean and renewable source of eco-dynamics energisation, a cebuano vegetable energy expert was asked by the Arroyo Administration to produce his 1976 invention..." http://peakoil.com/gate.html?name=News&file=article&thold=1&mode=flat&order=0&sid= 15553#8628 ENKOCO Supersedes Esterification Process Bio-diesel http://www.enkoco.zoomshare.com/album/UNIVALM%20ENKOCO%20ECO-DYNAMICS%20ENERGY/images/31da511e85d3657f2ff1bd8493e4d4ae_11488257200/: album?css=/lib/style/type_album.css&css=/lib/style/arial.css&css=/lib/suffixapp/webchat/ webchat.css ENKOCO Health & Environment (Toxicological Information) http://www.enkoco.zoomshare.com/album/UNIVALM%20ENKOCO%20ECO-DYNAMICS%20ENERGY/images/b8de7bf576b3258df649492bace296fc_11488255730/: album?css=/lib/style/type_album.css&css=/lib/style/arial.css&css=/lib/suffixapp/webchat/ webchat.css Signs of the Times ENKOCO Greengold, the millennium veggie fuel (100% Petroleum based Substitute) http://www.enkoco.zoomshare.com/album/UNIVALM%20ENKOCO%20ECO-DYNAMICS%20ENERGY/images/473936cd85a574d6c6c0959ee65f25d0_11512231360/ :album?css=/lib/style/type_album.css&css=/lib/style/arial.css&css=/lib/suffixapp/webchat/ webchat.css DUBIOUS PNS 2020:2003 & BIO-DIESEL TECHNOLOGY? http://www.gov.ph/forum/thread.asp?rootID=73028&catID=9 Everybody is welcome to visit: http://www.enkoco.zoomshare.com Enkonizer, [email protected], Dec. 02, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Where does the problem really lie? Is it in the incapability of the earth's resources to feed her population? Or is it in the incapability of the world's rich to share their blessings with the world's poor? Just the money wasted from the food leftovers of the American people which are thrown to waste, are said to be more than enough to feed the starving population in Africa and elsewhere. Just the money spent on war at Iraq and the money spent on making weapons is more than enough to feed the starving population. As far as the earth's resources are concerned, they may be limited, but the level of technology that could increase the productivity of these resources is unlimited. Further by the year 3000, other planets may have been discovered as livable for mankind. There is no therefore no end to it, as the universe is infinite. (According to Catholic theology, only God is infinite. Everything else is finite. If you were living in 13th century Spain, you would be burned at the stake by the Inquisition for heresy. ACA) (And do you have any idea what it would take to send billions of Filipinos, along with trillions of Black Africans, Muslims and Latinos, to other planets? And why would the rich, technologically advanced countries spend their resources to send ignorant people � instead of their own � to other planets? ACA) Hence, for so long as the rich will share his blessings with the poor, overpopulation will never become a problem. For so long as the rich countries will share their blessings with the poor countries, starvation will never become a problem. The problem is, can they? Can you? (I can�t. Can you? Why don�t you start preaching your �simplistic and laughable� � according to your own description - solutions to the world�s problems at the street corner nearest you, and see how many people will take you seriously? ACA) Bobby Tordesillas, [email protected], Dec 02, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I believe that the time will come sooner. rather than later, that some kind of population management (or control) will be universally adopted and instituted, because of the accelerating progress of medical science leading to the cure and/or eradication of diseases and human ailments leading to increasing longevity, which will compound the problems of governments and society. Peace and Joy Every Conscious Moment! Tom de Guzman, [email protected], Dec.02, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thanks, Tony, for this very insightful article. We will send you the transcript of our public forum (on population management) held on November 23. It is with the Adaptive Technology fro Rehabilitation, Integration, and Empowerment for the Visually Impaired. My best regards, Benjamin D. de Leon, [email protected], Dec. 03, 2006 Forum Organizer wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Click here: Philstar.com - The Filipino Global Community This report in Philstar says that one million Filipinos have already been hired for jobs abroad as of now. Philippine labor officials seem ecstatic over this piece of statistic as if it were something the country should be proud of! If these officials had any sense of national pride, they should actually feel shame because this piece of statistic is a clear measure of the failure of Philippine society to create the right economic opportunities for its own people (which is its responsibility), leaving other countries to take on this responsibility. It's a copout. Of course, they will routinely resort to the default rationalization that the foreign currency remittances Filipino expatriates send back to their homeland, now running at some US$12 billion a year, provides a healthy filip to the economy by providing the country a good portion of the foreign currency it needs to pay for much-needed imports and cover the annual amortization on foreign loans. The idea behind that rationalization is that but for those remittances inward, the country would be faced with serious financial difficulties. Of course, it would. What they consciously ignore is that there are severe social costs to this diaspora which are not easy to quantify in terms of US dollars. In the meantime, at the rate the Philippine population is now growing annually (at 2.3%), close to two million new babies will be added to the population pool (now already around 86 million!). At that rate, population will tend to double around every 30 years. At the anaemic annual rate Philippine GDP is growing, can the country support a population of, say, around 172 million by the year 2036? More than half of the present Philippine population of 86 million already find themselves in the clutches of poverty That's around 43 million people living a life of deprivation and hopelessness, if not despair and desperation. Would doubling that number by around the year 2036 be socially healthy for the country? Think about that/ And be afraid. Very afraid! Mariano Patalinjug, [email protected], Dec. 01, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Thank you so much for regularly sending me copy of your articles. The following lines on this latest article on population issue surprise me a lot: "When Pope John Paul II visited the Dark Continent in 1994, he exhorted Black Africans to totally abstain from sex rather use condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancies." For the past years all I thought is that the Catholic Church is totally against population management considering what I read and heard in various media/sources. In fact I have the understanding that some national leaders and government officials were not aggressive on pushing population control programs being afraid of the backlash of the Church in terms of constituent votes. I think the seriousness of this population issue should be considered from various sectors, particularly the government. As far as I know, there is no strong effort in some sectors to address this potent problem. Or maybe they are just downplaying the total ramifications of its effects to the overall negative impact on the socio-economic development of this country. The suffering of our countrymen is partly due to increasing population. Theoretically, say, a farmer's family having 2 children with a 1 ha. farm may be better off than a farmer with the same farm area having 5 children. What if after 25 years, they have only the same farm area, what could be the source of living of the offsprings? If these families cannot provide good education to their children, they have much lesser economic opportunities further aggravating the situation. There is no wonder why rural to urban migration is a growing trend. Resulting in some crimes and other social problems - beggars, scavengers, street children, etc. and further congesting Metro Manila and other urban centers. I know that a high population growth rate is not the only cause of our country's problem, but personally I believe this is one of the major problems we have aside from corruption, conflicting policies, negative value systems, etc. There is a need to have a definite policy on population management and this has to be translated and enforce in the ground level. Why can't we do it like what other countries do? A strong political will from the national down to the local government units is needed to address this problem. Driggs Matabaran, [email protected], Dec. 06, 2006 . wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, In Proverbs 16:9 it says: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." We worry so much on what will happen to the population if it grows, especially Filipinos. Are we not going to be happy if there are more Filipinos abroad than the original inhabitants of a nation. Look at the Jewish people before, they swarm to different places that in every nation there are Jews. Now, in every nation there are Filipinos. Joking aside, I believe that if only people are given enough education to be responsible parents, population growth will not be so much a problem to us. Besides, God can take care of all that. You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, the smaller your God. Ma. Eleanor Lerio, [email protected], Dec. 06, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (The following articles were emailed to us.) Source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/04/05/pope.contraception.reut/index.html [This on-line article is more than two years old. The link is dead, meaning the article has been taken off-line.] World Pope's ban on contraception caused rift Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Posted: 6:46 PM EDT (2246 GMT) RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Rosa Maria Domingos Soares, a 52-year-old Brazilian housemaid and passionate Catholic, fondly remembers her grandparents' family. They had 12 children and never used contraception, she said. But that is out of the question nowadays. "A big family is beautiful, but today one must use some sort of contraception due to the high costs of education and food, as well as violence. I have three children, but now I think I should not have had that many," Soares said. From Latin America to Asia and Africa, Catholics struggling to care for large families amid grinding poverty and an AIDS pandemic faced a dilemma over Pope John Paul II's opposition to contraception. Some hope that will change under his successor. Many Catholics simply chose to ignore Rome's teaching. But the Vatican ban on any artificial birth controls also caused people to abandon Catholic rites, because they no longer felt comfortable in the church while using condoms or other "safe sex" methods. Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country, saw a decline of 15 percent in the number of people following the faith during the 26 years of John Paul's papacy. "Rural Catholicism is very rigid. And many people in these areas now declare themselves non-religious, not because they are agnostic, but because they disagree with some religious principles, among them no contraception," said Cesar Romero Jacob, a political science professor at Rio de Janeiro's Pontifical Catholic University. Unlike in some other countries, the church does not create obstacles against the Brazilian government's campaign for greater condom use, including free distribution. "The Brazilian bishops' official position remains the same: that sexual abstinence is the remedy. But they generally recognize that the condom is a lesser evil than AIDS," Jacob said. In Africa, one of the few areas where the church is expanding but where 25 million people live with HIV, some pressure groups say the church's continued opposition to condoms threatens the fight against AIDS. "Where there are extreme forms of poverty, people rely on the Roman Catholic Church for handouts, and when those handouts come with advice on not using condoms then that has a very big impact," said Nadira Omarjee, a researcher at People Opposing Women, a group based in Johannesburg, South Africa. "The next pope should be someone who understands the reality of the developing world." Current African contenders for the papacy -- including Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze -- say the promotion of condoms has done nothing to halt the spread of AIDS and has instead encouraged promiscuity. Contraception activists like Frances Kissling, president of Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, believe the Vatican will take a more tolerant stance on contraception in the next few years due to AIDS and overpopulation. She says the Vatican's current position is dangerous since Catholic health agencies provide treatment to about a quarter of all HIV victims and are major recipients of aid. "The problem is, the longer these people survive thanks to the good treatment by the church, the more opportunities they have to infect others. It's a losing situation," she said. The Catholic Church points to Uganda as an example where it says an "abstinence-only" policy has reduced the HIV rate. But U.N. officials contend Uganda's success was as much due to promotion of condom use as to abstinence. As more Catholics disobey the Vatican, birth rates have fallen sharply in Latin America. A woman in Brazil had 2.3 children on average in 2004 compared with 6 children in 1960. According to a 2003 poll commissioned by Catholics for a Free Choice, 91 percent of Catholics in Mexico and Colombia, and 79 percent in Bolivia, thought adults should have access to condoms and contraception pills. "Where the church controls the services, availability is more difficult," Kissling said. In Chile birth rates have dropped in the same way as in Brazil thanks to government family planning campaigns. Veronica Schiappacasse, a researcher with Chile's Reproductive Health Institute, said church attacks on sex education in schools and making birth control available to young people have contributed to a jump in teen pregnancies. As activists await the views of a new pope on contraception, Rosario Ramirez, a 54-year-old woman who sells potato chips in hot sauce outside the Mexico City Cathedral, looks at it simply. "It's one's own decision. I have nine children because I never used any birth control. God gives them to us, he decides, and we do our part," she said. Copyright 2005 Reuters. **************************** Below are some few raw facts about American Roman Catholics and their disagreement with their religion. Source: http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/topics/reform/documents/2006catholicsandcontraception.pdf [availabe for download] Today, the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the United States disagree with the hierarchy�s ban and use contraception � Sexually active Catholic women above the age of 18 are just as likely (97%) to have used some form of contraception banned by the Catholic church as women in the general population (97%). � 85% of sexually active Catholic women report that they have had their partners use condoms during intercourse. � 78% of sexually active Catholic women report having used birth control pills. � Married sexually active Catholic women who attend church once a week or more are as likely (88%) to use a form of contraception that is prohibited as those who attend services less frequently (88%). Catholics have rejected churchapproved family planning methods (the cervical mucus and symptothermal methods) in favor of reliable, modern methods of contraception. � Less than 3% of sexually active Catholic women use church-approved methods as their primary form of family planning. � Even among married Catholic women who attend church every week, only 5% rely primarily on church-approved methods for preventing pregnancy. National Survey of Family Growth, 2002 Hispanic Catholic women use birth control. � 94% of sexually active Hispanic Catholic women in the US have used a contraceptive method banned by the church. � The percentage of married Hispanic Catholic women who use a modern contraceptive method is comparable to that of non-Hispanic married Catholic women�90% vs. 87%. National Survey of Family Growth, 2002 Catholic women and their doctors believe that health care providers should make a variety of contraceptive methods available and accessible to their patients. � 90% of Catholic women want their community hospitals to offer birth control, 77% want them to offer voluntary sterilization and 76% want them to offer emergency contraception (EC) to women who have been raped. Belden Russonello and Stewart, 2000 � 88% of Catholic physicians say they would prescribe birth control to any adult patient that requested it. RNS/Charlotte Observer, 2005 Catholics disagree with the Vatican�s stance on birth control and tend to trust their conscience more than the church hierarchy when making decisions about family planning. � 78% of adults surveyed believe that the pope should allow Catholics to use birth control. CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, 2005 � 75% percent of Catholics believe that you can be a good Catholic without obeying the church hierarchy�s teaching on birth control and only 13% believe that the church hierarchy should have the final say on contraception. Life Cycle Institute/National Catholic Reporter Poll, 2005 **************************** Source: http://www.bupipedream.com/112103/opinion/o4.htm The Catholic church and the lies they tell about contraception Nell Becker Columnist Another campaign of the war against sexual freedom has begun by the Catholic Church. This November, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops met to address certain issues of the church, one of the main issues being Catholics' neglect to follow the church's anti-contraception laws. The solution the Conference came up with? An easy-to-read booklet preaching the fundamentals behind the church's stand on the ban on contraception, as well as other topics, including the "evils" of same-sex unions. Excellent. Just what the adolescents of our country need: more religious propaganda extolling the effectiveness of "natural family planning" and the faultiness of contraception. One highlight of the book is that it links the instability of artificial birth control --condoms, birth control pills, the birth control patch, diaphragms, etc. -- to the constant demand for abortion, because, as the booklet says, usually the people who need abortions are the ones who use birth control, right? Well, I wonder, since if taken correctly, birth control pills are ideally 99.5 percent effective and realistically 95 percent effective and condoms are around 70 to 85 percent effective, whereas "natural family planning" -- not using any form of birth control but having sex at the times when you are least likely to get pregnant during a woman's menstrual cycle -- has no such statistic. Granted, the church advocates abstinence until marriage, but when you look at the country pragmatically, abstinence is not always practiced. So why would the church want to construct an easy-to-read pamphlet telling those who practice Catholicism to make the unstable and less safe choice? Oh yeah, because then, those same impressionable, dumb Catholics will head over to the abortion clinic when natural family planning fails. Then the number of abortions go up, and then the Catholic Church can twist that into the belief that the number of abortions is going up because the non-Catholic youths of America are using condoms and birth control pills and still getting pregnant. This booklet is the twisting of truth. When I attended Catholic high school I was forced to take a religion class that was called "Women of Prayer." But the class basically became a debate between my religion teacher and me over the legitimacy of advocating this "rhythm method" of contraception. The teacher literally lied and told the girls in my class that this method was 99 percent effective, impossible since without protection one has at least an 8 percent chance of getting pregnant no matter how far along they are in their cycle. So why are the Catholics advocating natural family planning? It all comes back to the war on abortion. Contraception is evil, abortion is just another form of contraception and so if the bishops can link the two, they kill two birds with one stone. In the beginning, contraception was taboo in the church because of abstinence, yet now the church is saying that sex is frowned upon, but as long as you don't use protection it's okay. The church is no longer recommending the right thing, but the dangerous thing. So this is my propaganda to throw back at them. It's not even a whole pamphlet, but just a simple question: If the church wants abortion to end, why not advocate the contraception that will prevent it? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |