Preview

Overpopulation in the Philippines

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3985 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Overpopulation in the Philippines
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION

It has been a politically perceived issue that there is over population in the Philippines. This issue has been constantly blamed for the aggravating poverty situation.

One side is claiming that unbridled population increase is putting so much strain on the financial and food resources of the country that more and more Filipinos are no longer eating three square meals a day. Economic rating system is also stating a poor Filipino family is earning just below $1 per day. This certainly can hardly feed a family of 4 or more.

On the other side, it is claimed that the cause of poverty is government corruption. They rightfully claim that while it’s true that the poor are constantly increasing, and that the income gap between them and the next economic level is likewise widening, financial resources that are intended to support the poor are being pocketed by corrupt government officials. Population is not the cause of poverty, corruption is, the Catholic Church claims.

The government is keen on crafting remedies to curb population. Several laws have been passed to curb corruption. But since they lack heavy punitive measures, they became hardly effective. Corruption has already downgraded the country’s economic standing that adversely affected our capability to borrow money from credit or financial institutions, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

So the government resorted to drafting a bill that drew the ire of the conservative and the Catholic Church. Foremost is the reproductive health bill, which was authored by Senator Pia Cayetano and Congressman Edcel Lagman. The bill underwent rough sailing on the legislative seas.

The President is set to sign the bill into law before 2012 ends.

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUE

Reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system at all stages of life. Reproductive

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Poverty is a pressing issue here in the Philippines. There are so many people who live below the poverty line, and there is a huge discrepancy when it comes to wealth distribution in the Philippines. Only a few actually are the ones who are truly rich at the expense of the majority of the population. There are many reasons why this is so: Our elected officers are also the ones who own most of the land, so it creates…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Many authors tried to understand the subject of corruption and its causes. Among them, the government weaknesses or shortcoming may lead to higher corruption since companies are not afraid of being apprehended (David Conklin, 2009). Besides, government officials with low wages and low educational levels will be more likely to accept illegal payments to survive but also because they do not realize the consequences for the nation’s economic development (David Conklin, 2009). Other reasons are given by the author like the widespread poverty, the possession of major reserves of natural resources, as being likely to influence positively the corruption. On top of that, the current literature identified a linear relationship between corruption and government regulations (Naved Ahmad, 2002) and it seems that higher degree of government regulations leads to higher levels of corruption. This is easily understandable. The more the companies need the intervention of the government to run a business (licenses and permits, control over procurement, contracts,…

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Corruption Thesis

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are things where a country most probably suffers, a thing or a crisis in other term, that was done by a country’s own officials which results into a more inefficient and ineffective type of government. This crisis is corruption; one solution to this problem may be by removing those people who are the cause of this problem or the people behind this illegal acts.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Since its first proposition on 1988, the Reproductive Health Bill experienced many debates if it was really needed here in the Philippines. The proposition was changed and improved by a number of proponents many times but was mostly neglected. Then, a similar bill was also introduced in the first regular session of the…

    • 1716 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    4p's in the Philippines

    • 3291 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The Philippines has been battling against poverty for over several years now. The problem with poverty was inherited by every president, the highest ranking official of the republic. Because poverty continues to worsen every now and then, the leaders of the country have their own strategies and policy adaptations to combat this serious issue.…

    • 3291 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reflection-Social Issues

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Philippines nowadays face different social issues that eventually trigger the country’s economy and development. Recently I saw on television and read in newspapers and internet outraged the conscience of mankind about the current situation of our country and it’s very alarming. There are so much issues the Philippines was facing right now but I cited only three (3) that for me were continuously growing and haven’t yet the solution (long term).…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the Senate Policy Brief titled Promoting Reproductive Health, the history of reproductive health in the Philippines dates back to 1967 when leaders of 12 countries including the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos signed the Declaration on Population.[4][5] The Philippines agreed that the population problem be considered as the principal element for long-term economic development. Thus, the Population Commission was created to push for a lower family size norm and provide information and services to lower fertility rates.[6]…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Republic Health Bill

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Given this premise, with the Philippines having a high rate of population growth, why is it that it has low per capita income? According to Dr. Abola and Dr. Villegas, “Man is the ultimate resource. But in order to be truly one, he has to be employed”. With labor surplus, Philippine economic policies need to direct these resources, generate employment and employ more labor. It is in this act that high population can be used to stimulate productivity, increase income, and improve welfare.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    China and India are the example of countries which have over-population. It is hard for countries which are over-populated to maintain their economics. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with the problem brought by over-population because citizen may not have place to stay, poverty may increase, causes economy to become unstable and there will be lack of food and resources to provide to the citizen.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many sources, books and articles say that people are the most important natural resources a land could have. People are the ones who develop and take care of the nature. People are also the main users of what the nature could give. It was yesterday when it seems that people are not the problem, in fact, they are the factors that contributes to the betterment of a nation. Today, it seems that people are coming way too fast and many already. Well, I say there’s no problem about it. No problem if these people are from other countries. But sad to say, the reality is, our nation, the Philippines has this problem. Overpopulation is and should be everyone’s concern. It’s not something that we should blame only on the poor or the government or especially only on those who have seemingly taken God’s directive to “go forth and multiply” to heart.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Abortion Panel Discussion

    • 1256 Words
    • 4 Pages

    HOST: In light of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law or as most of us know it, the RH Bill, an abundance of organizations and groups claiming they are “pro-life” asserted that passing the bill may pave the way towards legalized abortion in the Philippines. As a country with deeply rooted Catholic beliefs, the Philippine government has always imposed a blanket ban on abortion, with absolutely no exceptions. Many Filipino citizens urge the government to liberalize the law and follow the footsteps of its more established fellow countries in the West. However, there are also quite a number of Filipinos who are all for staying conservative. Today, we have three people well-distinguished in their respective fields to help us understand more about abortion and why it should stay prohibited in the Philippines. We have DOCTOR, LAWYER, and PSYCHOLOGIST. Good morning/afternoon!…

    • 1256 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rh Bill

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Almost over a decade has passed since the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippines was for the first time proposed, now that the pursuance of the bill has gained its rebirth, still it has become a part of the national debate bringing about a wider division. The Reproductive Health Bill, popularly known as the RH Bill,…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Position Paper: Hunger

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Let us discuss each probable cause one by one using statistics. One evident cause I see for this is poverty. In another survey conducted by SWS, 51 % or estimated 10.3 million Filipino households considered themselves poor, lower by 4 points from 55 % or 11.1 million families in March. Also stated in the survey, about 39 % or about 7.9 million Filipino families rated themselves “food-poor”, lower by six points from 45% or 9.1 million previously. (Flores, pars. 1-3) Even though we can see improvements in the rates, it is still not enough to say that we are alleviating it.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rh Law

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Reproductive Health Bill was introduced by Congresswoman Bellaflor J. Angara -Castillo is also known as ³Reproductive Health Care Act of 2002´,assembled at Senateand House of Representatives of the Philippines, and now known as House Bill 5043 of 2008. It¶s been years since the bill was approved in the senate, due to some churchconflicts, biomedical ethical issues and some scientific research conflicts. Today thereare still lots of Filipino citizen who are now fully aware about this bill and why this billwas imposed.Before I write this reaction paper I had to read the Bill twice and read somearticles, reaction and comments in the internet I had read books and research which isrelated to reproductive health, sex education and Bioethics, for me to fully understandwhat was the RH bill all about and the reason of the creation of this bill.Poverty, the main problems that the Philippine is facing today and they say thatthe primary factors that lead to poverty is due to overpopulation, the Philippines has apopulation of 64,318,120 in 1990. Today the population is ballooning and estimated toover 94 million according to latest census and the top 12…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Early Marrige

    • 2632 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Reproductive Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproduction and to its functions and processes, World Health Organization (WHO, 2005)…

    • 2632 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays