PEOPLE should take a stand against the Catholic Church’s opposition to artificial family planning methods, a University of the Philippines professor said.
Economist Solita Collas-Monsod, founding president of the Human Development Network, said that majority of Filipinos believe rapid population growth impedes the country’s development.
“It is time that the Catholic Church hierarchy and other religious groups listen to the people and take more tolerant and humane positions on the need for a state-supported population policy, backed by a responsive family planning program,” Monsod said, quoting from a book she co-wrote.
She said people should assert themselves against the church’s stand on family planning.
A March 2007 Pulse Asia survey on family planning revealed that 92 percent of the people believe family planning and fertility control are important. About 89 percent think the government should provide financial support for methods like pills, intrauterine device, condoms, ligation and vasectomy.
The Church, however, will maintain its stand against artificial family planning and will continue to teach its flock not to practice it, said Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer of the Cebu Archdiocese.
“The Church is not afraid if some people will assert themselves against our stand. Even Adam and Eve did not listen to God. We are not expecting all the people to always obey us. We have our freedom, which we can use or abuse,” he said.
Dakay commented that the government’s efforts in family planning are driven by manufacturers of contraceptives and “pro-abortion funding.”
“It seems it has become a business. There is money in the promotion of artificial methods of family planning,” he said.
The same Pulse Asia survey also showed that 75 percent would support candidates who favored a government budget for family planning; 76 percent also said it was important for a candidate to include family planning in his or her program, of action. Only seven percent of respondents said family planning was not an important issue for candidates to address.
Pulse Asia derived its findings from field interviews with 1,800 respondents from Feb. 28 to March 5, 2007. In its website, the group reported a margin of error of plus or minus two percent.
The Philippines is the fourth among East and Southeast Asian countries with the highest fertility rates. More developed countries like China, Korea, Japan and Singapore are among the countries with the lowest fertility rates.
Assistant Director Cleofe Pastrana of the National Economic and Development Authority presented that 7.8 percent of the population are unemployed, while 21.5 percent are underemployed.
Poverty incidence is at 30 percent. (JGA/With NRC)
