Sunday, May 11, 2008 Sun.Star Essay: Over and under By Erma M. Cuizon
THERE’S a joke about a small town in the US whose population has stayed the same for some years---not over, not under, no increase, no decrease. The town leaders found out that for every young woman giving birth, a not-so-young man left town.
The rate of population growth has more than just one story to tell. Behind the unstoppable exodus and slow in-migration, or relentless births, there are stories.
In Ginatilan, a condition of decreasing population, according to the mayor, is wrong counting. Is the town over- or under-populated?
The 2007 NSO population data recorded a decrease in the 2000 survey against the latest count in 2007---14,073 in 2000 and 13,654 last year. This means that in seven years, about 400 people left town or died. If you were to break it down to every 30 days, one taga-Ginatilan left town in a month. The mayor is complaining about the survey results since some of 14 barangays did a recount and came up with an increase, instead of the decrease NSO reported for 2007.
Outside of Ginatilan, even just in Central Visayas, are the data right?
A population decline could be a problem to a province, besides the possible loss of the correct internal revenue share. But so is overpopulation a problem.
In Siquijor, for instance, the population kept decreasing in the next five years from 1990, mainly due to Siquijodnons sending loved ones away to some distant shores to chase a dream. In that time when I used to make official trips there, I saw that almost every family had someone away and hardly anyone came home again to stay for keeps. In the ‘80s, I’d notice streamers put up in porches of houses saying, “Welcome home!” Our host would clarify, “The Daligdigs are arriving for a vacation. The relatives have a party for them.”
Siquijor would be one of the southern provinces that started heavy emigration long before anyone knew what OFW meant. One town called Maria was almost deserted, and dying, a local official told us during one of our visits there.
Then the count showed a jump that was kept up from 1995 to the last NSO Siquijor count in 2000.
Tourism attraction may be the answer to the increase in population growth, thus, a super jump in the experience of Siquijor. In 1990, the population was 73,756, then 81,598 in 2000.
For the retirees, Siquijor is a beautiful island where they can spend the rest of their days in quiet and self-fulfilling retreat. I think that Siquijor retirees in foreign countries would give anything to be home.
But then, again, it’s overpopulation that’s worrying people.
Consider some things: after 50 years, the people in the world have doubled in number. And it’s not the more, the merrier.
The Philippines is one with the highest growth rate, and the worry, authorities say, is that we’re running out of water, for one, and electricity, also food, of course. What do we feed three babies (or more) born every minute in the country?
Thus, let’s hold back population, they say. But does it mean we bring in viruses, create calamity and famine, make war or commit genocide? It would be so much easier, and less painful, to control (despite the Catholic upbringing), population workers insist.
The causes of the decrease are difficult to deal with but the problems of a depleting population could be as bad as that of a nation likened to an overloaded ship. Declining population is good for Mother Earth when nature is left alone to flourish and not be hard-pressed by industrialization.
But again, it could be lonely.
If population is depleting, there’s less manpower to fire up the industries and nurture the economy, among other problems, some say. A total of 20 countries have negative population growth and they’re worried, are they over-controlling? Nations with low births and life expectancy, the list includes Russia. Two of the countries, Botswana and Swaziland, lost citizens to HIV AIDS in a horrible reaping.
No, you can’t be in a situation of population decline or overpopulation without moving a finger. One, or the other, has both snags and flows.
