Sunday, August 15, 2004 'Interest groups' behind two-child policy, says Ablong By Jimmy P. Abayon and Adrian Sedillo
VICE Mayor William Ablong accused the proponents of the "two-child policy" of being not-well intentioned, but are goaded by interest groups such as manufacturers of condoms and contraceptives.
In his one-page resolution, approved by the City Council session Thursday, the vice mayor described the policy as averse to the Constitutional rights of families and the Charter of the Rights of the Family International Conference on Population held in Mexico recently.
Ablong warned that the policy will result to coercion, promoting abortion and the use of contraceptives.
"(It is) a method that is not only immoral and irreligious but may also be loaded with potential health problems and hazards," he said.
Before filing his resolution, Ablong delivered a privilege speech titled "Wrong solution" that attacked the reasons cited by the proponents of the two-child
policy.
"The ultimate intent of this proposal in Congress is to legislate abortion," Ablong said referring to the bill filed by Rep. Edcel Lagman on the two-child policy and another proposal by Cong. Ace Barbers for a five-year moratorium on childbirth.
Both plans expressed alarm that the country is overpopulated, facing a diminishing food supply, natural resources, energy and space.
With their justification, Ablong said, Filipino couples will be forced to buy condoms and contraceptives or submit themselves to surgical methods of birth control.
But citing a United Nations statistics, the vice mayor said world population is slowing down and that some countries are relying on emigrants to sustain them.
"What population control adherents fail to mention is that far from their unscientific and alarmist claims, the Filipino fertility rate is actually declining and would continue to decline as the years progress," he said.
The lack of resources, he said is not an issue because the Philippines is a country of great wealth and rich natural resources and the world has plenty of food.
"Apparently, the only problem is the lack of sharing and the lack of equitable distribution of wealth," Ablong continued.
A booming population, he stressed, does not hinder prosperity but is a "catalyst of economic growth".
The vice mayor said the solution to overpopulation are self-control, delayed marriage, economic development and good governance.
(August 15, 2004 issue) Write letter to the editor.Click here. Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
