PNoy acts to curb population growth

I always believe that the state knows best what is good for the country and the church knows best what is good for the soul.

It is simply because of the multifarious knowledge and professional expertise of the people running the state that I harbor this belief. In the same manner, no one shall ever question that the church has the sole prerogative to talk about salvation of the soul.

It could never be the other way around and neither shall meddling in the affairs of one bring forth peace and harmony amongst those concerned. On the contrary, it will only bring discord and ‘ruffled feathers’ which creates, in turn, divisiveness even among citizens.

It has happened in the past and it is happening now, especially on the issue of population control.

The church which wields considerable influence in the Philippines, where more than 80 percent of the population are Catholics, has been using its clout, especially among the politicians, to oppose the passage of a proposed law, first introduced in 2008, that would require the state to provide its citizens with “natural and modern family planning” means.

Because of this stiff opposition by the church, it has allowed the country’s population to balloon to around 94 million in 2010 making it the 12^th most populous nation in the world. For a better perspective, during the 2000 census there were only 76.5 million Filipinos.

It is in this context, therefore, that I am delighted to know that President Benigno Aquino is stamping his own brand of leadership and exercising the most needed political will in announcing that his government will provide contraceptives to poor couples that request for it.

In an impressive and momentous departure from where his predecessors stood, including his own mother, the late President Cory Aquino, he has now defied the will of the church realizing that a continuing population growth is anathema for a third world country who wants to get out from the morass of hunger, poverty, and disease.

“I believe the couple will be in the best position to determine what is best for the family, how to space (the births), what methods they can rely on and so forth,” PNoy said at a town hall style meeting with expatriate Filipinos during his visit to the US to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.

“They face the responsibility for the children that they bring in and government is willing to assist them.”

These pronouncements are sure to enrage the Catholic Church hierarchy, but coming from the President of the Philippines, whose mantra during his campaign was service to country and people, his stand should be respected for his voice is the voice of the majority of the people, too.