A House leader on Thursday criticized the government for making it appear that the economy will not flourish without population control.
House Deputy Speaker and BUHAY Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza issued the statement after Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua cited the “crucial role of reproductive health and family planning programs” in the government’s goal of eradicating poverty by 2040.
Rather than using it as an alibi for failure, Atienza said the government should realize that our growing population is the country’s greatest asset as a nation.
“Instead of interfering with God’s plan, government should do its job of providing employment and livelihood opportunities for every Filipino,” Atienza, also the vice-presidential running mate of Senator and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao in the May 2022 polls, said.
Chua bared the government’s reproductive health and family planning programs on Monday at the International Inter-Ministerial Conference on Population and Development organized jointly by the Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Speaking before foreign ministers and senior government officials from the 27 PPD member states, Chua shared that the Philippine government recognizes the crucial role of reproductive health and family planning programs in the pursuit of its long-term vision to eradicate extreme poverty by 2040.
But Atienza said, “Once again, our economic planners are using the population bogey as an alibi for the failure of government to eradicate the real cause of widespread poverty, which is corruption. Again, they are sugar-coating population control under the guise of sound economic policy.”
Atienza, who is a staunch pro-life advocate, has consistently belied the long-standing government stance of blaming population growth for the country’s poverty.
“For decades now, the government has always been blaming the country’s population for its failure to curb corruption, which is the real cause of the poverty that millions of Filipinos are mired in. On the contrary, it is our population of honest, hard-working and dedicated Filipino workers abroad who have been keeping the economy afloat,” he said.
“Even if there were only 100 Filipinos here, but if half of them were corrupt, then the country would still be poor! Our country has also been blessed with an abundance of natural resources that only a few are utilizing and abusing, instead of being used by and providing much-needed income for our farmers and fisherfolk,” Atienza added.
Atienza said the problem of severe poverty affecting a great number of Filipino families should be addressed positively by government instead of giving them massive doses of anti-life programs that would only destroy the country’s future.