“(N)atural family planning does not and cannot cause a significant decline in the Philippines’ population growth.”
by Ducky Paredes
It was not very smart for the President to say during her State of the Nation Address (SONA) that informed choice means “letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.”
This was, a matter, according to Pangasinan Archbishop Oscar Cruz (who agrees with Gloria on Family Planning but disagrees with Gloria on everything and will thus, do whatever he can to discredit Mrs. Arroyo) of “just trying to earn political points from the CBCP.”
Seriously, though, natural family planning does not and cannot cause a significant decline in the Philippines’ population growth. The UP Population Institute (UPPI) attributes the decline in the country’s population growth rate, however slow, to the increase in contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) that includes modern contraceptives such as pills and female sterilization.
Both the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and the 2005 Family Planning Survey (FPS) show the Filipinos’ preference for modern methods, topped by the pill (17 percent) and female sterilization (9 percent). Users of modern natural family planning such as mucus, billing, ovulation and lactational amenorrhea (LAM) methods comprise less than one percent.
To say that her administration’s natural family planning-only policy has contributed to a drop in the population growth rate is pretty silly, too. According to Dr. Ernesto Pernia of the UP School of Economics and former Lead Economist of the Asian Development Bank, it would take at least five years for the effects of any population policy to be seen, felt, or perceived. Dr. Pernia says that had President Arroyo taken an aggressive population management policy when she first grabbed the presidency in 2001, the Philippines would be feeling its effects now and we would not have felt the global economic crisis as much.
The 2003 NDHS shows the country’s alarmingly high unmet need and gap between desired and actual fertility rate. One in four pregnancies remains mistimed while one in five is not wanted at all. On average, Filipino women have one child more than they would have wanted.
In actual numbers, the measly decline in the country’s population growth rate from 2.36 percent to 2.04 percent still translates to three babies born per minute, 206 per hour and 4,947 per day, many of them born to poor families.
By promoting a natural family planning-only (NFP-only) policy, isn’t the government violating the principle of voluntary choice in the way that we want to live our lives. Promoting an NFP-only policy also goes against our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which targets increased access to reproductive health services and contraceptive prevalence rate—covering both modern natural and artificial methods—to 60 percent by 2010 and 80 percent by 2015.
Clearly, natural family planning is not for everyone. Surveys of the National Statistics Office (NSO) also show the preference for modern family planning methods with pills consistently topping the method of choice.
Not everyone in this country is Catholic and, considering the number of limited places available in our churches for Sunday Mass, not all Catholics go to Mass, much less take the trouble to become good Catholics. So, why is the State, which ought to have an arms-length relationship with all religions allow such an undue influence of the Roman Catholic hierarchy on the Presidency and on public policymaking?
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I received several letters on the Megumi Reader. I am using two of them: “Your beautiful article on the Megumi reader, which of course gladdened the heart of all of us who are pushing for its use to bring universal literacy in the Philippines – and beyond. The program is radically different in concept from the usual approaches to the improvement of education; those mostly call for more books and teachers.
“The Megumi program is ‘out of the box,’ and may have to struggle for acceptance by book lovers, by people afraid of computers, by computer lovers who look down on ‘mere’ electronic readers, and by otherwise conscientious parents who feel they know too little about the subject to get involved in it. The best way to meet all such opposition is to show the merits of the concept and of the program to pursue it. Your clear description of the Megumi and of the sophisticated ways it can function as a learning tool is precisely the kind of information that we want everyone interested in education to have. I thank you most sincerely for the great help that your article will give towards the acceptance and propagation of the program.
“There is an increasingly vocal dissatisfaction with the Philippine education system, caused in great part by a perceived inferiority of its average products vis-à-vis those of neighbor countries. The national urge to end that embarrassment is not out of place, but the problem should be addressed where it begins – at the lower grades.
“The effort at that level will also address the horrendous drop-out rate in public schools, which should worry everyone much more because of the huge number of unhappy human beings affected, and because of the impact that so big a fraction of the population without proper education will have on the fortunes of the nation. Elementary education should be thoroughly revised to have for its primary and principal goal the preparation of the child to make his or her way in life with just a six grade education if the road to high school is closed, and to participate intelligently in community life. Achievement of that goal means giving the child: a) confident and comfortable command of language, and b) logical thinking, or the ability to reason. Every thirteen year old human being is entitled to that equipment for life.
“Command of language that elementary school graduates should have means the ability a) to understand fully what they read and hear in the newspapers and over radio or television, b) to express confidently what they feel or want or need to say, c) to reason and defend themselves and their thoughts and ideas in conversation, and d) to search for the information that they need in the situations they may find themselves in. Such proficiency can be attained only by constant and repeated exposure to the sound of the language. Megumi, with its capability to repeat lessons and stories without getting tiresome, is the ideal device for giving the child that kind of aural experience that approaches language immersion. Obviously, a new curriculum that can produce such result needs to be developed, and we unfortunately have not come to that stage yet. We trust, however, that similarly-minded friends will join us when they learn of this ambitious and challenging work for country and people. Their help will certainly be more than welcome.” — M.A.T. Caparas
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From Christina Berroga: “I’d like to buy a Megumi reader and use it for my children; where can I buy one?”
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Sorry, ma’am, all we have right now is still a prototype. As soon as it is available, you will know through this column.
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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com
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hvp 07.28.08)
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