POPULATION BOOM How is the Philippine holding up?

THREE Filipinos born every minute.

That's the numerical translation of the country's 2.3 percent

growth rate, the highest in Asia.

While every person is a potential pair of hands helping out in

the farm and the house, the hands could very well belong to

street children begging in the streets, if the Philippines'

demographic profile were any indication.

There are now 74.7 million Filipinos, or 645 people per square

mile, one of the highest population densities. This according to

data released by the Population Reference Bureau, a US

think-tank that gathers, interprets and disseminates information

on world population trends. Data from the PRB and the 1999

Human Development Report also indicate that:

The birth rate per 1,000 Filipinos is 29; the death rate, 7.

Life expectancy at birth is 68 (up from 56.9 in 1970).

Fertility rate in '97, or the average number of children

that women are having, is 3.6.

Dependency ratio or the number of people below 15 and

above 65 for every 100 persons in the productive age

group: 70-74%.

The average income Filipinos make in a year: $1,200

(1997).

Percent of GNP that government spend on education

and health: 2.2 (1996).

As of 1997, 56% of the population lived in urban areas.

Demographers and government planners have expressed

alarm over the country's population growth. From only

36.7 million in 1970, population has almost doubled to

74.7 million in only 30 years. The disproportionate

increase in population against limited resources is most

apparent in the chronic lack of classrooms every school

year as 10.82 million children are of elementary school

age. Unemployment is also bound to get worse, as the

labor force is projected to grow to about 42 million in the

next five years.

Increased consumption can only impact negatively on

the environment:

Electricity use per person in 1980: 373 kwh; in 1996: 502

kwh.

Annual fresh water withdrawals per person, from 1987 to

1995: 686 cubic meters.

Annual rate of deforestation, from 1990 to 1995: 3.5%.

Metro Manila has a vehicle density of 435 vehicles per

kilometer, making it the sixth most congested city in

Asia.

Number of registered vehicles in MM: 1.3-m, or 40% of

total registered vehicles in the Philippines, squeezed into

an area that is only .2% of total land area in the country.

Motor vehicles account for 70% of air pollutants within

Metro Manila.

Hardwood forest has shrunk from 10.2 million hectares in

1981 to 7.5 million in 1986.

Of total wood consumption, 70% are for domestic use as

firewood, 30% are for commercial purposes.

While most countries have set up effective family planning

programs to rein in their population growths, the Philippines has

been particularly reticent in implementing population policies in

the face of trenchant opposition from the Catholic Church which

describes such efforts as "evil" and "anti-family."

The unease is most apparent in President Estrada's recent

statement on the issue. The administration, he said, is forming a

committee composed of the religious sector, the NGOs and the

academe to study ways to curb the runaway population that

would also take into consideration a person's religious beliefs.

The President had earlier voiced reservations on family

planning. Being the eighth child in the family, he said he would

not have been born if his parents had practised contraception.

The ambivalence is still apparent in the lackluster budget

earmarked for the family planning campaign nationwide. The P66

million allocated for this by the Health department is only 10

percent of the total budget needed by the program, Health

Undersectary Susan Pineda-Mercado disclosed. The other 90

percent is being shouldered by foreign donors.

The Estrada administration's population policy is a restatement

of the existing one and involves reviewing existing laws and

current realities, Commission on Population executive director

Tom Osias said.

"Basically, the government wants to create an enabling

environment that would empower couples, parents and young

people to make informed decisions and choices," he said. These

choices include decisions on when to marry, how many children

to have and when, what contraceptive methods to use, and so

on.

But the program as it stands suffers from several limitations,

among them the lack of access and availability of family

planning methods as well as the lack of adequate or year-round

coverage, counseling and follow up. According to DOH

records, two million or 2 percent of married Filipino women are

not using any family planning methods.

Several factors are behind this, said Osias, including the lack of

information and access to family planning methods in some

areas in the country, the fear of side effects, and the male

partners' objection to their use.