Seeing the last of Gerry Penalosa as a boxer (for now)

Before Manny Pacquiao, there was the two-time world champion Gerry Peńalosa who carried the torch of the country's elite position in the boxing world.


Last 10 October 2010, Gerry had his last fight against a game Thai boxer, Yodsaenkeng Kietmangmee, in Zamboanga City. He earned his career 37th knockout out of the 55 wins or 67.3% knockout rate. That is an amazing feat to knockout almost 7 out of 10 opponents. He ended his illustrious 21-year boxing career with two world championship belts in two weight divisions (superflyweight and bantamweight), and a record of 55-8-2 with 37 knockouts.


Gerry provided us with memorable bouts, notably against Kawashima where he won the WBC superflyweight title in 1997, against Daniel Ponce de Leon in 2007, and against Gonzalez for his WBO bantamweight title in 2007. His desire to win another title motivated him to be back to the ring after two years of self-declared hiatus in boxing. Who could forget that one-shot to the body of Johnny Gonzalez that brought the former champion to his knees? 

It was a dream come true for Gerry to win another world championship belt for the Philippines. At that time, Pacquiao had already become a household name in the boxing world by beating the Mexican greats successively. And then, another Filipino boxer, Nonito Donaire, Jr., shocked the boxing world by knocking out the unbeaten Darchinyan to wrest the IBO and IBF flyweight belts. On the same year, Donnie Nietes won the WBO minimum weight champion. The year 2007 was a banner year for Filipino boxers.


Gerry defended his title before a home crowd in the Philippines the next year. 

He moved up to super bantamweight to challenge the reigning and unbeaten champion, Juan Manuel Lopez. Gerry lost and posted his first knockout loss via a 9th round technical knockout.


Early this year, Gerry wanted another try at the bantamweight division for the vacant WBO interim title by engaging Eric Morel in a 12-round slugfest. Although bloodied in the later rounds, Gerry stood his ground. The official decision did not go his way, but many thought he won that fight.


Gerry did not want his boxing career to end in a losing note. So he wanted to showcase his tactical fighting skills for his last fight in the Philippines. And he did, to the delight of his fans.


According to the great boxing coach and trainer Freddie Roach, Gerry is "the best technical boxer that ever came from the Philippines." This is affirmed by many Filipino boxing analysts and experts.


Surely, Gerry will not go away from boxing. He said that boxing is his life. He will be around, but not inside the ring. He wants to train and produce another Filipino world champions, thus cementing the elite position of the Philippines in the boxing world.


Thank you Gerry.

Reproductive Health Bill (RHB) to reduce our population boom?

Are Filipino couples producing more babies today than the previous years? The data would point to a resounding NO.

However, the proponents and supporters of the Reproductive Health Bill (RHB) would argue that Filipino couples are still producing more babies. They would direct our sights to the increasing number of children in slums and on the streets. Of course, our population is growing. One of the arguments and justifications for pushing the bill is that we need to reduce our population boom. Hence, what is relevant in the debate is the population growth rate than the population growth itself. Again, are we producing more babies today compared to the previous years?

Another relevant question would be, does the Philippines need a population control nowadays? (See the impact and pressures of population on environment and development goals here.)


Below are the data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NCSB) that monitors and estimates  the population growth rate of the country.

Population of the Philippines
Census Years 1799 to 2007

Year	Population	Average annual rate of increase (%)	Source of data
1799	1,502,574	-	Fr. Buzeta
1800	1,561,251	3.91	Fr. Zuniga
1812	1,933,331	1.80	Cedulas
1819	2,106,230	1.23	Cedulas
1829	2,593,287	2.10	Church
1840	3,096,031	1.62	Local officials
1850	3,857,424	2.22	Fr. Buzeta
1858	4,290,381	1.34	Bowring
1870	4,712,006	0.78	Guia de Manila
1877	5,567,685	2.41	Census
1887	5,984,727	0.72	Census
1896	6,261,339	0.50	Prof. Plehn's estimate based on census records.
1903	7,635,426	2.87	Census
1918	10,314,310	2.03	Census
1939	16,000,303	2.11	Census
1948	19,234,182	2.07	Census
1960	27,087,685	2.89	Census
1970	36,684,486	3.08	Census
1975	42,070,660	2.78	Census
1980	48,098,460	2.71	Census
1990	60,703,206	2.35	Census
1995	68,616,536	2.32	Census
2000	76,504,077	2.36	Census
2007	88,574,614	2.04	Census

Note: Population from 1799 to 1896 excludes non-Christians.

a - Includes the household population, homeless population, Filipinos in Philippine Embassies/Consulates and missions abroad and institutional population who are found living in institutional living quarters such as penal institutions, orphanages, hospitals, military camps, etc. at the time of the census taking.

Source: National Statistics Office.

Since peaking in the 1970s, the population growth rate of the Philippines has been on the downward trend. And this year, it is expected to have less than 2% growth rate. In the World Development Indicators of the World Bank, the population growth rate of the Philippines stood at 1.8% in 2008. Notably, this is without the proposed population control espoused by the RHB.

For a more detailed and interesting discussion on this downward trend, click here for an article published in Philippine Daily Inquirer by Dr. Bernardo Villegas.

Average Annual Exponential Growth Rates, Philippines: 2000-2040

Year	Growth Rate
2000-2005	2.05
2005-2010	1.95
2010-2015	1.82
2015-2020	1.64
2020-2025	1.46
2025-2030	1.27
2030-2035	1.09
2035-2040	0.92

 Even the projection of the population growth rate points to the continuing downward trend. Thus, Filipino couples know better than we think. Obviously on the national average, each generation is producing less children than the previous ones. 

Then, why control something that is already on the downward trend? The answer is, as we know, business for profits. With the RHB enacted, some pockets will be filled why millions of Filipinos languish on living with $2 a day. 

Who will really benefit from the RHB? The poor deserves an answer.

(Another argument here)