DEAR HONORABLE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE (Congressmen, Congresswomen and Senators),

You may wonder why I am writing you, but I believe it is time that you hear from me. I am tired of other people using my situation for their political agenda. Thus, I put in writing a description of my situation and an appeal that you reflect and vote with your conscience. As my representative in Congress, you ought to put my voice in your vote on the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

I am a mother of five children. My husband is a construction worker who earns P6,500 (US$150) per month. I am a simple housewife who attends and looks after my children aged 12, 9, 6, 3 years old, and 10-month old baby. I delivered them all through an experienced "hilot" or "parteria." She is now the godmother of my fourth child; that's why I delivered my fifth child without a cost. She lives next door and is fond of her goddaughter.

We stay in a rented house. It is small, but we try to make it our home for the past 13 years. I know my neighbors and we help each other when we can.


Life is difficult here in Manila. I came from the province. After finishing high school, I ventured in Manila seeking for a better future. I met my husband, also a provinciano, and we fell in love. We formally got married only last year. Thanks to the generosity of our mayor who sponsored the mass wedding.

Honestly, we struggle to send our children to schools, but we try hardest to send them. My eldest will be in high school next year. I am thankful that he supports partially his schooling by collecting plastic bottles and old newspapers from our neighbors and other sari-sari stores. My eldest daughter sells some "chitchiria" or snack foods to her classmates in school to add to our income.


Oh, to augment my husband's income, I have put up a small sari-sari store that provides for our basic needs such as rice, milk, and other household necessities.

I am a member of a women's group that received a loan from a microfinancing NGO. I used my loan to put up our sari-sari store. My eldest son and daughter assist in manning the store while I am attending to my 10-month old baby.

At times, during weekends, my husband is asked to do some repairs in other houses. He knows how to repair electrical appliances and furnitures.

In our own capacities and efforts, we are trying to survive and live decently. We do not need your pity and generosity. We need your sincere commitment to help us. If you truly commit as you promise every election, this is how and what you can do to help us:

- expand free education coverage to include books, school supplies, uniforms, and other fees.
- increase the minimum wage by P100 per day to cope with the inflation and rising commodity prices.
- build more schools so that my children will not be cramped together with 50 of their classmates.
- hire more teachers so that my children's teachers can focus on their specializations.

These four things can go a long way to extend our sights to a better future in our lifetime with my children.

One more thing though. Please, oh please, do not look at my children as liabilities or burdens to society. They are my joys in my life. They are my jewels in this world. I am very thankful that I have been blessed with five children. Many in my neighborhood including my "kumareng hilot" has discouraged me to have a new child. Yeah, I and my husband have agreed that our youngest will be the last. Both of us have come from big families. I have seven siblings and my husband has nine siblings. And now, we have five children. That's it for us.

Please, do not give up on us by asking us to give up our children. They are my everything.

Sincerely yours,

Ina Bayani

2011 Population of the Philippines and Reproductive Health Bill

Year 2011 started with a news that the Philippine population is estimated to reach 95.8 million this year. This is according to Commission on Population using the 2007 growth rate of 2.04 percent.

I see two remarkable mistakes in this news.

First, statistically, the use of 2007 population growth rate is NOT accurate and NOT appropriate to estimate the current population. Since the late 1970s, the Philippine population growth rate has been steadily declining, except in 2000 level which increased a bit from the 1995 level. However, after that disruption, the trend of steady decline continues. In fact, the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) projects that the Philippines has a population growth rate of 1.9 percent in the period of 2005-2010. Then, it will be 1.67 percent in 2010-2015 period until reaching 0.5 percent in 2045-2050. (See the UN report here).

With a steady declining population growth rate, using the 2007 rate to estimate the 2011 population is totally incorrect and uncalled for. The Commission could have waited for the 2010 census to announce its official population count. This mistake leads me to the second mistake which may be inadvertent, somehow.

The second mistake is to augur the a new year with this fallacious and misleading figure to push for the Reproductive Health Bill (RHB). With this bloated figure, fear is being used by the Commission to drum up support for the Bill ahead of the announcement of the 2010 official census.

(We need to act now because population is exploding. Hmmmmm. Think of one or two million people of exaggeration in this population figure. Then think of Estonia which becomes the 17th member-country to adopt the Euro currency with only 1.4 million total population in 2010).

One of the major arguments of the Reproductive Health Bill (RHB) is that the growing population of the Philippines must be controlled in order to reduce poverty in the country. Proponents and supporters of this RHB sees the population as the major problem to development. They see the Philippines as overpopulated country with the sights of slums in the metropolis.

Let us show facts of the Philippine population.

Is the Philippines overpopulated? What is the measurement of overpopulation?

While it is true that the Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world, the population density per square kilometer of the country is only 307 persons in the 2005 estimates, thus ranking 43rd in the world. (For comparison purposes, Singapore has 7,023 person per square kilometer, Taiwan has 639 persons, South Korea has 407 persons, the Netherlands has 401 persons).

Then, the  answer is NO, the Philippines is not overpopulated. Metro Manila is, and other big cities.

The significant question should be, is the population of the Philippines productive? Thus, population control will not answer this question, rather the state of education and employment opportunities will.

Another significant question is, are the national resources distributed to regions? Or few regions corner much of the national resources? The answer is not about population; it is about distribution of resources.

Post-script: Anyhow, exactly how will the RHB control the population growth? Among its ways, one is to make contraceptions accessible and available to all including married and unmarried, young and old couples; Second is to conduct reproductive health education sessions with young people who are enrolled in secondary schools in the hope of containing unwanted teen pregnancies; Third is to encourage an ideal family size of having two children for every family.

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)