Over Population: Asset or Liability?

INTRODUCTION

Amidst the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we often ignore the
people we pass by. We overlook the thousands of people we encounter
along the streets every day. Upon closer inspection, these thousands of
people are those who clog the lines to different modes of public
transportation, litter the streets and corners of the city and congest the
halls of malls and office buildings. Evidently, the world is experiencing a
problem of overpopulation. And Philippines is not an exception to this
problem.

In the last 52 years, the Philippine population has almost quadrupled

(from 19.2 million in 1948 to 76.5 million in 2000). The growth rate was
about 3 percent in the 1960s slowing down to 2.3 percent in the 1990s.
This number continue to grow as years passed by.

According to the Commission on Population also known as

POPCOM, there are 100,979,303 Filipinos based on the 2015 population
census by the Philippine Statistic Office and is projected to reach
108,885,096 by December 31, 2019 with a population growth rate of 1.72.
PopCom cited PSA data showing a steady decline in the number of births
among Filipinos in 2017, while the number of senior citizens continuously
increased over the years. In 2017, PSA recorded a total of 1,700,618
births, a 1.8% decline from the crude birth rate in 2016. The number of
Filipinos born per day also decreased from 4,730 in 2016 to 4,659 in 2017.
PSA data also showed that there has been a decrease in adolescent births
from 201,182 in 2016 to 196,478 in 2017.

This number will continue to grow for the next fifty (50) years
according to Rosalinda Marcelino, the Population Commission Director of
Metro Manila, because the population is predominantly young. Also
according to her, some 35% of Filipinos are below 15 years old, while 15%
are 15 to 24 years old. More than 50% of [Filipinos] are young and, in due
time, would become parents. And even if each couple would only have
two children, our population will still continue to grow in the next 50
years.
 The families who belong to the marginalized group and suffer
poverty have the higher number of children. Philippines, a predominantly
Roman Catholic country has high regards to family and children. As what
the old saying goes “ang anak ang yaman ng magulang”. Parents tends to
have many children dreaming that one of their children will help them
alleviate the poverty in the family. This mind set tends to defend the
couples having more children that made the population grow almost twice

the population by 1990 as being showed in the table.

Philippines has the fast growing population in the Southeast Asia

Region having the highest growth rate of 2.1% in 2014. In 2016,
Philippines continue to have the highest population growth rate in South
East Asia.

The continuing growth of population made the government

introduces different family planning programs and even laws. This effort of
the government aims to lessen the number of births and made a quality
life for every Filipino. The Arroyo government uses the national budget to
support only modern natural family planning,* which is approved by the
Catholic Church—not to support modern “artificial” contraceptives, such
as pills, injectable, IUDs and condoms. Another leap for the family
planning in the Philippines is the Reproductive Health Law or The
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 which
consolidated Senate Bill 2865 and House Bill 4244 or the R. A 10534 in
hope to lessen the growing population.

The proponent of this law argued that high population growth rates
exacerbate poverty, and that there is more poverty among big families. In
addition, families with fewer children can better provide for the education,
health, nutrition and other needs of each child, since whatever income
they earn can be divided among fewer individuals. Moreover, lack of
information about family planning methods rather than a desire for more
children accounts for the failure among the poorest families to regulate
births. The use of contraception methods will also lower the number of
abortions, which even in Catholic Philippines is often the last resort in
addressing unwanted pregnancies.
 As the population grows, and the couples started to plan their
family, there is also an increase in the consumption or use of
contraceptives of married women with the age of 15-49 years old in the

Philippines from 1993 to 2008.

Every Filipino dream of a happy and well provided family. We

dream that our children eat their meals three times a day, can go to
school, and well provided with their basic needs. But as our
population grows, does this dream will be realized? Is a growing
population a liability? A problem that needed a solution? Or it is an
asset that if used properly can be a big leap of success in a nation?
Does over population causes poverty or poverty causes population?

DISCUSSION
 We are living in a country where in we are enjoying resources for
free; public roads, schools, hospitals, the flora and the fauna of our rich
environment. But this free resources are limited. As population grows, this
limited resources will be scarce that even water will cause a fight. A
simple space that for building a house will be fight over to have a right on
it. More and more masses are forced to live in the squatters despite
inhumane living conditions. They are often unemployed as the supply of
jobs remains stagnant despite the increasing number of worker
applicants. For most of these people, living becomes a curse.

Poverty is often linked to population. Based on the study conducted

by the Asian Development Bank, high level of population growth is one of
the main causes of poverty in the county. Some other main causes are the
following; low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years; low
growth elasticity of poverty reduction; weakness in employment
generation and the quality of jobs generated; failure to fully develop the
agriculture sector; high inflation during crisis periods; high levels of
population growth; high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes
and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of economic expansion;
and recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis,
conflicts, natural disasters, and “environmental poverty.”

Because of the increasing

number of population, there is
increase also in the number of
people that demands the basic
needs. This basic needs; food,
shelter, clothes, if not meet will
make the people suffer in
poverty.
 The increasing number of population urges the government to
enact the Reproductive Health Law that will provide free access to
contraceptives. This added to the burden to properly allocate the national
budget. Overpopulation as stated in the study of Asian Development Bank
is one of the main cause of poverty. Although according to the study, with
the baseline of 34. 4 in 1991 in the poverty incidence it declines as years
goes by as shown in the table, it is still one of the highest in South East

Asia.

As of 2015, there are 100, 979, 303 Filipinos and the number of
senior citizens or those aged 60 and above are expected to increase by
8.2% in 2019 from around 7.5% in 2015. This indicates that there is high
dependency in the population. The dependency ratio – the number of
dependents over the number of people of working age – will decrease
from 55.5 in 2018 to 55 in 2019. The government have a challenging task
to provide social security and public services for the aged that affects the
national budget. Population ageing could lead to an increase in
government consumption due to the rise in the demand for health care.
Thus, the Department of Health of have the fifth highest budget for the
2018 Cash Based Budget.

Another liability for a growing population is providing education.

There are 38. 5 million school age children in 2010 according to the
Philippine Statistics Authority.
 This number also affects the allocation of the national budget. This
made the education the priority of the government with the highest
allocated budget. The government focused on the development of every
individual to be of helped to the government when times they are needed.

Overpopulation also has effects on the environment. It is like

to say that overpopulation and environment impacts are interrelated. As
the demands for housing increases with the booming of population, the
farmland decreases. Farmland were being converted into industrial and
residential land.

The yield of existing farmland can be increased through intensive

farming to feed our rapidly growing population. This approach is
characterized by reliance on mechanization, pesticides and chemical
fertilizers.

The Philippines has roughly 30 million ha of land, of which 9.7

million are considered agricultural. Rapid urbanization and population
growth are major drivers of land conversion, according to Agrarian
Undersecretary Luis Pañgulayan. The need for housing and employment
as well as the need to spur economic growth and investments have led
the state to tolerate massive conversion of agricultural lands into other
uses outside Metro Manila.

With the conversion of the farmland, there is more likely to lessen

the food supply in the country. Thus, this will likely to also increase the
incidence of hunger and poverty in the country making overpopulation the
cause of poverty and making it a liability for every Filipino especially the
government.

On the contrary, by the end of 2019, PopCom said Filipinos of

working age will increase by 1.4 million to 70,121,863. The Filipino
workforce is among the most compelling advantages that the Philippines
has over any other Asian country. With higher education priority, the
literacy rate in the country is 96.6% – among the highest.

English is taught in all schools, making the Philippines the world’s

third largest English-speaking country. Every year, there are some
500,000 graduates enriching the professional pool. The Filipino people’s
proficiency in the English language and dependable, hardworking nature
also contribute to their employability. Additionally, the labor force median
age is 23 years old, a favorably young demographic that is accustomed to
modern-day digital technology.
 This talent powerhouse has been making a massive contribution to
the current global skills’ shortage and helping other countries acquire
access to a young, skilled labor pool to compensate for their aging
workforce population. The Philippines’ largest export is its people, and it
contributes to the global labor-export market with the biggest percentage
of tertiary school graduates. This makes the overpopulation in the
Philippines an asset to the country.

With also the increasing number of population, some of other

Filipinos work outside the country. There are total of 2.339 million
overseas Filipino workers in the world.
 With this large number of overseas Filipino workers comes bulk

remittances.

This gives life to the finances of the government. OFWs are known
as the modern day heroes or “mga bagong bayani” of the country. This
labor forces contributes greatly to the finances and budget of the
government because it gives high remittances making this an asset to
every Filipino specially the government.

POSITION ALONG THE ISSUE

Philippines is one diverse country from its geography, topography,

and the people. It is the third largest archipelago and considered as the
12th populous country in the world. My position with the issue of
overpopulation is that it is both an asset and liability.

Overpopulation is an asset. With more people in the country means

a big labor force. A big labor force means a big revenue for the
government that can be used for the development of infrastructure,
health, education, and other concerns of the government.
 Philippines also is one of the exporting country of workers abroad.
They are our Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs. We branded this OFWs
as “mga bagong bayani” for their big remittances that help the economy
of our country. Overpopulation is indeed an asset if we know how to make
use of it.

Overpopulation is a liability. Higher number of population means a

higher dependency rate. One of this is the senior citizen and the children.
It is a liability because it forces the government to allocate the budget
giving priority to the education and health that greatly affects our
economy.

Another is that, the more people means a big demand to housing.

This demands convert farmlands to industrial and residential lands like
subdivisions. This make the agriculture less in production where in fact
our country relies more on it. Because of this, some agricultural products
have low supply in the market that give rise to the increase in prices.
Increase in prices means it is less affordable by the poor people. This also
greatly affects our economy.

Having a great number of people is both good and bad.

Overpopulation is the cause of poverty and poverty causes
overpopulation. It is our duty to make our life a taste of heaven or a living
hell. Our life is our responsibility not the government. Let us not add up to
the problem but rather let us be the solution.

CONCLUSION

Overpopulation cannot be stopped but it can be managed. We don’t

need to kill innocent babies just to control our population to lessen
poverty. We all need to work together. We need respect and discipline.
For the government, it is a challenge for them to provide jobs and
employment. PopCom said "with the increasing work force, it becomes an
increasing challenge to the government to accelerate its effort to create
jobs and economic opportunities to optimize this demographic condition.
Failure to employ this massive work force means more economic burden
on the working Filipinos and on limited government resources. We also
need a 0% corruption government. Maybe if all funds were used and not
corrupted, we can have a better facilities, a better infrastructure, more
jobs, and a better education.

For us Filipinos, our challenge is to help the government not rely on

them. Our life is our responsibility. In spite of the limited resources that
we have, we can be successful. Overpopulation is not a hindrance for
success, it is the laziness that makes you poor, and therefore
overpopulation is not the cause of poverty. It is supported by the
statement of CBCP. According to CBCP “In fact, many Filipino scholars
have concluded that population is not the cause of our poverty. The
causes of our poverty are: flawed philosophies of development, misguided
economic policies, greed, corruption, social inequities, lack of access to
education, poor economic and social services, poor infrastructures, etc.

Overpopulation is not a difficult problem to battle. It is a challenge

for the government to make every Filipino have a free access to the
education. A well-educated Filipino can be a big help to the country.
Imagine Philippines having a big well-educated population that can help
the economy of the country. Also proper dissemination of information
about family planning is also a big challenge for the government. A well
informed Filipino can be a big help in combating and managing
overpopulation.

Let us not look on the negative sides of everything. There is

always a rainbow after a rain. We just need unity and love for our country.
Overpopulation and poverty are a piece of cake if every Filipino will work
as one. Let us be an active Filipino Citizen. Makialam, Maging Aktibo, at
maging Mapanagutang Pilipino!
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OVERPOPULATIO
N: ASSET OR
LIABILITY?

FRANCIA C. CAMANO
M. A in Social Studies
Cagbacong High School