Notes from the North

By Estanislao C. Albano, Jr.

The things  Rep. Roilo Golez  would say in his determined effort to abort the RH Bill one more time.  It does not matter when what he is saying is the exact opposite of the truth and he is already insulting the intelligence of the public with his presumption that they would accept his falsehood  hook, line and sinker. Take his statements during the recent anti-RH Bill rally in Bulacan. He was quoted in the media as saying among others that the contention of  RH Bill proponents that a large population and poverty go together cannot be borne by realities because in Paranaque “we have a huge population, but the people are not impoverished”  and  countries like Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, and Korea have higher population densities but are more stable economically than the country. (At 13,999 in 2006, the population density of Paranaque per square kilometer is roughly double that of Singapore.)

Given his position as a congressman of his city, it is quite impossible that Golez is unaware of the existence of official documents in the Internet which gives the lie to his  tall tale that residents of his city are better off than most Filipinos despite being crowded. First, we have the  report of the Department of Health Center for Health Development on January 17, 2008 (http://www.chdmm.doh.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&Itemid=40) which states  that the urban poor population of his city is at  41.8% and that one of the leading causes of infant mortality there is malnutrition. Granting that the urban poor data is inaccurate, do the children of people who are not impoverished die for lack of nutrition?

We also have the 2009 Local Government Performance Management System report  of Paranaque (http://www.blgs.gov.ph/lgpmsv2/appshome/report/rpt_eSLDR.php?frmIdLgu=1734&frmIdDcfCode=6)  – the LGPMS is a yearly self-assessment by LGUs  which is required by the Department of Interior and Local Government – which says that infant mortality  rate in Paranaque  “is considerably high”  and  “ Unemployment rate is alarming.” Do these data support Golez’s glowing description of the economic state of the people of Paranaque?

Based on his contention that the country does not need the RH Bill and his above-cited statements, Golez is saying that  there will be no serious problems even if the population of his already crowded city will still significantly increase.  That means that Golez is shutting off from his consciousness  adverse realities in his city which are directly connected with its big population.  The LGPMS report cited above  continues that the city’s ecosystems  is in advance state of deterioration with the “Tree cover in urban areas falls short with the desirable condition. Air quality is at stake;”  the coastal marine ecosystem is in the same state with high mangrove loss and marine productivity at risk  as “Coastal fish catch has decreased for the past five years.”  The report also  described water in the bodies of water in the city  as “intolerable” and “worthless.”

In short, going by its online definition which is “Excessive population of an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or environmental deterioration,” overpopulation is already a reality in Paranaque. And here is one of its leaders boldy and incessantly proclaiming to the country that overpopulation is something that needs not concern us.

Regarding his contention that since the economies of the  Asian countries he cited are robust despite their higher population densities,  what we need in the country is not the RH Bill but “right leadership and right economic strategy,” at his age, Golez already knows that that is asking for the moon but keeps repeating it nevertheless. We have been independent for 113 years now and never in our history did we have a leader who had the good intentions and the will to carry them out of a Lee Kuan Yew. Personally, the prudent thing to do is to pass the RH Bill while waiting for  our Lee Kuan Yew because if we listen to the likes of Golez and we delay putting a rational population management measure in place, not even the  emergence of an exceptional leader will avail us if by then, the country will have turned into one wide Paranaque.

What is worse is if through the two official documents one can force Golez to admit the realities in his city, he would insist that the  huge population of his city has nothing to do with these. He would say like he did to  me when I pointed out the effects of a large population on the environment in my Facebook debate with him (http://northnotes.posterous.com/golez-versus-goye-68373) that to blame for death of the Pasig River and other rivers in Metro  Manila  are defective government  environmental policy and deficient implementation of the same. Like the rest of the anti-RH Bill crowd, Golez  makes believe that none of the ills of the country, present or future,  has anything to do with  its large population. It would be alright if he keeps the belief to himself but the trouble is at every chance he gets, he attempts to spread the lie to the whole country.