QUALITY should determine QUANTITY

By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:53:00 12/10/2008

Last Monday, Oscar Lopez, chairman of the Lopez group of companies, was conferred the title of "Eminent Person" among the board of the Forum for Family Planning and Development.

Lopez is the fifth such "eminent person" on the Forum's board, after former President Fidel V. Ramos, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, businessman and philanthropist Washington SyCip, and internationally renowned demographer Mercedes Concepcion. The Forum is an NGO devoted to advocacy for family planning, particularly in influencing policy-shaping on this issue.

In his remarks, Lopez declared that "even as we are gathered here today, there are many serious challenges being faced by our movement," citing the "well-organized challenge" mounted by religious groups against the pending bill on reproductive health, among others.

The Lopez group chairman also noted that "it is not enough to just depend on government to accomplish the ideal population growth rate."

The private sector also has an important role to play, he said, adding that within the Lopez group they "promote family planning ... [and are] starting to show some progress in this regard and our effort is positively received by our employees as a sign of management's regard for their welfare."

Citing surveys that show public opinion support for reproductive health programs, particularly family planning, Lopez urged his audience to "do everything in our power to make sure that (the people) get what they want and need to have the family size they can properly provide for."
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Indeed, as former president Fidel Ramos said in his "words of inspiration" that afternoon, "the changing but fundamental reality of today's world is that it is quality that determines quantity.

If this nation is to be developed and modernized, Filipino families must all endeavor to produce and nurture quality children and not incapable humans who become burdens to themselves and to society."

At the individual, family and national levels, family planning makes sense, and this is a fact already obvious to and embraced by the majority of Filipinos. But some of our political and religious leaders seem oblivious to reality and instead choose to impose their own sense of morality and judgment on others.

Groups like the Forum have their work cut out for them to make such folks wake up and smell the consequences of overpopulation.