SENIOR Deputy House Minority Leader Lito Atienza on Saturday scored the government’s economic planners for sticking to the wrong policy of past administrations by blaming the country’s economic woes on population growth.
“I am very disappointed that the President’s economic planners are still in the habit of using the country’s growing population as an alibi for failure, as previous administrations have done before them,” Atienza, who represents the party-list group Buhay said.
Atienza questioned the recent statement of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia that the full implementation of the reproductive-health (RH) law could have helped speed up poverty reduction in the country.
“The economic projections for our country are all upbeat and positive. So why is it that our economic planners are giving this administration an alibi for failure by blaming the country’s growing population for the slow alleviation of poverty in the country? Except for the Arroyo administration, why are they committing the same mistakes that other previous administrations have made? Instead of implementing genuine poverty alleviation programs, like employment generation and providing livelihood opportunities for the poor, the government is still blaming the population for the country’s poverty. It is very ironic that the country’s growing population—a big majority of which is composed of overseas workers whose billions of dollars in remittances are keeping the economy afloat—is again being conveniently used as an alibi for government’s failure to effectively address poverty. We have always maintained that the RH law is antilife, antifamily and anti-poor. It is a population-control measure disguised as a responsible parenthood and reproductive- health law,” Atienza said.
Atienza pointed out that the country is fortunate to have a leader like President Duterte who is giving priority to the needs of the poor and is the only President to have confronted the drug menace frontally.
“President Duterte is determined to stamp out the drug menace—90 percent of crimes are drug related—something that no other president seemed to have addressed squarely. We know that after dealing with the drug problem, the President will focus his attention on corruption. Drugs and corruption are twin diseases that cause poverty. A stable peace-and-order condition and good governance are essential if our country is to achieve progress—not population control. Instead of teaching the youth to look at pregnancy as a disease that should be treated, shouldn’t we be teaching them positive Filipinos values, such as respect and care for life, as a precious gift from God, as well as advocating a culture of life? Hindi tama na sisihin ang bilang ng tao sa kahirapan ng ating bansa. Ang kailangan natin upang umasenso ay good and effective governance,” Atienza stressed.