Erap defies Church
on birth control

            President Estrada threatened yesterday to defy the Roman Catholic Church's ban on birth control, saying rapid population growth must be checked.
            The President, a former movie star who admits siring several children out of wedlock, had previously opposed birth control. He had said that as the eighth child in his family he would not have been born if it were available then.
            But in a weekly radio program "Jeep ni Erap," Mr. Estrada said that with a 2.3-percent population growth, the Philippines could have a population of more than 100 million within 25 years, from the current 74.7 million.
            "That is a big problem. No matter how high our production is ... if our production of children is also high, we will always be short of classrooms, of basic services because our population is too large," he said.
            Reminded that the Catholic Church, to which most Filipinos belong, opposes artificial contraception, Estrada said: "We do not follow everything they tell us."
            "We have to think about the welfare of the whole population of the Philippines. If they (the Church) are correct, we follow them, but they are not always correct. They are human and they make mistakes, too," the President said.
            It was a surprising turnabout for Mr. Estrada and comes amid growing concern that his administration was ignoring population control in its bid to fight poverty and develop the country.
            Earlier this month, the President had said increased food production and not birth control was the answer to bringing prosperity.
            The Manila-based Asian Development Bank warned last month that population growth could undermine any expansion of the economy and that the large population was partly to blame for the high level of poverty and unemployment.
            The Catholic Church, however, has vocally opposed artificial contraception, even attacking the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.
            During the term of Mr. Estrada's predecessor Fidel Ramos, the country's first Protestant president, Church and government bitterly clashed over the issue. The bishops mounted huge street protests against Ramos' population policy.
            Church opposition has also made support for birth control programs a politically risky move with legislators reluctant to fund such programs.
            Foreign agencies such as the US Agency for International Development have been left to provide the bulk of the birth control devices used in government programs.
            Despite Mr. Estrada's earlier statements, Tomas Osias, executive director of the Population Commission, was quoted in a local newspaper Friday as saying they were still committed to bring the population growth rate down from 2.3 to two percent by the turn of the century.
            Economic planning Secretary Felipe Medalla, who defends population control, said it would cost only P100 million a year for the government to provide contraceptives for everyone who needs them.
            From a clear view of pesos and centavos, it makes sense to subsidize contraceptives," Medalla was quoted as saying. -AFP
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