Who will tackle our population growth?

WE have of late been professing quite a lot of admiration for and envy of some of our Asian neighbors. Some of us have wistfully imagined what might have been had the Philippines but emulated Singapore and the authoritarian strategies of Lee Kwan Yew. Or if we had but gone the way of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, countries that were doing pretty badly in the 1950s and 1960s but have now sped well ahead of us. Even late-comers such as Vietnam are predicted to do better in the next decade or so. Various and different paths and policies were and are being followed by these countries to propel them to develop and industrialize, and transform their economies into advanced, high-income ones.

There is, however, one common factor for success that these other countries share and which most Filipinos have been loathed to confront -- a national population policy designed to curb population growth. It is in this area that the Philippines looks as if it is really shooting itself in the foot.