Overpopulation in Manila, the Philippines

Too many people. Too little space.

With every passing second, there are more and more of us. By the year 2050, the
global population is expected to pass nine billion people, a significant increase
from the six-and-a-half billion today. In the Philippines, they are already running
out of space. The capital of Manila is one of the largest and most densely
populated cities in the world.

Text and photos by Mads Nissen

In a corner of the Northern cemetery, Venanjo Sison is standing on top of a coffin

and taking a bath. Like many other of Manila’s residents, he is forced to live
wherever he can. His home is made of wooden planks and scrap pieces of plastic.
The Philippine capital is one of the most overpopulated places on earth. There are
few other areas where so many people live so closely together: On average there
are 41,282 people per square kilometre, but in some slum regions there are as
many as 88,000 people living per square kilometre.

The worlds overpopulation is a growing and complex problem. But for the
residents of Manila the result is quite simple. They are running out of space.
Families live in home-made shacks built in cemeteries, or between railroad tracks
or under bridges. They live wherever they can find some space. Even the city’s
toxic garbage dumps are home to people who eat, sleep and live surrounded by
rotting trash. With so many residents, the city’s resources are strained to the
limit. Large parts of Manila’s 11 million residents lack clean drinking water, work,
and access to healthcare and education.

The Santo Niño slums are home to thousands of these families. Among them are
Bhong Esponilla, 33, and his wife, Charito Esponilla, 33, and their seven children.
All of them live together in a tiny four-by-four meter home built with scrap pieces
of wood and stone and a large wax tablecloth. There is just enough room for the
entire family to lie down and sleep at night.

According to the United Nations development program UNDP, overpopulation and

poverty often go hand-in-hand. The poorest families are the ones who have the
most children and subsequently have to support more people with fewer
resources. Before they even reach adolescence, the children are doomed to a life
of hereditary poverty.

Charito Esponilla’s dream is to give her children an education. That is what his
neighbour, with only two children has done. But the Esponilla family can’t afford
to send their children to school. As it is, they have a hard time making ends meet
and when the family runs out of money, they are forced to live on the charity of
neighbours.

”Our neighbours are so sweet,” explains Charito Esponilla, while she washes
children’s clothes in three large buckets of laundry. ”Sometimes they give us a
little rice, but a lot of the time they are short on food just like us. Then we have
no other choice but to go hungry to bed. On those nights, it’s very hard to fall
asleep. The children cry and wake me all night long. But I don’t have anything to
give them. What can I do?”

Even though Charito Esponilla loves her seven children, she doesn’t want any
more. Like most other Filipinos she doesn’t use contraceptives, and never has.
She has considered the birth-control pill, but she doesn’t know much about them
and is afraid of what they might do to her body.
According to Dr. Emily Bernardo, a lack of information is one of the leading
causes of overpopulation in the Philippines. Bernardo is the leader of a family-
planning unit at the public José Fabella Hospital in Manila.

”The poorest social groups are incredibly ignorant. They don’t even know how a
woman becomes pregnant. Some of them believe they are infertile while they are
still breast-feeding their new-borns and others have never even heard of
prevention or contraceptives. Others still are terrified of unknown side effects.
That’s why women keep having more children, even though they neither want to
nor have the economic means to provide for them.”

But powerful forces are working against Dr. Emily Bernardo and the centre for
family planning. The Catholic Church, the most dominant religion in the country,
is against abortion, sterilisation and all other forms of contraception. The church
is also an opponent of sexual education. Instead, the local priests encourage
women to try and guess their egg cycle in order to prevent pregnancy. As a
devoutly religious country, the church has considerable influence on government
policy and has succeeded in a reduction of government campaigns on pregnancy-
prevention and sexual education.

The increasing religious and political pressure has a direct effect on Dr. Emily
Bernardo’s work. ”The responsibility for slowing overpopulation has been moved
from the government to the local municipalities, and as a result there is no
longer a national plan for combating this problem. We are the last public hospital
in Manila that still offers counselling in prevention and family planning. All other
public hospitals have had their programs cut by the devoutly religious mayor.”

Local health organisations like the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network

have criticised the lack of information available. They want more information and
a national plan of action against overpopulation. Essentially, their demands are
the same as the UN’s development program, which recommends three solutions
for slowing the rapid rise in population. Poverty reduction, education and
reproductive counselling, which includes information about contraceptives.

While the debate rages between the church and health organisations, the
population keeps growing. Today, more than 90 million people live in Manila. By
2050, it will be twice as many.

FACT-BOX: Overpopulation in the Philippines

The Philippines are a series of islands in South East Asia. The population is
primarily made up of Roman Catholics and is led by the publicly elected
president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She has admitted to personally using birth-
control pills earlier in her life, but refuses to recommend the use of
contraceptives.
The country is a former American colony and is still has close ties to the USA.
The Philippines has a population of approximately 90 million, with more than
11 million living in the capital of Manila.
The Philippines is the 12th most populated country in the world.
In 1970, the government realised it had to act to slow population growth and
launched the Philippines Population Program (POPCOM) and later the National
Family Planning Program. Critics complain that the programs are no longer a
government priority and have lost their effectiveness and are calling for
a revitalised attempt to control overpopulation.
There is no sexual education in public schools. Most people have little
knowledge about pregnancy and prevention.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines preaches against abortion and all forms
of contraception and family planning programs.
Abortion is illegal in the Philippines, yet it is estimated that every year more
than 400,000 illegal abortions are performed.
Poverty and overpopulation are closely connected. Poor families often have the
most children.
In the next 30 years, the population of the world’s cities is expected to triple.
In the next 15 years, 18 of the world’s 27 mega-cities (more than 10 million
inhabitants) will be in Asia, where half of the residents live in slum-like
conditions.

Sources: CIA, UN/ UNDP, World Bank, POPCOM.

When I think of the Philippines, I don’t think of Boracay or the famous Imelda shoes. The
disturbing thought that the warm and friendly people of the Philippines, suffering from
poverty comes first on my mind. As of July 2006, the Philippines has a total population of
89,468,677 and is still growing at around 1.8% each year. 40% of this is currently below
poverty line, 16.9% are experiencing hunger while 4.2% are experiencing severe hunger.
These numbers might be alarming but it didn’t surprise me that almost half of our population
is living a life below what is called acceptable. Why?

The answer is right in front of us. Everyday, while we pass through the streets of Metro
Manila, we see adults and children alike walking around, all dirty, either doing nothing or
holding our their palms asking for a few pesos of pity under the scorching heat of the sun. We
see hungry Filipinos in the trash, scraping for unwanted dirty if not spoiled food to ease the
pain of their empty stomachs. Whenever I watch the documentaries, the stories that I see are
usually about child labor, severely hungry Filipinos, unemployed Filipinos, OFWs, all saying
that the Philippines is experiencing extreme poverty. It is also a fact that the number of
middle class Filipinos is declining fast because they are all going to the poor level and they
can’t hold it much longer. Now, tell me, should I be surprised with this number? I am
alarmed with this number but to be surprised would only mean that I am either ignorant or
just plain dense. Where do these problems come from anyway? Why are we in this state?

As a student, I can’t answer that problem as accurately as I want to because I myself am

wondering why we got into this state. But what I do know, as someone who comes from what
we call the class B, is that the steady rising of the population doesn’t come from us. I believe
that we are all aware where these alarming numbers come from, the ones who don’t earn
enough to support their families. If their numbers continue increasing, they will become even
poorer because their needs would continue increasing while their income, if they have any,
will stay the same. With this fact and the number of skilled professionals and rich Filipinos
who leave the country continue to increase. It is a chain rule, in order to help the Class C and
D sectors, the government would need support from the ones who can help. If the ones who
can help are gone, how can the government help increase the awareness of the Class C and D
sectors on what they’re doing wrong? If they are unaware, how can they help themselves?

Overpopulation might not be the sole cause why this is happening but we can see that with
each population increase from the Class D or maybe even the C sector is another dependent
without anyone to depend on.
The country's population rate is mind blowing and overwhelming. Unless we do something
drastic about it, we cannot hope for a better Philipines in the future. Considering the current
available resources in our country, things will become worst before it gets better. I don't want
to delve into details and facts but I believe that each and everyone of us should at least aware
of what's going on. Knowledge is power as they say, but I do hope also that the Filipino people
will DO what it takes to control the rocketing population growth.

With regards to family planning these are my stand:

1. The main root of underdevelopment, economic stagnation, high crime rate, illiteracy, and
other is no other than over-population. Very simply mathematics and analysis will show you.
Philippines' habitable and arable lands, and other natural resources are shrinking against a
growing population.

2. The church clergies' have not experienced the hardship of raising a family since they never
had one. They have not experienced how to live in slum areas. They have not experienced
looking for a job with empty stomach. They have not felt how difficult it is for parents to see
their children go hungry. No wonder they are against birth control. May God forgive them for
turning against the welfare of their flock.

3. The politicians including the president do not consider population problem a priority because
they are rich and have no problem raising their children.

4. Even if the president can create millions job it will not solve unemployment when population
growth is not controlled.

5. Let us join hands and promote Family Planning and Responsible Parenthood.

The Philippines is already experiencing over-population. Our country is one of the most over-
populated country. It is the 12th most over-populated country in the whole world. Many of the
people here in the Philippines, especially teenagers, are engaged in prostitution and pre-
marital sex, which is two of the most common causes of over-population.
Over-population is existing and increasing because also of poverty. Many of the female
teenagers nowadays tend to sell "themselves" just for money, so that they will be able to have
something for their expenses, and in some cases, for their school fees and/or their families. In
fact, because of these things Philippines is also starting to suffer from some diseases, such as,
AIDS, STD, HIV, and also malnutrition - only common to some parts or provinces of the
Philippines.