Mary Joy S.

Joaquin Applications of Economics

ABMC 202B

1. What is the Reproductive Health Bill? Give the pros and cons of the said bill. What is your personal stand? How will you act on your stand or position on the said bill? The Reproductive Health Bill, popularly known as the RH Bill, are Philippine bills aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on contraception, fertility control,sexual education, and maternal care. The bills have become the center of a contentious national debate. There are presently two bills with the same goals: House Bill No. 4244 orAn Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and For Other Purposesintroduced by Albay 1st district Representative Edcel Lagman, and Senate Bill No. 2378 or An Act Providing For a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. (Thats according to Wikipedia) The advantages of this bill are the reduction of the countrys population by promoting the use of contraceptives, educating people regarding family planning and thus, decreasing the number of poor people here in our country. However, the Church states that the consequences of this bill is that it will make the Filipino people immoral, and also according to them, this law is anti-life because it prevents the conception of a child inside the mothers womb. * Personally, I believe that the RH Bill should be implemented immediately because a lot of poor Filipino people lack common sense when it comes to family planning. Lets be frank about this, if we look around well notice that those who cant even support their childrens necessities are the ones who has so many children without even thinking about the childs future. A lot of those children werent even given the opportunity to study and also other necessities for a decent life, and thus, because of their parents irresponsibility, their lives become wasted and the good future which should have been for them ended up as nothing but a dream. And the church calls this pro-life?! What is pro-life in letting childrens life become pointless without a good future?! So thats what they call morality, letting innocent children die from hunger? Lets see if they can feed their morality to those children who are suffering from hunger and experiencing a life with no direction because of illiteracy. 2. Climate change is upon us and disaster and calamities brought about by typhoons and monsoon rains or habagat has become a perennial problem. Outline specific actionable points for the local and national governments to address this situation. Personally and in association with others, what can you do? First of all, they should strengthen the implementation of laws so the people will have more discipline when it comes to throwing their garbage. Anti-littering law should be implemented and drainages should be cleaned and maintained once in a while for them to

be free of clogs. Also, the government should also prohibit illegal logging and promote the planting of trees in anywhere possible so that there will be more trees to absorb the flood waters. Moreover, they should dispatch all smoke belching vehicles to avoid the increase of pollution in the air. Personally, I can help in lessening climate change by using earth-friendly products instead of plastics and other non-biodegradable materials. Second, I can also throw my garbage into the trash can or other proper places instead of just littering anywhere to avoid it from clogging drainages. Lastly, I can also help by not burning anything plastic and also by avoiding the use of aerosols or sprays which can deplete the ozone layer.

3. OFWs contribute a large and significant amount to the Philippine economy, making them our nations bagong bayani. Indicate how OFWs are able to accomplish this contribution. OFWs accomplished this contribution by working hard abroad and putting their sweat, blood, family and even their very own life in line just to bring dollars to our country to provide a good future for their family. They get separated from their families and missed a lot of moments from the time their children was young until the time they grow up, which can sometimes be the cause of a broken family if their spouse left in our country will be unfaithful to them. Moreover, we all know that working abroad always comes with a risk for well never know if the boss wholl be assigned to you is kind or not. Many OFWs were already reported coming home in our country as a lifeless corpse because of the abuse and mistreatment they suffered from their masters or bosses abroad. But because of the lack of jobs and opportunities in our country, they are forced to work abroad and become a slave of those foreign people. 4. Why is it important and strategic for PNoy to undertake a vigorous anti-corruption, daang matuwid type campaign. What is your personal take on this? It is important and strategic way for PNoy to undertake that campaign because with corruption comes poverty and everything we are suffering right now. If corruption can be totally removed here in our country, then the system of education will be better, and so does the quality of life. It will also turn our economy into a progressive one which can compete with the increasing globalization. 5. One of the pillars of PNoys program of government is the conditional cash transfer program. Describe how it works. What is your personal view on this program? Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a program of the Government of the Philippines through the leadership of the Department of Social Welfare and Develpoment (DSWD) that seeks to reduce poverty in the

Philippines through cash grants given to the poorest households of the country. Its objectives are to: 1. Improve health conditions of children aged 0-14, 2. To improve maternal health of pregnant and lactating mothers, 3. To raise consumption of nutrient defense foods among households, 4. To increase enrollment/attendance of children on elementary and high school; and 5. To encourage parents participation in the growth and development of their children, and their involvement in the community. The DSWD expects several outcomes from the said program, and those are the following: A. Health and Nutrition 1. 10 percent increase in the number of pregnant women getting antenatal and post natal care, and whose child birth is attended by a skilled health professional 2. 10 percent increase in the number of children 0-5 years old availing of health preventive services and immunization 3. 6 percent decrease in stunting among children age 0-5 years old 4. 0.5 percent decrease from baseline level in the growth rate of the population

B. Education 1. Current attendance of children to increase by 8 percent 2. Transition rates from primary to secondary school to increase by 8 percent 3. Years of education completed to increase by one year 4. Elementary school gross enrollment rate for children 6 to 12 years to increase by 5 percent 5. Attendance in a school or day care over 85 percent of school days to increase by 10 percent 6. Increased enrollment of children 3-5 years old to day care/pre-school by 5 percent

C. Economic/Poverty 1. Share of food expenditures in the household budget to increase by 4 percent 2. Expenditure on nutrient dense foods (protein rich foods, fruits and vegetables) to increase by 2 percent. The program works by giving cash grants to the poorest households identified as beneficiaries with pregnant women members and children 0-14 years of age. They shall receive an amount of P500.00 for health and nutrition and P300.00 per child for their education. A maximum of three beneficiaries shall be covered by the program, thus a family having 3 children shall receive an amount of P1400.00 per month, for 5 years as long as they comply with the conditions of the program. Money shall be granted to the most responsible person in the house, most of the time the mother, through Landbank cash cards, in cases of rural areas without Landbank, rural banks will be utilized. Thus the families will have their own bank account, which supposedly lifts their social status.

Because it is a Conditional Cash Transfer, certain conditions must be met by the families, in order for them to continuously receive benefits, and the following are: 1. Pregnant women shall get pre natal care, childbirth shall be attended by skilled/trained health professionals, and mother shall get postnatal care thereafter. 2. Parents/guardians shall attend family planning sessions/mothers classes, Parent Effectiveness Service and other topics that are of their needs and interest. 3. Children 0-5 years old shall get regular preventive health checkups and vaccines. 4. Children in elementary school must at least receive twice a year deworming 5. Children 3-5 years old shall go to day care/pre-school and attend at least 85% of the time. 6. Children 6-14 years of age shall enroll in schools and attend at least 85% of the time. The program shall run for 5 years, and aims to reach and serve P2.3 million poor households in the Philippines. The total budget allocated for the 4Ps is P29 billion, in which P21 billion of this shall go to the CCT program. The program is funded by the governments US$805 million loan from the World Bank (US$405 million) and the Asia Development Bank (US$400 million). A large debt made by the government, which will eventually be passed on the tax payers. It is a must then, that the government is making a wise decision in pursuing this project or else the money is wasted. Personally, I agree with this project because it aims to increase quality of living of the poor people. I just really hope that the money of the tax payers wont be put to waste.

6. We know that the government with its vast executive, legislative and extra-judicial powers can have real and lasting impact on the growth and development of our nation. What can the government do to alleviate if not eradicate extreme poverty in our country? First of all, corruption must be totally removed by strictly implementing the laws written in our constitution. Death penalty should be passed and anyone who was found guilty of corruption should be subjected to a brutal and humiliating death sentence (e.g guillotine in front of the Filipino people) so anyone who are considering to steal money from the government funds will be very afraid to do so. It is also stated in Article 2, Section 6 that the Church shouldnt interfere with the states decision, and therefore this must also be strictly implemented. Who cares about their close-minded opinion leaning to religious fanaticism? RH bill should also be implemented so that illiterate Filipino parents who has no common sense whether they can support the child they were about to make or not should be educated, so that no childs future will be wasted anymore. Everyone has the right to education and so every child should get a good quality of education, for education isnt a privilege for rich kids, it is everyones right! Yes, there may be public schools available, but look at the embarrassing facilities they have! Lack of proper books, rooms, chairs and 100 students per 1 teacher?! What would the children learn with that?! Shame on our government! Every public schools facilities should be renovated and be increased in number so that it will be enough for all the students to use. The government should

also increase the number of job opportunities in our country and also increase the salary so we wouldnt have to work abroad or experience brain drain in our country anymore. 7. The government in its thrust to fund its local and national projects, is vigorously pursuing the legislation of more sin taxes. Indicate what products are targeted. Explain the rationale for pursuing such a legislative agenda. Sin taxes aim to make alcohol and cigarettes expensive. Cayetano, the chair of the Senate committee on health, indicated the governments duty to protect the peoples health by limiting access to so-called sin products by raising taxes levied on their sale. She added the government needed to raise revenues for its health programs. To raise revenues and to protect health. So given that, there will be a change, Cayetano said during the hearing on the proposed tax measures on Thursday. 8. What is the E-VAT? Why did the government pursue and continue to champion the track of collecting taxes via E-VAT? E-VAT means Expanded Value Added Tax that is specific to our country. It expands the coverage of the value added tax, which is a type of indirect sales tax levied on goods and services at each production and distribution step. It also increases the rate of corporate income tax and aims to reduce tax on particular petroleum products.