The Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) on Wednesday said it aimed to keep the country’s yearly population growth at around one million or one percent.
The Philippine population grew by about 0.9 percent in 2020 and 0.4 percent last year, according to Popcom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III.
“I don’t expect that it will stay that low kasi bumabalik na iyong ekonomiya, nagiging mobile na ulit iyong mga tao (because the economy is opening up, people are getting more mobile). I expect population to growth to again go up. But we hope it will stay at around 1 percent,” Perez said in a televised public briefing.
“That is a manageable and stable population that will help government achieve… poverty reduction, iyong kagutuman mabawasan dahil hindi na nadadagdagan nang malaki iyong mga bilang ng mga pamilya,” he said.
Before the pandemic, the country’s population went up by around 1.5 million every year, he said.
“What we are aiming for [is] a population growth of around one million every year,” he added.
This could “only be done if we’re able to maintain the family planning program which now covers 8 million to 9 million,” Perez said.
“This is a major program so it needs, especially in the upcoming year, collaboration with local governments because they will mainly deliver the services,” Perez said.
Some 68,000 births were recorded in January 2022, lower than the usual 100,000 births in the Philippines every month, Perez noted.
He said unplanned pregnancies also decreased last year.
“This is an effect of family planning and the lower number of couples who got married during the pandemic,” he said.
Under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Popcom aims to continue the program on teen pregnancy, which Perez said remains “high” at around 150,000 a year.
“We will make this a national program, especially the social protection of the adolescent mother and their children, starting next, with the help of the DSWD,” he said.
POPCOM aims to bring down poverty to below 10 percent, help spur jobs for the youth and women, and push for a “livable” wage that considers poverty levels in various regions, Perez said.
POPCOM will present these plans at the first meeting of its board of commissioners on Aug. 30, so these could be later endorsed to the President. Willie Casas