Population
World Bank's population control push in Philippines
By Insight Staff

Hardcopy Issue Date: July/August 2002
Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2002, 22:05

Manila - The World Bank and unidentified "foreign donors" have launched a $20 million (USD) campaign to push population control on the Philippines. Dubbed the "Maternal Health and Population Management Program," the venture is set for implementation starting in 2004 or 2005. However, the Philippine government under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has resisted the population control push, with good reason.

The drive for population reduction in the Philippines, which includes dire predictions of mass starvation if the population is not "culled," is out of step with United Nations population forecasts for the country. At a recent UN meeting on population decline, the Philippines was listed among 74 countries as "intermediate-level fertility." The meeting noted that if current trends persisted, those countries were expected to reach below replacement fertility levels. Such developments will threaten economic security in the countries with the first impact being felt in health and welfare systems.

The Population Commission in the Philippines has been lobbying vigorously for the government to accept population control efforts. The Commission is supported by Johns Hopkins University which is a large player in population control efforts throughout the developing world. Moreover, wealthy pro-population control magnates such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have heavily funded Johns Hopkins' population control programs.

Why would wealthy donors and a country's own population commission be suggesting population control when that may hurt the country in the long term? The 1973 U.S. policy paper on promoting population control, NSSM 200, suggested that competition from new world powers would rise when developing nations had sufficient populations to utilize their national resources to their full potential. The Memorandum specifically targeted 13 countries, one of which was the Philippines.

NSSM 200 was about ensuring U.S. strategic, economic, and military interests, at the expense of developing countries. The report spelled out a plan to bring about "a two-child family on the average" throughout the world "by about the year 2000." NSSM 200 went into detail about avoiding U.S. responsibility for population-control programs by ensuring that the UN and international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank adopt such policies as prerequisites to their giving of aid. The report suggested further camouflage by mandating that countries accepting aid from the UN or the banks form their own population-control ministries (LifeSite News, May 29/02).