Good day,
I am Filipino living back in the Philippines. I happen to come across the online petition campaign being undertaken by the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) in the country. RHAN is trying to gather signatures to petition Philippine Congress to legislate the Reproductive Health Bill. If you have not read nor signed it yet and would just like to, you can go to this link:
http://www.petitiononline.com/rhan2008/petition.htmlI am not directly connected with RHAN but just a concerned person trying to help them out. Right now I have been trying to get in touch with as many Pinoy individuals and communities including those abroad who are still citizens and have direct connections or interest with the socio-political events in the country.
What i am most personally concerned about this issue is the potentially compounding impact of the worsening effects of climate change. The Ateneo School of Government in Manila had just put online a paper from a recently held professorial lecture where the potential impacts of this phenomenon were detailed and reading it I realize the serious implications this has on our country specially when our population is (according to experts) set to double in the next several decades.
Studies which really got my attention include projections of PAGASA on sea level rise if it were to go around 1 meter will displace 2 million people in Manila alone. Climate experts also expects that a combination of droughts and floods will hit respective parts of the country that could severely affect agriculture. Even our marine food supply can be affected as scientists have found out that rising sea temperatures can slowly kill off coral reef ecosystems upon which the fish that the millions of our fishermen depend upon. Just imagine the economic and social impacts that could befall our kababayans when this happens.
If you are interested here are the links to the powerpoint presentation and the paper itself:
http://www.observatory.ph/SCJ_doc.pdfhttp://www.observatory.ph/SCJ_ppt.pdfRegarding the climate effects mentioned above, the Philippines as a nation would most likely have little impact as of the moment to slow down or even reverse these since measures that are being implemented or formulated by the international community will take decades at the least to generate the desired changes. For the meantime, the country would remain amongst the most vulnerable of countries. But decelerating our population growth I believe is more within our power to change and would directly and greatly lessen these population vulnerabilities. But sadly measures to do so are not being implemented fast enough, the Reproductive Health Bill envisions to do this and should be enacted as soon as possible. But as most everyone knows and as you have written yourself, there are certain sectors in Philippine society who strongly lobbies against the bill. The bill badly needs its own lobby support and thus I am appealing that everyone who supports the bill to contribute our own efforts.
I believe there are also a lot of Filipino citizens living abroad who are supportive of the bill's agenda but may not be aware of the petition campaign and so it would be most helpful if i may request your kind assistance in passing along the links above to those you may know about through your contacts and networks among your families, friends and colleagues and/or get them to post the same on their respective online sites.
Thank you very much and more power,
Mel Manalo
