Secretary Cabral airs side

Dear Atty. Sison:

This has reference to your column “A Law Each Day (Keeps Trouble Away)” in The Philippine STAR dated March 12, 2010 and entitled Deceptions. While we respect the good attorney’s opinion, please allow us to clarify a few points.

First, we respectfully disagree with your assertion that population growth is not a pressing concern that should be addressed decisively. You cited several studies that support the view that there is no clear relationship between economic development and rapid population growth and we will not attempt to contradict these studies ion this letter. Even so, you conveniently fail to mention equally compelling and more recent studies by other academics that convey a contrary view. To make a conclusion on a topic that has been extensively studied over several generations based on just six studies whose dates of publication range from 18 to 44 years ago distorts healthy discourse on population growth.

Also, it won’t take a Nobel Prize-winning economist to realize that rapid population growth will take its toll on our country’s finite resources. Logic dictates that more people means that precious resources such as land, energy, food, water and the like will be stretched thinly to the point of unsustainability. Each environment has a “carrying capacity,” which means that it can only support a certain population of organisms (man included) to sustain its natural equilibrium. Crossing that threshold, which is estimated by demographers to be 125 million, will mean disaster for the entire system. Given our current population growth rate (you conveniently omit the fact that while the rate has been going down, it remains one of the highest in the entire Southeast Asia) we will reach that threshold in about 15 years. We do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to be pragmatic as well. Population growth MUST be addressed and all options must be laid out on the table to implement effective policies.

Second, on the matter of the effectiveness of condoms in HIV/AIDS, this subject is, like economics and population growth, an extensively studied one, even though you chose to cite only two studies (one of which was, by the way, made 17 years ago). The most that you can say would be that there are a number of conflicting studies on the matter. On the other hand, the weight of the evidence is heavily in favor of the effectiveness of condoms for reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted disorders. Even investigators who found some leakages of the AIDS virus through condoms conclude that condom effectiveness is 10 times better than not using a condom at all (Carey, R.F., et.al., “Effectiveness of Latex Condoms as a Barrier to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-sized Particles under Conditions of Simulated Use”). To say that the Department of Health (DOH) is engaged in deceptive strategies is thus most unfair. You also seem to operate on the premise that the DOH treats condoms as the panacea to all our troubles with HIV/AIDS. Allow us to clarify that this is merely a part of our three-point campaign against HIV/AIDS known by the acronym ABC – A for abstinence, B for be faithful to your partner and C for correct and consistent use of condoms. In fact, we subscribe to the belief that A and B are ideally the most effective preventive methods. But we are also open to the reality that may people cannot practice abstinence or fidelity to one sexual partner. We cannot force them to do otherwise so long as their acts are not contrary to law, legitimate sexual behavior between willing married and consenting single adults being a Constitutionally-protected right (White Light Corp. vs City of Manila, G.R. No. 122846, January 20, 2009). For them, there must be a safety-net, which would then be the third part of our campaign. We are not ramming condom use down the throats of the public, but rather providing them a platform to make a free and informed choice.

We wholeheartedly agree that the way forward should also include strategies to implement good governance and sound economic policies. However, we implore the good attorney to exercise fairness and responsibility by presenting all sides of the subject in all your future columns.

Thank you for allowing us to express our views.

Very truly yours. — Dr. ESPERANZA CABRAL, Secretary