Gov’t denies population data ‘doctored’

The government yesterday denied allegations that it manipulated population data to support a controversial family planning campaign in one of the world’s most populous Roman Catholic nations.

Bernardo Villegas, a conservative academic, has alleged the government’s statistics office padded the 2000 census data by 146,542 babies, leading to higher future population projections.

“As a long-term student of Philippine demography, I had always suspected some doctoring of population data by birth-control pushers,” said Villegas.

Villegas is a prominent academic closely identified with the Roman Catholic church, which remains highly influential in the country.

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines and while the health ministry is promoting a responsible parenthood program, artificial birth control methods are not provided at community health centers because of church opposition.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) acknowledged increasing the estimated base population for 2000, but said it did so because census data on 5-9-year-olds suggested the number of 0-4-year-olds was under-reported.

The adjustment only affected population estimates, it said, while official population statistics based on a census in May will be released later this year.

“We would like to assure Dr. Villegas that we, in the NSCB, are professional statisticians and we do not engage in ‘abracadabra,’” it said in a statement.

The Philippines estimates its 2010 population at 94.01 million, up from 76.5 million in the 2000 census and making it the 12th most populous nation in the world.

Government statisticians say the population is expected to rise 1.82 percent every year in the six years to 2015, down from the actual annual growth rate of 2.36 percent in the six years to 2000. AFP