Manila (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church must adopt a more tolerant and humane approach to a state-backed population policy. This issue interests especially large, poor families who make up the majority in the Philippines. This appeal to the church about birth control was made by 17 university economics professors in the Philippines.

In a paper entitled "Population and poverty: the real score", the professors asked the Church to make room for freedom of conscience in the choice of family planning methods, in line with principles of Vatican Council II which allow for free choice in moral decisions. The Catholic Church defended its stand "in defence of life" and underlined that the causes of poverty "should be sought in poor governance, corruption and bad management of the national economy".

According to the economists, the natural family planning (NFP) method promoted by the Church was "too complicated". They proposed the use of "modern" contraception methods, provided they did not result in abortion.

The researchers said "external shocks" could result in families falling "into poverty" and the risk was increased in proportion to the number of family members. They also said families could not rely on "government assistance schemes".

The economists admitted that the country's poverty was down to:  poor economic growth, wrong government policies, and extreme social inequality. However, they said rapid population growth aggravated the country's problems and boosted poverty levels among families.

The paper listed three main points for effective population control, including reducing the number of unwanted births and increasing education for women and empowering them. In this way, the likelihood of couples bearing children may lessen. The other proposal was creating maximum work opportunities for women, thus postponing the child-bearing age.

The economists' view must be placed into the wider picture of pressure on the government aimed at the adoption of a "two-child policy". According to exponents of this policy, such a move would facilitate control of demographic growth and reduce poverty in the country.

However, many campaigners from civil society and the Catholic Church in the Philippines have charged that increasing poverty is caused by "widespread and unchecked public corruption" and that the "two-child policy" encourages more abortions.

Mgr Oscar Cruz, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, held that "the more contraceptives are used, the higher the number of abortions". This premise, continued the Archbishop, was confirmed in countries where birth control was implemented in a "positive" way. Mgr Cruz and the entire Filippino Church affirmed that the reason for national poverty did not lie in the country's demographic rate, as held by the "two-child law". The misery of many Filippinos was caused by bad management of the national economy, added Mgr Cruz.