Overpopulation good for Filipinos, says bishop

Read this on the Inquirer. Some priest still thinks we're in the Spanish times.

NAGA CITY—Bishop Gilbert Garcera of the Diocese of Daet, the capital of Camarines Norte, believes overpopulation has been advantageous to the Philippines and to the world because it has increased the number of overseas workers and migrants who could send remittances back home while taking care of ageing people abroad and spreading the Christian faith.

Contrary to the aims of the reproductive health (RH) bill, Garcera said the huge Philippine population could be part of “God’s plan for Filipinos to be caregivers to ageing nations whose populations had become stagnant.”

He also said many Filipino women would make “good wives” for foreigners in countries that have low population growth.

Garcera said many countries such as Germany and the United States had a stable but ageing population that would need people to take care of them, and that purpose could be served by Filipinos.

“Filipinos have a big mission to the world. Every Filipino child born is a blessing to the world. Let’s look at the increase in our population in a more comprehensive sense,” the 53-year-old prelate told the Inquirer in an interview at an orphanage in this city that he visited on Thursday.

In light of the Christian faith, Garcera said, the big number of Filipinos should not be seen as a problem but as an opportunity to help other people in the world.

“Filipinos have a duty to take care of them,” he said.

He said that the overpopulation that breeds poverty was not a problem because poverty itself was not a problem.

He said poverty even brought people “closer” to God and was instrumental in realizing God’s plan for Filipinos to take care of other nationalities by inducing migration and working abroad.

Read the full article here.