[Chatter] [Musical heart beat sound] [Narrator:] In ourcountry, a child is born every 20 seconds. [Indiscriminate voices] [Music continues] Three babies every minute. Nearly 5,000 childrenborn each day during the past year. More than one and a half million births in a single year. [Head of baby is exposed] Even in these firstfew moments of life, we can clearly see the problemscreated by the unchecked growth of our population. Our medical facilitiesare seriously overcrowded. Our doctors andnurses and attendants are heavily overworked. [Babies crying] These scenes repeated in so manyhospitals all over our nation are warning of theproblems that lie ahead for the coming generations. [Babies crying] [Somber music] [Babies crying] [The Choice is Ours] [Presented by: Family PlanningOrganization of the Philippines] [and International Planned Parenthood Federation] [A Vision Associates Production] [Somber music] [Babies crying] [Soft dramatic music] [Traffic] [Music] For all of us who livein the Philippines, this is a familiar scene. Like most of thenations of the world, our population isgrowing too fast. Our cities carrythe major burden. The danger to the qualityof our lives, to our hopes, for the future is very great. [Suspenseful music] Because the land cannotsupport the continuing rise in population, our peopleleave the country and migrate to the cities. They come to find jobs,houses, and a better standard of living. [City street] Dr. Conrado Lorenzo, directorof the Population Commission, describes theemployment situation. [Dr. Conrado Lorenzo:]Well, in 1970 now, we have to deal with about, we have to provide employmentfor about 12 million people. Now in 1980, there will be aneed for about 16 million jobs. So if we extend thisto about 30 years, well, the requirementwill be fantastic. [Suspenseful music] [Narrator:] The citycannot provide jobs, nor can it offer decent housing. [Suspenseful music] [People picking through trash] [Dr. Conrado Lorenzo:]This year in 1970, we need to put up about 12dwelling units per 1,000. Our performance now issomething like two dwelling units per 1,000 population. So at the present,we are behind, as far as housing is concerned. Now with the rapidgrowth rate, this will be even more magnified. [Somber music] [Narrator:] It is becomingmore difficult for the city to provide the needed services,to enable our people to live in dignity and hope. [Somber music] [Indications of poverty on a crowded city street] Dr. Mercedes Concepcion, director of thePhilippines Population Institute and a worldfamous demographer, explains the situation. [Dr. Concepcion:] Well, for one thing,let us take the city of Manila as a case in point. City, for example, isdependent on its people for taxes, so that itcan provide the services that the people need. Now this would mean thatit would provide ample fire protection, police protection,light, water, and so forth, all the amenities of urban living. However, with increasingpopulation growth and the difficulty of makinga living in the rural areas, we have been having aphenomenon of urban migration from the rural areas. This would meanthat you have people coming in streams to thecity and looking for work and competing with the residentsin that city for the few job opportunities there are. Now, these people wouldhave to look for housing where there is none. And that would mean thatthey would have to set up some kind of temporary shacks. And therefore, wehave a growing number of squatters in slum settlementsin and around the fringe areas of the city. These people donot pay any rent. They do not pay any taxes. And yet they useup the facilities, which the city will provide. [Narrator:] Because ourpopulation is growing too fast, our schools are too crowded. [Dr. Conrado Lorenzo:]In the education field, the Department ofEducation is faced with the problem of educatingsome 14 million people. At the presentgrowth rate, we will have to educate somethinglike 20 million people, not to mention thatyou would probably need about 10,000 school housesper year to meet this demand, not to mention the teachersthat go with the schools. [Young students recitingschool lessons] [Narrator:] In the Philippines,as in all nations of the world, it is a parent's dreamto see his children well-educated, well-equippedwith the knowledge and skills needed to createfor himself a good life. [Children reciting their lessons] [Music] It is a parent's dream,too, to see his children well-nourished, to buyfor them the food they need for strength and growth. Our city markets arecrowded and often unable to offer a balanceddiet at a price the majority of our people can afford. [Suspenseful music] [People in the city market] [Tense music] Within many Filipino homes,the pressure of too many mouths to feed makes lifeeven more difficult. The diet so necessary forthe health and well-being of the family isjust not possible. So the cycle is complete. Because the diet isinadequate, too often the father's health andstrength are below normal. He finds it hard to work,to compete for the few jobs available. Just how seriousare these problems for the future of our country? [Dr. Concepcion:]In 1960, we participated in the world census program. And this census reported analarming 27.1 million people. With the figures that wereenumerated and for May 1970, we have before us the prospectof two possible population sizes by the endof this century. One of these is111 million people. This is our estimate if presenttrends of births and declining death rates continue. However, if wesucceed in our program to moderate populationgrowth and lower fertility, as well as continue the declinesin mortality that are now occurring, we havethe possibility of having a populationof 72 million. Now regardless of whichfigure is attained by the end of thiscentury, you will realize that this represents,if it is 72 million, represents almost a doublingof the population in 30 years of the presentpopulation or a tripling of the presentpopulation in 30 years. So the choice is ours. [Narrator:] Dr. RubenApelo, president of the Family PlanningOrganization of the Philippines put it this way. [Dr. Ruben Apelo:] We areincreasing at the rate of 3.5% a year. And this means that it wouldbe impossible for any economic development to catch up withsuch a rate of population increase. And this means further that allthe efforts of the government to improve the way ofliving of our countrymen would be nullified. [Family planning event banner] [Narrator:] But we have a choice. Family planning enablesparents to have children only when they want them,when they can care for them. In clinics and hospitals, inthe cities, towns, and villages, the methods of family planning,an effective and hopeful message, is beingbrought to our people. [Non-English speech] The women come to these clinicsin ever-increasing numbers, because they want to know. [People conversing] They want and needthe knowledge that will enable them to havethe children they want, when they want them. [People conversing] [Non-English speech] [People conversing] [Narrator:] For many of these women, this is the first time they have ever been toldthat they have a choice. They learn how theycan safely limit the size of their families. [Family planning workerexplains birth control methods to women] [Narrator:] In many clinicssuch as this one, we begin to see a newhope for tomorrow, the beginning of a processby which the dignity and aspirations of our peoplecan be given a new promise. [Women speaking Tagalog] [Family planning worker providing instruction] [Non-English speech] But it is only a beginning. [Dr. Ruben Apelo:] Our greatestneed is to reach as many people as we can. We are handicapped bya number of factors. Firstly, our culture,our beliefs, our norms are still that of thebenefits and the advantages that one can haveout of a big family. Secondly, the religion--we are 85% Catholic. And you know that whilethe Catholic Church is not against family planning,it supports only one method of conceptioncontrol, which, if we look at it from the pointof view of what it can do to regulatepopulation growth, it will be completely ineffective. Then third is our owngeographic peculiarity. We are 7,000 islands. And it makes itconsiderably difficult to reach as manypeople as we can. So we need means by which wecan communicate with our people. And now we are utilizing allsorts of media, the newspaper, television, radio. We have spot broadcastsevery now and then. But we still wish that we couldhave enough people sufficiently motivated to go around,to talk to the villagers, to go to the ruralareas and inform them of the advantages ofhaving small families, of the desirability of familyplanning, and of the problem of our country, in general. And that is the unprecedentedgrowth of population. [Emotional instrumental music] [Narrator:] Family planningmust become a major part of our development efforts. This requires the activesupport of responsible citizens who work in public healthand community development, education, agriculture,and government services. All of us who work to builda better life for our people can play a part. The choice is ours. [Music fades out] [His Excellency,Ferdinand E. Marcos] [President of theRepublic of the Philippines] [Ferdinand E. Marcos:] Iwelcome this opportunity to speak about theefforts of the Philippines to contain unrestrainedpopulation growth, the problem which has engaged the attentionand concern of governments all over the world. The Philippinesdoes not minimize the perils posedby this problem, especially because with apopulation growth of 3.2 percent annually, we areamong the highest in growth rate in the world. If not sooner contained, thisrate of population growth will surely outpaceour country's capacity to take care of its people. Therefore, we have exertedextraordinary efforts to cope with the situation atthe earliest possible time. Barely a decade ago, thecrisis of population growth was only real to demographersand social scientists. Today, the world has takencognizance of these crises. And everywhere thereare mounting initiatives to assure the human communityof an orderly and constant regeneration commensurate withthe capacities of our world to feed, clothe,educate, and protect the welfare of human beings. In 1969, I created theCommission on Population precisely becauseI was aware that an immediate, massiveeffort should be made to contain population growth. The commission was chargedwith promulgating policies on family planning, promotingthe broadest understanding of the stakes at issueand making contact with similar working groupsin other parts of the world, both to contribute to theirefforts and to learn from them. Our primary problem in thisarea was the unpreparedness of our people for theconcept of family planning. The Filipinos areinherently family-oriented. They count large familiesas a priceless treasure. So in a way, my advocatingfamily planning... by advocatingfamily planning, we were going againstthe native grain. Yet the grave problem ofpopulation explosion must be faced, for it is a realityalready upon us and cannot be pushed aside by sentimentality. I am glad to say that wehave achieved a fine balance in our philosophy and efforts. In the relatively shortperiod of three years, we have made hopeful progressin organizing the effort to contain population growth. We now have 500 familyplanning clinics all over the country, whichwill spiral to about 800, more such clinics by themiddle of next year, 1971. The majority of these clinicsare privately operated. But by next year,the government will have 300 clinics of its own. Out of the 800programmed, we have fielded a fairly sizeablearmy of doctors, nurses, and midwives, as wellas educators, especially the teachers inthe public schools who will be harnessed to help. We will increase the number ofthese army of professionals. And it is heartening thatin many parts of the world, the same effortsare being exerted. And the same highgoals are being eyed. The International PlannedParenthood Federation, of which our own counterpartgroup is a member, deserves the highest complimentsfor its vanguard position in the battle to controlpopulation growth. I foresee that withsuch groups at work and with the devotionand understanding already demonstrated by these newpriesthood of activists, the critical and crucialwork to save the world from itself will not be in vain. Rather, it will grow and becomea true wave of the future.