2009 National Population Congress (Part 3) Speech by Hon. Benjamin C. Abalos, Jr. - National President, Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines,

The honorable City Mayor of Mandaluyong City, concurrent National President of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines send his regrets not to have come because of several commitments which he cannot move to another date. The ULAP, through its member – leagues has adopted several advocacies relative to population management and these have yet to graduate into policies. In all these advocacies the Population Commission has always been in the forefront and we have to congratulate it by contributing its big share in term of resources and mechanisms on how on to impede fast population growth per survey , our population will short up to 91 million in the near future which is alarming, indeed, we despite the program launched among them, “kakaunti ang pamilya, kayang kaya”, by the League of Municipalities, the anti-poverty Hunger Mitigation and Population Management by the ULAP, the pieces of legislation passed in the local levels . We have yet come up with data on the regulation of population. A question maybe asked, are these data authentic? If no do we have efforts to match with the deserve goals and if this is not the case, is there a need to change the gear? What should be our paramount concerns and the ancillary?