Gov’t denies population data ‘doctored’ 09/24/2010

Gov’t denies population data ‘doctored’
09/24/2010
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..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100924nat3.html