http://opinion.inquirer.net/33989/ph...ion-of-pygmies
“Next generation of Pinoys will be shorter, says study” (Inquirer, 7/21/12) was the saddest news that came out in the weeks of outlandish, optimistic reports and predictions about the national economy. It tells us that because of failed policies, our country is becoming a nation of pygmies.
The report says, three in every 10 Filipino children (30 percent of all children) aged five and below are stunted or too short for their age, while two out of 10 children of the same age are underweight. This stunted condition will be carried over to their adulthood. As physical conditions affect mentality, it is logical to expect that the Filipino adults’ minds would also shrink.
The stunning data were disclosed by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. It conforms to the general feeling that poverty incidence in our country is way above 30 percent and not 27 percent as claimed by the government’s National Statistical Coordinating Board. This is consistent with the SWS survey finding that 51 percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor. It also explains why the Filipinos’ sports and academic performance have declined especially when compared to world standards.
Unfortunately after this promising start the writer wanders off into the Never Never Land inhabited by the Filipino Left, in which globalisation and the Americans are responsible for everything that has gone wrong with their country.
If globalisation were the problem, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea would be starving.
The problem is the lack of birth control, and the incredible web of petty regulations, often contradictory, which discourage investment and promote corruption.
But the figures themselves are staggering.
SWS = Social Weather Stations...
http://www.sws.org.ph/
Good organisation. Pretty accurate opinion polling which has had the effect of making elections more honest, starting with the fall of Marcos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Weather_Stations
