The Philippine population is expected to hit 97.6 million this year, according to the Commission on Population; and is likely to go higher with an average annual growth rate of 2.04 percent. With this trend, will the country's economy meet the demands of a booming population?

With the former President  still on trial for graft and corruption, having a chief justice facing an impeachment complaint, after losing thousands of lives in a natural disaster, as well as the continued rising of oil prices in the market, the country's population campaign may have been forgotten and was taken out of stardom.

The 18-year-old Reproductive Health Bill was expected by its proponents to be passed in 2011, but was left hanging until 2012;  now, its future is unclear.

Part of the country's commitment for the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals is improving maternal health, of which one of the two objectives is universal access to reproductive health. But three years before the target date, still 11 mothers die daily due to poor health facilities or even lack of access to better service.

With the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato Corona on the spotlight, our senators may dither over the measure.

Though rich people may not need the RH bill, millions of poor families do. So, with or without the bill, reproductive health programs should be promoted by the local government; for all must start within the grassroots.*