Sniffing an opening in our current rice problem, clearly behaving like opportunistic parasites, rabid promoters of an unconditional, free-for-all approach to population control are escalating their campaign for the government to get "real" in this issue.

Some of them, generally well known and respected in our society, have openly called on the government to defy the Church. They are now abandoning civility in pushing their cause.

Are they now running out of valid arguments? It seems that to them, moral considerations are a luxury we cannot afford anymore.

And as if on cue, their massive propaganda machinery involving all sorts of human and material resources, hardware and software, etc., seems now to be in an all-systems-go mode.

Even Erap, for whom I and many others are praying, is joining their hysterics, by practically becoming a condom endorser. Oh, politicians! One thing is to tolerate one's weaknesses. Another is to justify them.

I don't know whether they really feel now the allegedly unbearable burden of our "overpopulation," or some pressure from some alien powers who are now demanding results after giving whopping monetary support.

They seem to hone their skills in infusing panic and alarm by citing biased and partisan statistics, numbers that are actually at best questionable. If they have to be believed, the world would have already exploded long time ago.

Fortunately, many people are now aware of the politics involved in this issue. Many now know there's a sinister global plot to subvert the Church making use of the population issue, among other things. Sorry, this is an angle we cannot ignore, as pieces of evidence worldwide mount and point to this target. This is no paranoia. It's getting more and more apparent that dark forces are cleverly pulling strings to advance their agenda.

As I've said so many times before, this attitude toward the population issue is stuck with the numbers. It's what I call the technocratic syndrome, where people, especially when they are poor, are just statistics, seen mainly as consumers and wasters of resources.

They see the problem in purely technical terms, detached from other considerations like the cultural, spiritual and moral. Or at best, they make the numbers the dominant factor in resolving this problem. Everything else takes a back seat.

Everyone knows that numbers also play a part in any problem-solving. But when these numbers are people, then we have to be more careful and more wholistic in our approach. We cannot just see them as numbers.

Who in his proper mind can say that in his family, so-and-so is unwanted and should not have been born? Even if in a moment of pique, we may think that way, we know we just cannot treat that fellow that way.

Who is the bright guy who can say that we should limit our family size at two or four children each? What doctrine or dogma would be the basis for this? And to top it all, to achieve this we can use even the immoral means?

We have to leave the couples to decide on the size of their families. They have to be encouraged to be generous, not parsimonious. And they have to be given the proper means and support, all moral to say the least, to attain this end.

It's amazing how some people can openly talk about following the one-child policy of China, when in fact China has admitted its mistake in that regard and has all but lifted that wrong policy.

In this, it would be good to scrutinize well the China experience. I believe we can learn precious lessons from the mistakes of others. The authorities have admitted their approach was not right and they are now correcting it.

The Church is concerned with the population issue. It is never insensitive to it. It is open to all suggestions and proposals to handle this problem, as long as they are within the purview of morality and human rights and dignity.

It only intervenes directly precisely when these basic requirements are trampled upon, when people are emptied of their spiritual life and diverted from their moral duties.

In this regard, the Church invites and encourages all to help and to contribute in any way they can, instead of doing things that clearly would undermine our dignity as persons and children of God.

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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Talamban, Cebu City. You can email him at:Email: roycimagala@boholchronicle.com