Philippine's incoming gov't to mull over population growth control

Philippine's incoming government has said it would include a family planning policy into its economic agenda to control the country's population growth, local media reported on Tuesday.

"We are determined to speed up the implementation of the Reproductive Health Law, a component of the incoming administration's economic agenda," the country's economic planning secretary designate Ernesto Pernia has told a local television.

He said family planning and population control is a poverty reduction measure. The lastest census showed that Philippine's population has reached over 100 million in 2015. And the poverty rate in the country stands at more than 20 percent.

Pernia said that, based on surveys, young couples want access to family products and programs.

"The goal of the (incoming president Rodrigo) Duterte administration's economic roadmap is inclusive growth, which we are now calling poverty and inequality-reducing growth," the Philippine Star, a daily newspaper, quoted him as saying.

About 80 percent of the population in the Philippines are Catholics, who oppose abortion and contraception. Endit