Abortion is opposed by the vast majority of people in my country. It has always been illegal. The international population control movement is unhappy about this and is pushing for the legalization of abortion in the Philippines. It is also secretly performing abortions in my country.

We are being subjected to black propaganda paid for by US-funded population control groups to change attitudes to favor of abortion. There is an endless series of studies, surveys and conferences being funded by these groups. Their aim is to co-opt as many educational institutions and academic leaders as possible to drum up media support and public sympathy for the eventual legalization of abortion.

Ramon Tagle, former national president of the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines, called FPOP for short, severed his ties with IPPF late last year because of their "hidden agenda" on abortion. Tagle said, "the IPPF Vision 2000 and other papers make this agenda no longer hidden. IPPF wants to advocate safe (legal) abortion, which is contrary to our Constitution."1

Former FPOP Program Officer, Visitacion Clave, testifies that some FPOP staff performed abortions on Filipino women using FPOP facilities and IPPF resources. She even named a certain Dr. Gloria Ichon as one who regularly performs abortions for local show-business personalities. Also, in 1993, equipment known to be used for abortion namely, vacuum aspirator machines, were found in the stockroom of one FPOP clinic. Javier Montemayor, FPOP Executive Director, admitted that in the 80's, FPOP had menstrual regulators. These are widely known in the medical profession as an abortive instrument. One former FPOP staffer also said, "Abortion is common knowledge among the staff."2

Now, where does the money for all this come from? USAID has declared that one of its strategic objectives in my country is "reduced fertility rate and improved maternal and child health". But, of the 25 plus million dollars it spends on population and health, 22 million is for population activities, less than 3 million is for health services.3 Are you trying to help mothers in my country, or just stop them from having children?

Also, there is the problem of quotas. The population management program that has been developed by the United States and the Philippines employs a "performance-based management" system for delivering health care services. In conjunction with the Philippine Department of Health, USAID identifies certain local governments whose family planning activities are to be "accelerated." "Yearly performance benchmarks" for family planning acceptors are then set for these areas. If local governments meet these quotas, USAID "releases" funds to them.4 Is this not a violation of the Cairo agreement, which forbids targets and quotas in population control programs?

Finally, the USAID's social marketing program is aimed at convincing local pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to push contraceptives on unsuspecting Filipinos. These manufacturers receive what is called "promotional assistance," but is really, free advertising.5 These advertising campaigns are especially aimed at the poorer classes, for the population controllers always believe that we have too many poor with us.

Population control can never solve poverty. Poverty is caused by unfair distribution of wealth and government corruption and inefficiency. Even if we reduced the number of Filipinos to only a hundred, some will always be poor as long as the wealth they create is controlled by a few.

I cannot believe that the majority of US taxpayers would support such unjust, undemocratic, even racist programs, if they only knew how they were being carried out. Please stop violating the national sovereignty of my country. Please stop undermining the cultural values of my people. Thank you.