The move of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. to rush the consideration of bills relating to calamities is a laudable agenda, but prioritizing the voting on the RH bill, as he earlier announced, is more urgent.

          The pending bills referred to by Speaker Belmonte ranging from transparency in the utilization of calamity funds to providing protective gear to rescue workers are truly needed, but policymakers have to realize that an inordinately huge population growth rate (PGR) exacerbates calamities and makes risk management even more difficult.

        The import of the other bills on calamity response will be diminished if the inevitable linkage between population and calamities is overlooked and if the population problem is not addressed with alacrity.

          The adverse impact of excessive population growth on catastrophes, rescue and relief operations, and climate change is evident from the following alarming and verifiable facts:

          (1) The sheer number of people, particularly children and women, affected by disasters makes rescue and relief operations harder and more expensive;

          (2) Man-made hazards and obstacles compound the rage and range of calamities like people inhabiting riverbanks and landslide-prone areas, massive deforestation as people from the lowlands invade the uplands for habitation and livelihood, and irresponsible solid waste disposal in populous areas which obstruct waterways and drainage facilities, thereby causing and aggravating flooding;

        (3) People contribute to the despoliation of the environment, and the more people there are, the more extensive is the ecological degradation; and

           (4) Studies document that an expanding population deters the efficacy of climate change mitigation and adaptation.