Dream scene: Noy hitting China at UN

SECOND TRIP: When President Noynoy Aquino visits the United States Sept. 18-21, he will have a chance to ask directly from those who know what ever happened to the American investments that were promised him the last time he was there.

This time around, the Hydra in the Palace might be more subdued in trumpeting the economic benefits the President garnered in this expedition, how many hotdogs he ate off a Nuyok sidewalk stand, and how many minutes he held on in a one-on-one with President Barack Obama.

Earlier reports had it that President Obama will confer with President Aquino, but in the company of other Third World leaders invited by the White House to take up the usual “matters of common concern.”

Observers are watching if President Aquino’s recent chummy meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and the Cojuangco scion’s tracing his Chinese ancestral roots had affected Obama’s regard for the visitor from Manila.

Mr. Obama will also have a chance to check if then Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s unflattering description of Mr. Aquino still holds.

* * *

OMNI THIS TIME: Media colleagues in New York tell us that President Aquino wants to be consistent in shunning the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue where visiting past presidents were invariably booked.

President Aquino has chosen to stay at the Omni Berkshire Place, a 4.5-star property at 21 East 52nd Street in the Midtown East-Grand Central neighborhood, also close to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Rockefeller Center.

The Omni website says this season’s per-night rate for its Berkshire Suite 1 King Bed is $424++. Over at Waldorf, the cheapest guestroom this time of year is $619 per night. Expenses would soar if one takes a presidential suite.

The President should be advised by his travel agent that all 396 guestrooms in the 21-floor Omni are non-smoking. A trace of cigarette smoke might trigger the sensors and land him in the evening news.

* * *

USE UN FORUM: Until yesterday, our source at the Empire State was saying that no meeting has been set with the Filipino community, a regulation touching-base whenever Philippine presidents journey to America.

Also, we have not been able to ascertain if the President wants to read a speech before the United Nations — and risk again facing a sparse audience in the cavernous UN assembly hall.

If he has the nerve for it, President Aquino could catch some headlines by using the UN forum to lash at China’s expansionist belligerence in the West Philippine Sea (aka South China Sea). His Washington hosts would love that.

On Sept. 19, President Aquino will be conferred an honorary doctorate by Fordham, the Jesuit University of New York. Past presidents had been given similar degrees, except for Manuel Roxas, Ferdinand Marcos and Erap Estrada.

* * *

BIRTH CONTROL: My interest in the Reproductive Health debate has been waning, but I was pumped with adrenalin when no less than Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, with Sen. Vicente Sotto not far behind, stood to oppose passage of birth control measures.

Sponsors of RH bills lose points as they lose their cool when replying to searching questions on the abortive effects of birth control pills that the RH bill wants to propagate to unwitting users at great cost to taxpayers.

Maternal deaths and poverty cannot justify killing a helpless fertilized ovum (already a human being as recognized by the Constitution no less) desperately trying to cling for life in the womb’s lining made inhospitable by abortifacient pills.

If a mother could die in childbirth — a possibility even in normal cases — why blame in advance an innocent fetus and execute it?

Why blame the unborn (that did not ask to be produced in the first place) if his family is poor because of government failure to provide opportunities for jobs, education, health care and the decent amenities of normal life?

* * *

MALDISTRIBUTION: Some people drive by a squatter area and see grimy kids in the streets. They conclude that there are just too many of us and that still unborn Filipinos should not be allowed to come into the world.

The problem is actually mainly of population distribution. The population density shows that there is still ample room and resources for more people.

The problem is traceable to the government’s failure to create and spread opportunities and services so people do not flock to urban centers on the mistaken notion that only the cities can provide for life’s necessities.

Taking the line of least resistance, or because it does not know any better, the Aquino administration goes along with the multibillion-peso lobby and pushes the RH bills — in an immoral and criminal bid to kill unborn Filipinos fidgeting in their mothers’ wombs.

* * *

FALSE CLAIMS: Proponents of the RH bill claim that our population growth rate will increase exponentially without a birth control law.

This is simply not true. Data of the government itself show that the projected average annual population growth rate actually has been declining even without an RH law.

Based on the trend as analyzed in 2007 by the National Statistics Office, the growth rate was and is projected to be 1.81 percent from 2010 to 2015, 1.64 percent from 2015 to 2020, and 1.46 percent for 2020 to 2025.

The same NSO study debunks the other claim that the average Filipino household size is 10 or more and will increase without an RH law.

Data show that the average household size has been declining even without an RH law. The household size in 2007 was 4.8 persons, lower than the average household size of 5.0 persons in 2000. The National Capital Region had the lowest average household size of 4.4 persons.

* * *

FOLLOWUP: Access past POSTSCRIPTs at www.manilamail.com. Follow this columnist at Twitter.com/FDPascual. E-mail feedback to [email protected].