Ban "Unli-Children", Not "Unli-Rice"

In an effort to get the Philippines healthy and on a fast track to rice independence Senator Cynthia Villar has proposed that restaurants stop offering unlimited rice.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/14/17/villar-urges-ban-on-unli-rice

Sen. Cynthia Villar on Wednesday called for a ban on the offering of unlimited rice servings or “unli-rice” in restaurants amid government efforts towards rice self-sufficiency.  

Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, made the call in a committee hearing as she urged food establishments to encourage people to eat more vegetables instead. 

How misguided is this lady?

Not to mention the micro-managing of restaurants of which the government has no business doing Senator Villar ignores the real problem facing the Philippines and their quest to provide enough rice to the people:

THE POPULATION!

What is the priority of our government? What is the priority of our Congress and the Senate? We have many problems and issues in this country but the most vital and pressing one has just been ignored – population. 

The root of our problems in this country stems from overpopulation. Isn’t it logical for government to address it first before anything else? Our population is expected to increase to 104 million this year from 102.4 million in 2015. 

We must understand that a rising population results in increasing congestion, pollution and environmental degradation. 

Everyday we complain about traffic, crowded streets, malls, and markets, crowded airports, crowded hospitals, crowded classrooms, poverty, squatters in big cities, etc. What about the more pressing concerns directly affecting the people like food scarcity, energy crisis and water shortages?

http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/01/11/1541322/population-explosion

We all know the lady down the street who has five children, no job, no husband or a husband with no job, and who struggles to feed her children.  Why is this allowed?  Where is the education system to tell Filipinos get a job, get married, THEN have children.

More children means more rice is needed to feed these children.  More land is needed to house these children, land that could be used to grow rice.  

How about stopping the high teen pregnancy rate?

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/07/08/1600761/phl-teen-pregnancy-rate-highest-asia-study

The UN Population Fund says the Philippines is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region where the rate of teen pregnancies rose over the last two decades. 

A study says teen pregnancies, high youth unemployment and the slow decline of the overall fertility rate in the Philippines may deprive the country of the faster economic growth that usually comes from having more working-age people than younger and older dependents. 

UNFPA country representative Klaus Beck said Tuesday that Filipino girls aged 15 to 19 make up 10 percent of the population of 100 million, and one out of 10 of them have already given birth.

There are just too many mouths to feed.  Over 100 million of them.  Restaurants cook a lot of rice everyday and if someone doesn't eat it then it will go into the garbage.  Stopping restaurants from offering unlimited rice will not solve the rice problem.

Thankfully she realised that such a proposal is not tenable at all.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/905776/no-ban-on-unli-rice-villar

Senator Cynthia Villar quashed fears on Thursday that she would be proposing a ban on the serving of unlimited rice or unli-rice in restaurants and food outlets. 

“I am not planning to make a law banning ‘unli-rice.’ Not at all,” Senator Cynthia Villar said in a statement.