Solon drums up support for Reproductive Health bill on Family Planning Day
In observance of Family Planning Day, Iloilo Representative Janette Garin speak up on the urgency of addressing the country's unrestrained population growth through legislation.
As principal author of the re-filed Reproductive Health Care Act in the lower Chamber -- House Bill 812 -- the lady solon commended the President in her recent State of the Nation Address but directed attention and support once more to efforts to legislate a national policy on reproductive health and family planning.
"Poverty incidence rises as the number of household members increases," Garin says, quoting the results of the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), which reveal that lack of information and access to family planning services prevent 62.6% of married women from the lowest income brackets from using any form of contraceptive at all.
On the other hand, results of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey of the National Statistics Office in 2000 reveal that poverty incidence is highest among families with larger number of members, 54.9% for families of eight compared to only 15.7% for a family of two.
"Right now, other countries are celebrating the successes of their family planning and population programs while we Filipinos are still engaged in the ancient debate of whether the government should provide access to a full-range of family planning methods to couples. It is unfortunate that the debate on population and family planning has no winner. Each and everyone of us, especially the poor, becomes a loser as their rights are not being protected and their needs not being adequately supported by the government," the lady solon, who is also a Board Member of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation (PLCPD), explains.
The latest Pulse Asia Survey concluded just before the May 14 elections show an overwhelming majority of Filipinos (92%) who believe it is important to control fertility and plan their family. Nearly 9 in 10 Filipinos (89%) think that government should allocate funds for modern methods of family planning including the pill, intra-uterine devices (IUD), condoms, ligation and vasectomy.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman also filed his version of the Reproductive Health Care bill (House Bill 17) while in the Senate, PLCPD Co-Chair Rodolfo Biazon filed Senate Bill 40 and Senator Panfilo Lacson, Senate Bill 43.
"The bills might differ in some ways but they all seek to establish a comprehensive national policy that will provide for the availability of all reproductive health services and information, including family planning," Rep. Garin adds.
The government has declared August 1 of every year as Family Planning Day (Presidential Proclamation No. 429) to counteract the high population growth rate in the country.