By Cathrine Mae Gonzales
SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Wednesday urged the agencies involved in the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law to focus on improving the lot of Filipino women and children, citing her concern over the rising number of teenage pregnancies.
Nearly one billion young people aged 10 to 24 in Asia-Pacific region are sexually active, according to the United Nations Population Fund report.
But this rate is a result of the decline in the last two decades in all countries except the Philippines where “there has been little change.”
“I will order that all DSWD Field Offices in the country as well as units of the DSWD that promote its different programs continue to make reproductive health concerns a part of the said programs, including the 4Ps [Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program],” Taguiwalo said.
The secretary said that their department will maximize the family development and parent effectiveness sessions of the 4Ps as avenues to discuss the benefits of the law.
This support from the DSWD comes after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a “full force” implementation of the Reproductive Health Law in his first State of the Nation Address Monday.
Filipino women need a national policy on pro-poor, genuine, and inclusive health care so that they will have a basis on where to assert their right to health services, Taguiwalo said.
“We want Filipino women and children to be healthier and to live longer, more productive lives,” she added.
Furthermore, Taguiwalo said the RH Law’s orientation “should be geared towards improving their health conditions, not controlling the population.”
These efforts come amid the twin temporary restraining orders issued by the Supreme Court that forbids the Department of Health from selling and distributing implants and the Food and Drug Administration from renewing and authorizing licenses for all family planning commodities and devices.
The Health Department, meanwhile, said it would boost public awareness of the Responsible Parenthood Law.
“The President himself said so, so we will be disseminating more information about family planning to our countrymen,” Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rossell-Ubial said in Filipino.
In his Sona, President Duterte said the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood Law “must be put into full force and effect” and will give couples, especially the poor, the “freedom of informed choice” on the number of children they can attend to, which will eventually make them more effective members of the labor force.
Ubial said, however, that the department would not dictate the size of families.
“We will ensure that all families in the Philippines will be able to attain the desired family size, depending on how many children they want. That’s where we will help to ensure proper spacing for the health and well-being of the mother and child,” she said.
“That is the Duterte health agenda and our battle cry is ‘All for health, towards health for all.’ That is what we want to achieve,” she added.
This efforts come amid the twin temporary restraining orders issued by the Supreme Court that stop the Health Department from selling and distributing implants and the Food and Drug Administration from renewing and authorizing licenses for all family planning commodities and devices.
In an interview with Manila Standard, DoH spokesman Eric Tayag said the provisions of the RH Law are not just for population control, but the constitutional right of families.