TACLOBAN CITY -- The Commission on Population and Development (PopCom) and the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) in Eastern Visayas forged on Tuesday a memorandum of agreement to strengthen the Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning (RPFP) program through the conduct of classes in government offices.
PopCom Eastern Visayas Regional Director Elnora Pulma said there is also a high demand for information and discussion on responsible parenthood, family planning, and clarification on the common myths and misconceptions of various contraceptive methods in workplaces.
Under the re-strengthening of the National Program on Family Planning (NPFP) of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, worker’s access to family planning information and services need to be increased by promoting RPFP in the workplace to include those in large companies, in various, informal economies and government offices.
“We have been bringing RPFP to the grassroots and it’s about time we bring it to our partner government offices because our workers also need family planning information and services,” Pulma told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
RPFP program aims to help couples/parents exercise responsible parenting to achieve their desired number, timing, and spacing of their children, and to contribute in improving the maternal, neonatal and child health, and nutrition. This is in harmony with DOLE’s Family Welfare Program to which its first component is reproductive health.
The AGIO, which is under the auspices of the Philippine Information Agency, is a group of government information officers, who assist in all program advocacies of all its government partners.
PopCom tapped the group recognizing their role as potent partners in advocacy and help to ensure women workers to have access to comprehensive family planning and to support their right to decide whether, when, and how many children they want to have.
“Investing in workplaces will not only promote women’s health outcomes and right to health but also will enable women and girls to participate in the formal economy more fully,” Pulma added.
As part of the agreement, AGIO member-agencies will identify participants to undertake the appropriate programs, lectures, symposia and trainings in relation to RPFP, who will be made aware of the FP programs and services under the principle of informed choice and volunteerism during the orientation, Pulma said.
They are expected to cascade and disseminate content information on RPFP through social media. They are also encouraged to institutionalize the program by including RPFP as part of their gender and development and health and wellness program.
Executive Order No. 12 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte specifically directs the attainment and sustaining zero unmet needs for modern family planning as a population management strategy, particularly to assist couples and women to achieve their desired family size.
Pulma said the same directive is being espoused by PopCom in order to fortify the gains achieved in reducing unmet needs through the conduct of RPFP classes from the boardrooms, to government offices and to the communities all over the region. (PNA)
