Poor Families Not So Keen on Family Planning – POPCOM

The government has been reaching out to poor couples to help them decide on family planning, yet only a small percentage decided that they need it.

Data presented by the Commission on Population (POPCOM) here show over 62,000 couples and beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya conditional cash transfer program have been informed on family planning through regular Family Development Sessions (FDS). POPCOM Information Officer Cecil Abuy explained this number includes widows, pregnant women and women who already take contraceptives or practice some form of family planning. However, as per data, only approximately 4,000 have openly expressed their desire for family planning.

According to POPCOM Regional Director Reynaldo Wong, insofar as the law is concerned, government can only encourage and not coerce couples. “They (couples) still have all the right to decide for themselves,” Wong said.

POPCOM Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez emphasized “access to family planning information and services is a right; we must work together so that nobody will be left behind. Investing in family planning is investing in the health and rights of women and couples for them to be empowered and eventually achieve a better quality of life.”

President Rodrigo Duterte last year signed Executive Order No. 12 to have “zero unmet need for modern family planning,” especially among the poor households. According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), approximately 200,000 women with 130,000 minors are giving birth every year. POPCOM believes that these women need family planning and adolescent health services the most.

“Couples must be given access to services and information to plan their families on the number of children they wish to have and the proper spacing of kids,” Wong said. (ALT/DIS/PIA9-Zamboanga City)