Not everything is alarming in the calamity operations due to the ongoing eruption of Mayon Volcano.

The bright side is that the success of family planning, a core agenda of the Reproductive Health Law, is documented in the reduced family size of evacuees in the First District of Albay according to Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, the principal author of the RH Law.

From a high of six family members, the average family size recorded in the evacuation centers is 3.98 or four (4) persons per family consisting of two parents and two children.

In Tabaco City, consisting of 6,633 evacuees (1,688 families) the average family size is 3.95 persons. The same average is true with respect to Malilipot consisting of 4,802 persons (1,215 families) and Sto. Domingo with 11,292 evacuees (2,853 families). Only the Municipality of Bacacay registered a 4.41 family size of 583 persons (132 families) coming from some sitios of Barangay Bonga.

Tabaco City Mayor Krisel Lagman-Luistro, an RH advocate, has been compiling the data.

It is significant to note that the evacuees come from far-flung barangays and hinterlands bordering the foot of Mayon Volcano where ordinarily family size is bigger.

Lagman added that in the implementation of the RH Law, contraceptives and reproductive health commodities and services must be included in the menu of relief items during calamities for free distribution in evacuation centers.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN