(Message delivered by REP. EDCEL C. LAGMAN at the Founding National Assembly of the Local Legislators’ League on Population, Health, Environment and Development [3LPHED] on 14 November 2006 at the Imperial Palace Suites, Quezon City)
The goal of this four-day conference is to plant the seed of advocacy in your hearts so that as local legislators you will be committed and steadfast in your mission to enact clear, comprehensive and responsive legislation on the vital issues that concern human development.
When we talk about human development, we are talking about the process of widening people’s choices and opportunities. Genuine human development entails nothing less than giving people the means — education, health, good employment, a life-sustaining environment — to improve their lives and thus empower themselves.
I cannot underscore enough the importance of the 3LPHED as our partners in the legislative branch in not only enacting local policies on population, health and environment but also in educating people on the interrelatedness of all these issues to sustainable and genuine human development.
When I was elected Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, I resolved to help transform the national budget and make it more responsive to the real and urgent needs of Filipinos. I have taken the necessary measures that will help alleviate our population problem and support programs that focus on reproductive health and family planning services. As all of you are aware, without sufficient funding, a policy no matter how well-crafted or a program no matter how clear and comprehensive will be for naught.
Moreover, a thorough examination of the national budget will show that there are existing programs with existing funds that deal directly with improving reproductive health and making family planning services more accessible to people. We must be unrelenting in our prodding and consistent in our vigilance to guarantee that these funds are actually used for the programs for which they are intended.
An example of this is the P100 million fund from the revenues of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) earmarked specifically to “dramatically improve the access to men, women and couples to family planning and safe motherhood services.”
In a country where 10 mothers die every day from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, safe motherhood and family planning services are crucial in averting the undesirable aspects of unplanned pregnancies. Avoiding pregnancies in older and very young women and proper birth spacing will have a direct impact on both maternal and infant mortality by reducing the proportion of pregnancies that are considered high-risk. Family planning is a vital public health service that will ensure safe motherhood, guarantee better health outcomes for children and improve reproductive health.
Last year, Rep. Rodante Marcoleta of partylist Alagad and I allocated P180 million for artificial family planning. This fund is to be sub-allotted by the Department of Health to local government units (LGUs) for the purchase of reproductive health commodities and for the conduct of family planning seminars in local communities. If utilized properly, this fund will be great help to LGUs who are committed to providing modern family planning services to people but who lack the resources to do so.
It must be underscored that there is more to family planning than meets the eye. More than just a tool to help women and couples responsibly plan their families, the principal benefits from being able to make informed family planning decisions are: (1) lower maternal and infant mortality; (2) more benefits for children since smaller-sized families assure they will be better nourished and will receive better health care; (3) higher human capital investment at the family level that would lead to bigger investments in health and education; (4) increased income generating and educational opportunities for women; and (5) significantly lower abortion rates.
It must also be emphasized that a government that professes to be pro-poor cannot remain blind to the fact that majority of the marginalized have no access to safe and effective family planning services.
A clear and unambiguous national policy on population and reproductive health like House Bill No. 17 or the “Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2007” that will empower people and enable them to have access to the family planning method of their choice is not only pro-poor, it is pro-life.
The goals of HB 17 are very realistic. It does not aim to achieve a demographic target by simply decreasing fertility rates. What it aims to accomplish is the improvement of maternal and infant health; the reduction in the number of abortions by reducing the number of unplanned, mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; and the provision of accurate information on all forms of family planning methods from the natural to the modern.
All of us here today are advocates of not only population management, health and conservation. We are all advocates of quality of life for all. We are all here to make certain that people will be equipped with the tools they need to create their own future.
HB 17 will be an indispensable tool for charting our own destinies and ultimately, creating our own future – a future where women and couples are assured of reproductive self-determination; a future where women can plan and space their pregnancies and will enjoy better health, have more opportunities for education and employment.
HB 17 will lead to the creation of an enabling environment for women and couples to make an informed choice regarding the family planning method that is best suited to their needs and personal convictions. This will be an environment that enriches, rather than diminishes choices; an environment that encourages truly responsible parenthood; and an environment that upholds the rights of people and helps increase their opportunities to lead fuller, more meaningful lives.