LGUs urged to support full implementation of RPRH Law

COTABATO CITY --- The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), the United Youth of the Philippines (UnYPhil) – Women,  and their partners reiterated their call during media briefing last September 7 for the local government units to pursue the meaningful implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law.

Since its enactment in December 2012, Filipinos have yet to witness the law’s full and proper implementation.

This landmark legislation has four key provisions: access to family planning, maternal healthcare, age-appropriate sexuality and reproduction health education, and regular funding.

In the same month, the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act 292 or the Reproductive Health Care Act of 2012 was also approved in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The briefing focused on the following challenges: uneven implementation at the local level, rise in serious adolescent RH problems, legal barriers, lack of public awareness, and insufficient  funding.

Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) remains high at 221 deaths per 100,000 live births. The contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and the total fertility rate (TFR) remain stagnant at 51 and 3.0, respectively.

One in 10 young women aged 15-19 have begun childbearing and HIV has been declared a “youth epidemic” due to the rising number of infections in the youth demography.

With its commitment to their RPRH Law advocacy, the PLCPD continues to assist local government units in crafting their own RH policies.

Just this year in the ARMM, the municipalities of Sumisip, Basilan and Jolo, Sulu, as well as the provincial government of Tawi-tawi and municipalities Bongao and Panglima Sugala, have approved the resolutions, while the provincial government of Basilan, the municipality of Maluso, and the city of Lamitan, have filed resolutions calling on the justices of the Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order on family planning commodities.

Romeo Dongeto, Executive Director of the PLCPD, said they welcome these developments, seeing that uneven implementation at the local level is one of the key challenges that the law currently faces.

“We urge other LGUs to support the full implementation of the law by enacting their own ordinances and resolutions,” Dongeto said. (GILMHAR A. LAO & ANNE ACOSTA - MINDANAO EXPOSE’)