Only 60% of LGUs ready for family planning services

MANILA, Philippines — Despite more than half of local government units (LGUs) allotting funds for family planning services to their constituents, nearly half seem unprepared to provide such services, according to the Commission on Population and Development (PopCom).

PopCom officer-in-charge Lolito Tacardon said rapid appraisal on the preparedness of LGUs to assume full devolution of family planning service showed that only about 60 percent are ready for such duty.

He noted that about 60 percent of LGUs have allotted funds in 2023, specifically for the procurement and distribution of family planning commodities.

Despite huge demand, Tacardon said the LGU often allots the funds for pills and implants, and rarely for permanent contraception methods.

“Governance should be continuously examined and improved to ensure enabling partnerships between national and local governments, as well as with the private sector and civil society organizations,” he pointed out.

Tacardon maintained that much has been gained a decade since the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law in 2012.

Among the remarkable reproductive health outcomes of the RH Law, he said, are increasing practice of family planning which averts unplanned pregnancies, declining incidence of teenage pregnancies and attaining fertility among women within desired levels.

But sustaining the trajectory of the RH Law’s triumphs, Tacardon said, requires much effort on the LGU level.

“Provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays will now be mainly tasked to follow through with the law’s successes 10 years after its passage, as it cascades benefits to marginalized members of communities,” he explained.

Tacardon further stressed the need to look into the implementation of interventions to reach vulnerable sectors such as persons with disabilities and those residing in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

He called for the setting up of mobile clinics in most localities as provided under the RH Law.

The way forward, he said, is toward universality of access to reproductive health services, including those for family planning and maternal health care.

He said PopCom and the Department of Health are strengthening advocacy with LGUs to further devolve reproductive health services as part of their mandate to ensure their constituents’ welfare.

The PopCom official expressed optimism that LGUs will ultimately benefit from the RH Law in terms of sustainable human development and progress.

“Integration is already at the implementation stage, and policies are in place. All elements are present for LGUs to reap the rewards of the landmark legislation’s wins from this point forward,” Tacardon said.