Population commission to educate 4Ps recipients on responsible parenting

PALO, Leyte – Education on responsible parenthood for more than 200,000 families listed under the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program will be the top priority of the Commission on Population (PopCom) this year, an official said.

Leo Rama, PopCom regional director, said they are about 70 percent complete on their responsible parenthood movement (RPM) training as of last year, but they have to revisit some villages to ensure that all couples listed under CCT program undergo the training.

“For Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or the CCT, our target for classes is at least 50 to 75 couples per barangay. We are now mobilizing population officers in local government units to reach out more areas,” Rama told Leyte Samar Daily Express.

“There are 4Ps beneficiaries that we have already trained under the regular classes but we found out that there are other couples that were not trained especially that the government is adding more recipients in the list.”

In 2011, the region has around 166,000 4Ps family recipients. The Department of Social Welfare and Development is eyeing to add more 54,000 families this year.

PopCom has allocated P7 million to undertake responsible parenthood movement (RPM) classes in 2011. Rama expects a higher budget for 2012 with the inclusion of all 4Ps beneficiaries in their advocacy.

“The end goal of this campaign is value formation for couples and helps them understand their role as mother and father. They need to know their rights and responsibilities,” he added.

The official said inclusion of CCT beneficiaries in the responsible parenthood seminars have been required starting in 2010 under the Aquino government.

The population office has been focusing its education drive in rural areas where couples have an average of six children, double than the size of families living in urban areas.

The official said the problem is prevalent in rural areas where many couples have no access to family planning methods and proper information.

The initiative is part of government actions on Millennium Development Goals to reduce annual population growth rate in the country from 2.3 in 2005 to 1.9 percent in 2015.

PopCom has been soliciting supports of local government units to incorporate education campaign in their regular activities to reach out more couples. From 2006 to 2010, the population office has trained around 87,000 couples in the region.

RPM classes tackle natural family planning, responsible parenting, family relationship, home management, budgeting, birth spacing, and fertility awareness, among others.

The region has a population of 3.9 million as of 2007 census with an annual growth rate of 1.1 percent. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)