Name of Office: POPCOM

1. Pre-Marriage Counseling’s a half day orientation program for couples applying for marriage license.  It is designed to provide pre-marriage couples with a realistic view of what marriage is all about.

2. Presently, the centerpiece of the RP-FP Program is the Responsible Parenting Movement (RPM).  The Responsible Parenting Movement is a program to organize and activate a group of parents who would want to take on responsible parenting as a way of life.  This idea is brought down to where it really matters – the more than 42,000 barangays nationwide.  These groups of parents are organized through an 8-hour seminar (called “classes”) at the community level.  They are called as such because the participants who are parents will undergo an orientation on concepts and values of responsible parenting and how to achieve them.  These groups of parents are the critical mass that will evolve into a movement.

The RPM is now on its Phase II.  The aim of the Responsible Parenting Movement Phase II is to socially and economically empower the couple for them to carry out their plans and aspirations for their families.

The RPM Phase II is piloted in the Municipality of Tanay, Rizal in Region IV and in Marikina City in the National Capital Region (NCR).

3. On the Adolescent Health and Development component, the LEARNING PACKAGE FOR PARENT EDUCATION ON ADOLESCENT HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT (LPPED) was developed to equip parents with the necessary knowledge on adolescent sexual and reproductive health concerns as well as skills on how to communicate these concerns to their adolescent children.

The LPPED complements the training package for the youth and adolescent which is called “Sexually Healthy and Personally Effective Adolescent” or SHAPE.

4. On the Population and Development (POPDEV) Integration Program, the “Sourcebook on Designing and Implementing PHE Integrative Initiatives”   was developed to highlight the population, health, and environmental (PHE) concerns which are among the crucial development issues that have to be addressed as we are now beginning to feel the interlink of these three concerns and their impact on our lives.

5. On Gender and Development, the MAGNA CARTA OF WOMEN mandates all government offices, including government-owned and controlled corporations and local government units to adopt GENDER MAINSTREAMING as a strategy for implementing the law and attaining its objectives.  In this area, the PPMP is adopting the Men’s Responsibility on Gender and Development or MR GAD, which emphasizes the participation of males in the Gender and Development issues.  This is necessary because the male is the other half of the couple and without the participation of both partners, GAD issues cannot be easily resolved.

Name of Office: POPCOM

The Responsible Parenthood Program is firmly anchored in the 1987 Constitution, especially in Article XV, Section 3.1 and Article II, Section 12.

Article XV, Section 3.1 says that “The State shall defend the right of the spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood.”

Article II, Section 12 also says that “The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.  It shall protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.  The natural and primary duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.”

Name of Office: POPCOM

As its contribution to the social and economic growth of the country, the population program aims to lower the population growth rate (PGR) from the present 2.04 (2007 Census) to 1.48 by 2015 and the total fertility rate (TFR) from 3.3 (2008 NDHS) to 2.4 by 2015.  This TFR is based on the desired number of children as expressed by Filipino women based on the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey.

These objectives can be attained if the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) will increase from 50.7% in 2008 to 63% in 2015.

These targets, if achieved, will open a window of opportunity or a “breathing space,” which the country can exploit to recover and regain its balance to attain its development goals.

Name of Office: POPCOM

The objectives of the PPMP are:

• Help couples/parents exercise responsible parenting to achieve the desired number, timing, and spacing of children and to contribute in improving maternal, neonatal and child health, and nutrition (MNCHN) status;
• Help adolescents and youth avoid pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancies, early marriages, sexuality transmitted infections and other psycho-social concerns; and
• Contribute to policies, plans and programs that will assist government to attain population growth and distribution consistent with economic activities and sustainable development.

Name of Office: POPCOM

1. The central idea of the program is responsible parenthood.  It is oriented towards the overall improvement of family well-being; it is not concerned with just fertility reduction.  It views family welfare, including that of the individual welfare, as the central objective of the national development program.  Thus, the program promotes family development and responsible parenting. It believes that parenting and raising a family is a shared responsibility of the husband and the wife.

2. The program is non-coercive.  It respects the rights of couples to determine the size of their family and choose voluntarily the means to do so in accordance with their moral convictions and religious beliefs, and cultural mores and norms.  It believes in informed choice.

3. The program rejects abortion as a means to control fertility.  Abortion is illegal and the program will never consider it as a family planning method.

4. The program promotes self-reliance and multi-sectoral participation.  It gives priority to projects that are self-sustaining and with community participation.  It encourages coordinative and participative approaches through the participation of Local Government Units and Non-Government Organizations and other critical stakeholders.

5. The program adheres to gender equality and equity which is non-discriminatory in all political, social, and economic development concerns.

Name of Office: POPCOM

To attain its objectives, the following are the strategies of the Program:

• Work for universal access (accessibility, availability, and affordability) of all medically, ethically, and legally approved family planning methods and services to help couples/parents plan their families;
• Promotion of male participation/involvement in Responsible Parenting and Family Planning (RP-FP) within the context of gender equality and equity;
• Continue to utilize community organization and participatory strategies (Responsible Parenting Movement, community-based volunteers) to sustain/broaden acceptance of responsible parenting as a social norm;
• Provide age-appropriate and values-laden human sexuality education for the youth thru the formal and non-formal educational systems and equip/educate parents with appropriate skills and information on adolescent health and human sexuality concerns;
• Intensify/sustain communication, education, and advocacy campaign for population management and RP/FP programs by broadening alliances and strengthening networks with Program stakeholders; LGUs, NGOs, business community, academe, media and faith-based organizations, among others;
• Conduct scientific population and related researches/studies and strengthen data & information management for policy, plan, and program development; and • Advocate for increased investment on the population management program by the national government and LGUs through legislative agenda and budgetary support.

Name of Office: POPCOM

POPCOM defines Family Planning as a program that enables parents to deliberately and responsibly decide the number and spacing of their children, by avoiding for the time being, or even for an indefinite period, a birth.  It is not a prognosis imposed on the parents but an expression of responsible parenting based on informed choices and decisions of couples to achieve their desired family size based on their social and economic capacity.

Name of Office: POPCOM

Responsible Parenthood, as defined in the Directional Plan of POPCOM, is the will and ability of parents to respond to the needs and aspirations of the family and children.  It is a shared responsibility of the husband and the wife to determine and achieve the desired number, spacing, and timing of their children according to their own family life aspirations, taking into account psychological preparedness, health status, socio-cultural, and economic concerns.

Name of Office: POPCOM

The legal basis of the Philippine Population Program is Republic Act 6365, otherwise known as the “Population Act of 1971.”  It created the Commission on Population (POPCOM).  It was amended in 1972 by Presidential Decree No. 79.

As mentioned in PD 79, the tandem of Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning is the basic program of the Philippine Population Program (PPP).  The PPP was later renamed the Philippine Population Management Program (PPMP).

Name of Office: POPCOM

Population must be recognized as a principal element in long-range planning, it the government is to achieve its economic goals and fulfill the aspirations of its people.