A Pro-Poor SONA Must Include Reproductive Health, Population Management

PRESS STATEMENT 26 July 2008

Contact Person: VG Benosa, PLCPD Media Advocacy Officer, Mobile 0918-2936786

A PRO-POOR SONA MUST INCLUDE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

We challenge President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take a stand and finally pronounce a clear and comprehensive national reproductive health and population management in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28. If what Malacanang Spokesperson Cerge Remonde said is true—that PGMA’s SONA will be with “no frills”—then she should declare a policy on reproductive health and population management that is not only favorable to the Roman Catholic bishops, but more importantly, to the majority of Filipinos, especially the poor.

As an elected leader of this country, the President is duty-bound to decisively address the genuine concerns of the whole populace. It is her avowed task to consider what the Filipinos need, especially the poor Filipino families that now number 4.7 million according to NSCB—instead of what is being dictated to her by the Roman Catholic bishops—when she speaks in front of the entire nation on Monday about her administration’s plan to eliminate poverty.

The exclusion in the government’s poverty alleviation efforts of a policy that will guarantee universal access to the complete range of reproductive health services and information is simply illogical. It is the poor who bear the brunt of the Arroyo Administration’s indecisiveness on this issue. National surveys have repeatedly revealed that unmet need for family planning is higher among the poor and that poverty incidence is more prevalent in those that have larger family size.

With the growing difficulty of families to afford their basic needs on a daily basis, and with government finding it more and more difficult to provide even the basic social services to a people that is becoming hungrier, the urgency of having concrete government interventions that will assist poor couples and families in planning their families becomes all the more urgent.

The continuing refusal by the Administration to take responsibility in providing reproductive health services is even more detrimental to poor women. It is the women’s lives that are at stake. The 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey indicates that 10 women die from pregnancy complications and child-birth everyday. Already, 25,550 women have died under the seven-year term of President Arroyo. These highly-preventable deaths mostly come from the poorest segments of society and are largely caused by the lack of proper information and reproductive health services that are accessible especially to the poor women. We cannot afford to sacrifice the lives of women only because the President does not want to offend the Roman Catholic bishops.

Real problems call for real solutions. The growing realization of the need to address population and reproductive health concerns in the country by local government units that have passed their own ordinances, and lately, even by the DSWD Secretary—as they have seen the real effects at the household level by such a lack of policy and services—should be enough to compel Pres. Arroyo to definitively address the matter.

In the 2002 SONA, President Arroyo promised to work towards a “strong republic.” She stated that one of the essential features of a strong republic is the independence from class and sectoral interests so that it stands for the interests of the people rather than a powerful minority. We call on President Arroyo to fulfill that promise to the people. It is time for her to brave the dictates of the Roman Catholic bishops and finally turn her eye to the needs of poor families in matters of reproductive health and family planning.

RAMON SAN PASCUAL, MPH

Executive Director

Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD)

Virginia F. Benosa
Media Relations Officer
Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc.
Cellphone Number 09182936786
Landline Nos. 921-1044/931-5354/931-5001 loc. 7430