Funds for reproductive health services sought

Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel lagman. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JAM STA ROSA)

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should ensure adequate funding for reproductive health services as it is the “least expensive mode” of helping achieve sustainable human development.

An opposition lawmaker made this appeal to the incoming administration amid reports that half of the pregnancies in the Philippines from 2015 to 2019 were unintended.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman pushed for the prioritization of the “full and expeditious” implementation of Republic Health 10354, or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act.

In a statement on Saturday, Lagman lamented that the budget for the law’s implementation went down to P842 million in 2022, from P2.5 billion in its first year of implementation in 2013.

This is “while the budget for mega infrastructure projects, with lesser beneficiaries and longer periods for return of investment, have soared to multi-billion pesos,” he said.

“To realize the goals of the law, it is urgent to provide adequate and consistent funding for its speedy and efficient implementation,” Lagman added. “The law mandates the state to provide reproductive health services and supplies for free to the marginalized sector.”

—JULIE M. AURELIO

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