POPCOM-Region VI amplifies devolution transition plan

The Population and Development (POPDEV) Week is an annual celebration conducted every November 23-29 under Proclamation No. 76 signed on Oct 20, 1992.

The celebration is to highlight the need for an intensified campaign to address issues relating to population management and development.

This year’s theme is “Pagpapaunlad ng Pamilyang Pilipino” with the sub-theme “Kaunlaran ng Bayan, Ating Simulan sa Pagbuo ng Pamilyang Pilipino’. This stresses the need to address family issues and strengthen family resiliency to achieve an improved quality of life for every Filipino, community, and eventually the whole nation.

To intensify the implementation of the PPDP, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM)-Region 6 is conducting a series of orientations on the POPCOM Devolution Transition Plan (DTP), primarily to include population and development programs and services in the annual investment plan of the local government units.

This is being supported by various policies such as Presidential Decree No. 79 (National Population Policy), Executive Order No. 12, series 2017 (Sustaining zero unmet need for family planning), Executive Order No. 141, series of 2021 (Adopting measures to address adolescent pregnancies as a national priority), PD No. 965 (Pre-Marriage Counseling), Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law (RA 10354), and Urban Development and Housing Act Law (RA 7279) – setting-up a mechanism to monitor population movement to be integrated into urban development.

It is also being stipulated in the following sections of the Local Government Code.

Section 17 states that the LGUs are mandated to provide family planning, population development services, and programs for the welfare of children and youth as part of the general welfare services provided by LGUs; and Section 488 which emphasizes the appointment of a Local Population Officer and at the same time tasked the local population officer to establish and maintain an updated data bank for program operations and development planning.

“POPCOM needs to reach all LGUs in the region so it could comprehensively implement PPDP. Though it is challenging since the Local Government Code considers the population offices as optional. Nevertheless, POPCOM continues to sustain and respond to the needs of Filipino families. We hope that all LGUs will be supportive of the Population and Development Program para sa planado, maginhawa at matatag na pamilya at pamayanang Pilipino,” said Dir. Harold Alfred P. Marshall.

In addition, the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Western Visayas approved the creation of the Regional Committee on Devolution (ComDev) as an RDC VI special committee to which POPCOM- Region VI is a member.

The establishment of said committee complies with Executive Order No. 138, “Full Devolution of Certain Functions of the Executive Branch to Local Governments, Creation of a Committee on Devolution, and for Other Purposes”. The Regional ComDev is expected to oversee the roll-out of the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ruling in Region VI.

With Presidential Decree No. 79, the Commission on Population and Development is the mandated government agency for the planning, coordination, policy direction setting, and monitoring of the national population and family planning policy such as the Philippine Population and Development Program (PPDP).

This aims to increase the share of each Filipino in the fruits of socioeconomic progress through well-planned, healthy, empowered, resilient individuals, families, and communities.

Currently, POPCOM-region VI is catering to the request of other LGUs for exclusive orientation with their LCEs and other unit heads to efficiently incorporate population strategies included in POPCOM DTP.