QC increases budget for condoms, pills

The Quezon City government recently announced that the city’s allocation for the purchase of pills, injectables and condoms will be increased from P6.9 million to P10 million next year.

The city government led by Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has increased funding for reproductive health to help promote the program more aggressively.

In a speech during the Men’s Congress organized by the Quezon City Council on Population (QCCP), Belmonte reiterated that his administration is willing to help those who want to plan their families but are unable to do so due to the lack of knowledge and resources.

“Family planning is a shared responsibility. I firmly believe that we must have only as many children as we can nurture,” Belmonte said.

Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, meanwhile, noted that the city’s population would double by 2035, given the current birth rate of Quezon City and the problem of too many migrants from other cities and the provinces.

Bautista stressed the need for an increased role of men in family planning since the city’s limited resources would no longer be enough to cope with its growing population.

Among the speakers in the Men’s Congress were Dr. Jonathan David Flavier; Rosalinda Marcelo, Commission on Population-National Capital Region director and QCCP chairperson; Dr. Rebecca Gaddi, project coordinator and gender specialist of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement; and Quezon City health officer Dr. Antonietta Inumerable.