CEBU, Philippines- Non-government organizations supporting the Responsible Parenthood-Reproductive Health Law admit that the legislation, which drew much flak in the previous year, does not have full support of the Cebuanos.
In a multi-stakeholders forum yesterday, which discussed the implementation of the RH Law, the NGOs admitted that they still have not achieved the full support from Cebuanos although they are optimistic this will happen.
Kalipunan ng Liping Pilipina president Ma. Socorro Alfafara said the full support has yet to be achieved though she is “so positive” that this will be done.
This was seconded by Population Commission-7 spokesperson Darlynn Remolino, who highlighted the probable improvement in the situation.
“We have a lot of potentials especially in the non-government organizations. The information education campaign partners, the youth. As soon as they understand the expectation, benefits and rights of these sectors, we will get their full support,” Remolino said.
Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc. founding chairperson Ma. Fe Nicodemus, for her part, said that the support is “50/50” or halfway.
“We would like to push for more support from the Cebuanos and also for local government units to allocate budget for information education campaign of the law,” said Nicodemus.
PopCom National Capital Region regional director Lolito Tacardon said: “We cannot really impose it to them (LGU), but yes, it is in the law that they should have counterpart especially in the information and education campaign,”
Tacardon clarified that the implementation of the RH Law officially started when the Supreme Court ruled that the law is not unconstitutional on April 18, 2014.
The implementing rules and regulations have just been laid out. (FREEMAN)