Bulacan Residents Join the Nationwide Call for RH Law
Following the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) which was unclear on the issue of Reproductive Health (RH), a network of individuals and organizations in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan joins the nationwide call for a law on RH and urges PNoy to clearly state he supports the passing of the long-pending RH bill in Congress.
Helen Diolanda, Community Network for Population and Health (ComNet) Spokesperson stressed that family Planning, an important element of reproductive health, should be an option that must be available to every Filipino couple. “When he said in his SONA that the shortages in classrooms remain, our student population continues to grow and that Responsible Parenthood (RP) can address this, he is playing safe. The President must not play safe and should be clear that what he meant was to pass the RH bill which has been pending a decade ago,” explained Diolanda.
“He should be clear enough so that even Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines must not interpret the message that it was an endorsement for the Natural Family Planning Method Only,” she added.
According to Diolanda their network promotes Family Planning and Reproductive Health as basic human rights and is also pushing for a local ordinance that will promote family planning and RH rights. “This is our contribution to the global campaign to realize the Millennium Development Goal 5, which is the promotion of maternal health,” Diolando further said.
ComNet, a joint program on family planning by the Local Government of San Jose, Del Monte Bulacan and the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) is called the Model FP Project. Funded by the European Union, the three year project makes family planning information and services accessible to the poor, marginalized, socially excluded and underserved residents of the city. Part of the project is to train community leaders and barangay health workers and midwives to improve competency in delivering family planning services to the community.
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Noemi Lardizabal-Dado
Noemi Lardizabal-Dado is a Content Strategist with over 16 years experience in blogging, content management, citizen advocacy and media literacy and over 26 years in web development. Otherwise known as @MomBlogger on social media, she believes in making a difference in the lives of her children by advocating social change for social good. She is a co-founder and a member of the editorial board of Blog Watch . She is a resource speaker on media literacy, social media , blogging, digital citizenship, good governance, transparency, parenting, women’s rights and wellness, and cyber safety. Her personal blogs such as aboutmyrecovery.com (parenting) , pinoyfoodblog.com (recipes), techiegadgets.com (gadgets) and benguetarabica.coffee keep her busy outside of Blog Watch. Disclosure: I am an advocate. I am NOT neutral. I will NOT give social media mileage to members of political clans, epal, a previous candidate for the same position and those I believe are a waste of taxpayers' money. I do not support or belong to any political party. I was part of accredited media covering the Office of the Vice President and Leni Robredo as she ran as a presidential aspirant in the 2022 National and local elections. On August 5, 2021, YouTube announced that I was selected as one of 50 Program participants of its Creator Program for Independent Journalists She was a Senior Consultant for ALL media engagements for the PCOO-led Committee on Media Affairs & Strategic Communications (CMASC) under the ASEAN 2017 National Organizing Council from January 4 -July 5, 2017. Having been an ASEAN advocate since 2011, she has written extensively about the benefits of the ASEAN community and as a region of opportunities on Blog Watch and aboutmyrecovery.com. Organization affiliation includes Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation Updated June 6, 2022