The DoH will provide  technical assistance for the programs of local government units (LGUs) on family planning. A year-round information campaign on family planning will also be undertaken by many government offices.

Dayrit said  the health department has been open to the subject in the past and the previous campaigns have given hints on limiting the number of children in the family. “Not too long ago, there was a campaign with the slogan, ‘Kung mahal ninyo sila, magplano kayo.’ There were two children in the slogan. It was already a way of suggesting to couples that two children were ideal or desirable.”
The health chief noted that the policy is not coercive and that it complies with the policy of the government on birth and responsible parenthood. “I am glad to know that the proposed law is not meant to be coercive because family size is the ultimate responsibility, choice, and decision of the couple.”

Data from the Commission on Population said the country’s 84-million population is increasing by 2.36 percent annually. Early this week, legislators began pushing for a ‘two-child-per-family’ policy to answer the looming threat of population explosion in the country.

The secretary said  he is willing to endorse a family planning policy that is constitutional and approved by the government.

He explained that the move is compatible with the policy to encourage married couples to allow a three-year spacing period between pregnancies, saying  it is beneficial to both the mother and child. It will also give the parents enough time to prepare economically, psychologically, and socially for the next child. “Proper birth spacing will yield a desirable demographic effect on the Philippine population, even if such is not the rationale for the health practice.”

But Dayrit stressed that the campaign will not dwell on specific methods of family planning. The couple still has  freedom to choose the method  they want to pursue.

Dayrit said that all DoH hospitals offer family planning services as mandated by law. This, he said, is true even in areas where the leaders are not openly supporting family planning. “All family planning services are carried out by DoH hospitals in the country, because it is the mandate of the government to provide all basic services – family planning is one of them. Therefore, all DoH hospitals provide all  legally accepted methods of family planning, and it has been this way for the past 30 years.”