TACLOBAN CITY — The Commission on Population (Popcom) has called on local government units (LGUs) in Eastern Visayas to establish offices that would address population-related issues.
Only the six provincial governments, seven city governments, and LGUs in some capital towns in the region have established population offices, Popcom Regional Director Elnora Pulma said on Wednesday.
The regional office has yet to find out how many of the 136 towns in Eastern Visayas have set up their respective population offices.
The office is responsible for addressing population development issues, including the rise in teenage and unintended pregnancies, rapid urbanization in cities, and declining quantity of human resource in rural areas, as well as unmanaged human settlements, especially in environmentally-hazardous areas, and gender, inequality and discrimination, Pulma said.
“We really can’t say how many LGUs have population offices. We are hoping for the passage of House of Representatives Bill 4689 to make the establishment of a population office mandatory for all LGUs and make it a part of the local government structure,” she said.
Laguna 3rd District Rep. Sol Aragones is the main author of the bill, which has reached second reading at the committee level.
Pulma said the establishment of population offices would help ensure effective population management strategies at the local level.
“Population must be recognized as a principal element in long-range planning if the government is to achieve its economic goals and fulfill the aspirations of its people,” she said.
At present, creating a population office is not mandated, the reason why several LGUs in the region do not have such an office or a designated population officer.
Reyan Arinto, head of Popcom’s regional technical services unit, said that if the bill becomes a law, all LGUs in the region will have their own development population office that would address the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the region.
Eastern Visayas has one of the highest incidences of teenage pregnancy in the country. Last year, about 9,000 teenagers got pregnant in the region. (Lizbeth Ann Abella/PNA)
