TACLOBAN CITY — The Commission on Population (Popcom) in Eastern Visayas has reiterated its call to local government units (LGUs) to establish offices that would address population-related issues despite an absence of law mandating the creation of such office.
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 the human resource in rural areas, as well as unmanaged human settlements, especially in environmentally-hazardous areas, and gender, inequality, and discrimination, according to PopCom.
“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,” Pulma said.
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.
In a recent visit in this city, PopCom Executive Director and Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III said he has been meeting regularly with Laguna 3rd District Rep. Sol Aragones on the status of the proposed law creating local population offices.
Aragones is the chair of the House of Representatives’ population and family relations committee.
Perez said the legislative proposal has been approved in the committee level and still pending for approval by the ways and means committee.
He emphasized the need for local population offices since PopCom has only 2,000 workers nationwide.
There are only 9,000 active barangay (villages) service point officers tasked to carry out population-related programs in communities. The country has 42,029 villages as of mid-2015.
At present, creating a population office is not mandated, the reason why several LGUs in the region do not have such an office or designated population officer.
Eastern Visayas has one of the highest incidences of teenage pregnancy in the country. Last year, the region recorded about 9,000 pregnant teenagers.
