POPCOM cites big jump in family planning users; PH total fertility rate target within reach
The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) has acknowledged the efforts of the national and local agencies as the increase of Filipino families availing themselves of the family planning program from its latest report on the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law.

(Czar Dancel / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
POPCOM Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perezsaid that the Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning program has proven its ability to double the number of current modern family planning users from 3,942,427 at the end of 2012 to 7,756,568 at the end of 2019 with a 97 percent increase.
“I am fully aware of everyone’s efforts and contributions in pushing forward our mission in enabling ‘Strong, Comfortable and Protected Filipino Families,’ because I know for a fact that each of us has a role to play in order to continuously and collectively reach our overall objectives to help every Filipino achieve that state,” POPCOM Undersecretary said in a statement.
Perez underscored that the adolescent teenage birth rate of 57 per thousand in 2013 has gone down to 47 percent per thousand in 2017.
Perez also reported, citing the estimated data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, that the five-year total fertility rate (TRF) from 2015 to 2020 remains at 2.5 percent. Given that, the country is on course to attain a TFR of 2.1 or 2.2 in 2025.
“Looking into the future with renewed strengths will serve as our seeds of hope that this current crisis will somehow end; that every one of us will adapt in the way of the ‘new normal’ in the midst of the trials of the pandemic,” Perez said.