Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon signed a landmark ordinance on Jan. 5 that will address poverty by providing wide-ranging services to pregnant women and their children including nutrition, childcare and scholarship programs.

Ordinance No. 2022-035, or the Womb to Work Program Ordinance, was signed by Biazon after the Muntinlupa City Council passed it.

“The Womb to Work Program is a program that aims to provide a solution to poverty in our city. The program is designed to take care of a pregnant woman until she gives birth. We will help from schooling until employment to become a productive Muntinlupeño. This is part of our 7K Agenda,” said Biazon after signing the ordinance.

The ordinance states that the Muntinlupa City government is aligned with the 3rd National Plan of Action for Children, which aims to have children with “better quality and improved way of life; that children are well nourished, have healthy lives and are active learners with good quality education; that children are safe and free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation; (and) that children are actively participating in decision-making processes affecting their lives according to their evolving capacities.”

In implementing the ordinance, the city government will have the following goals:

- Reduction of maternal mortality, new born deaths and under five deaths reduction of morbidities by ensuring maternal and child health care, including new born care, with time tested and proven interventions and ensuring adequate essential supplies, drugs, access to health care and medical facilities;

- End children's hunger and achieve food security and improved nutrition by drawing on broader and multi-sector nutrition sensitive programs that address the underlying effects of malnutrition and nutrition specific programs that address the immediate causes of malnutrition focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child's life through infant and young child feeding, complementary and supplementary feeding;

- Combatting water-borne and communicable diseases;

- Prevention and treatment of substance abuse;

- Reduction of childhood disabilities, deaths and injuries from accidents and road crashes;

- Universal access of adolescents to reproductive health care services;

- Access to quality early child care and development with the expansion an accreditation of day care services and child development centers and mandatory kindergarten to make young children ready for school;

- Inclusive and quality basic education, alternative delivery modes, flexible learning options and alternative learning systems

The qualified pregnant or lactating women residing in Muntinlupa under the ordinance are those who are registered in the Womb to Work Program; live in informal settlements; with total household income below minimum wage; lack access to health and nutrition services; solo parents; with debilitating sickness; nutritionally at risk; belong to indigenous groups, farmers and fisherfolks; and other similar or analogous cases.

Children who are residing or studying in Muntinlupa are qualified under the program if their mother is registered in the Womb to Work Program; with nutritionally at risk lactating mother; live in informal settlements; with total household income below minimum wage; lack access to health, nutrition services and educational support; orphans, abandoned or neglected children, children and youth with special needs; with debilitating sicknesses; malnourished children; out of school children and youth; belong to indigenous groups, farmers and fisherfolks; and other similar or analogous cases.