PIA Press Release
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 CCT beneficiaries top priority for education on responsible parenthoodby Aurora J. Casimpan TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Jan. 11 (PIA) -– The regional office of the Commission on Population (POPCOM) in Eastern Visayas will be focusing educating couples on responsible parenthood through the conduct of trainings in rural areas where couple have an average of six children. Under the responsible parenthood movement (RPM) program couples attend classes where they learn natural family planning, responsible parenting relationship, home management, budgeting, birth spacing, and fertility awareness. According to POPCOM regional director Leo Rama, families listed under the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) will be given top priority for inclusion under the RPM program this year. He said that the CCT beneficiaries inclusion to responsible parenthood seminars have been required since 2010 under the Aquino administration. Rama said also that the RPM trainings is about 70% complete as of last year but the agency need to revisit some villages to ensure that all couples listed under CCT program undergo the training. Record from the regional Department of Social Welfare and Development show that in 2011 CCT beneficiaries in the region numbered around 166,000. The social welfare department plans to add 54,000 more families to the program this year. Rama further informed that for last year POPCOM allocated P 7 million to undertake responsible parenthood classes and expects a higher budget allocation this year because of the inclusion of the CCT beneficiaries in the RPM program. It was learned that target classes for CCT beneficiaries is 50 to 75 couples per barangay. POPCOM is now mobilizing population officers in local government units (LGUs) to reach out more areas. (PIA-8) | 
