Responsible parenting movement reaches 331 barangays in Cagayan Valley
Tuguegarao City (October 12) -- Some 331 barangays in Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Isabela had already been reached by the Responsible Parenting Movement (RPM), program launched by the Commission on Population (POPCOM) which aims to promote natural family planning methods among married couples.
According to POPCOM Region 02, the program had already reached 66% of its target in the region. In Nueva Vizcaya alone, 251 barangays have already been reached despite the area being far-flung and mountainous. Nueva Vizcaya is the RPM pilot area in Cagayan Valley.
Meanwhile, 54 barangays have been reached by the movement in Quirino and 26 barangays in Isabela.
A regional team composed of barangay health workers, social workers, community-based volunteers, population officers, and members of NGOs and faith-based organizations is responsible for conducting classes in the selected barangays. Each class consists of 10 couples who are taught with parenting skills, fertility awareness and natural family planning (NFP) methods.
A total of 2,192 couples have been reached by the movement. In Nueva Vizcaya, there were 1,690 couples reached; 310 in Quirino; and 192 in Isabela.
According to POPCOM, the movement is targeting to reach 10,000 couples. With the low turn-out of couples during the scheduled classes, POPCOM is now strengthening its partnership with the local government and other local leaders who can assist in terms of services and funding.
The RPM program is a nationwide initiative which was launched as part of PGMA's hunger mitigation and caters mainly to the marginalized families in various areas in the country. (PIA Cagayan) [top]
