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Date Posted: 20:17:44 03/14/12 Wed
Author: IMRD
Subject: March 15, 2012 news

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=787304&publicationSubCategoryId=64

RH bill must be passed
FROM THE STANDS By Domini M. Torrevillas (The Philippine Star) Updated March 15, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (1)




Former President Fidel V. Ramos, under whose administration a number of women’s issues were faced and dealt with, called for the passage of the Reproductive Health bill as the country celebrated Women’s Day, March 8. The statesman and author joins the ranks of civil society organizations (CSOs), urging Congress to vote on the measure.
He made the appeal before he left for a four-day business and sports summit to Taiwan, leading a delegation of 60 business and sports executives of the country. He is scheduled to make courtesy calls to Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, former Vice President and National Policy Foundation Chair Vincent Siew, and other senior national and business leaders of Taiwan.
RH bill advocates hailed House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II’s announcement that he and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. are exploring the possibility of a vote on whether or not to terminate the period of debates on House Bill 4244 otherwise known as the RH bill, before sessions adjourn on March 21.
“We believe that it’s about time that Congress took a vote on the RH Bill,” Benjamin de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development (the Forum), told me yesterday. “Many of us, especially our women, have been waiting for this law to be passed for more than ten years. This is more than enough time to put the issues on the bill to rest and to finally take a stand and make a decision,” Benjamin de Leon, president of Forum for FP and Development (The Forum) said. The Forum is one among many CSOs supporting the RH Bill. Former President Ramos is an Eminent Person of The Forum.
De Leon also said that “the circuitous and repetitive arguments of anti-RH Bill legislators are only tactics to delay the legislative process and is a form of disservice to the Filipino people. It is a disservice because survey after survey shows that majority of Filipinos support the RH Bill. Congressmen, as representatives of the people, should listen to the voice of their constituents.”
According to De Leon, a survey done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in 2009 in the province of Cebu, showed that nine out of ten Cebuanos said the province should have a policy on RH and family planning while 76 percent said they favored the RH Bill.” Ironically, among the legislators who are against the RH Bill are representatives from the province of Cebu including Congressman Pabling Garcia and Congresswoman Rachel “Cutie” del Mar.
* * *
An unfortunate result of urbanization is the negligence of children in cities and towns — and this is obvious not only in the Philippines, but in many parts of the world. In the State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World Report, hundreds of millions of children are excluded from vital services. UNICEF gives the stern warning: Cities are failing children.
Greater urbanization is inevitable. In a few years, the Report says, the majority of children will grow up in towns or cities rather than in rural areas. Children born in cities already account for 60 percent of the increase in urban population. In the Philippines, already an urban society, half the population or 45 million people are living in cities. Of Metro Manila’s 11 million people, 1.7 million children live in informal settlements.

“When we think of poverty, the image that traditionally comes to mind is that of a child in a rural village,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “But today, an increasing number of children living in slums and shantytowns are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world, deprived of the most basic services and denied the right to thrive.”
“Excluding these children in slums not only robs them of the chance to reach their full potential; it robs their societies of the economic benefits of having a well-educated, healthy urban population,” Lake added.
Cities offer many children the advantages of urban schools, clinics and playgrounds. Yet the same cities the world over are also the settings for some of the greatest disparities in children’s health, education and opportunities, said the Report on the world’s children.
Infrastructure and services are not keeping up with urban growth in many regions and children’s basic needs are not being met. Families living in poverty often pay more for substandard services. Water, for instance, can cost 50 times more in poor neighborhoods where residents have to buy it from private vendors. Meanwhile, in wealthier neighborhoods, households are connected directly to water mains.
The deprivations endured by children in poor urban communities are often obscured by broad statistical averages that lump together all city dwellers — rich and poor alike. When averages such as these are used in making urban policy and allocating resources, the needs of the poorest can be overlooked.
“Children who live in the poorest urban communities in the Philippines experience multiple deprivations. They lack decent housing, are exposed to dangers from disasters, have limited access to clean water and are more prone to neglect, abuse and exploitation. Each excluded child represents a missed opportunity at achieving a stable  and productive society,” Dr. Abdul Alim, UNICEF Representative, says.
UNICEF urges governments to put children at the heart of urban planning and to extend and improve services for all. To start, more focused, accurate data are needed to help identify disparities among children in urban areas and how to bridge them. The shortage of such data is evidence of the neglect of these issues.
While governments at all levels can do more, community-based action is also a key to success, UNICEF said.
The Report calls for greater recognition of community-based efforts to tackle urban poverty and gives examples of effective partnerships with the urban poor, including children and adolescents.
It cites the Philippines’ Child Friendly Cities Initiative as a good practice in dealing with urban challenges. Initiated in 1999, it builds on a long history of governmental interventions and has been operationalized through a nationwide partnership of mayors and LGUs, academe, media, NGOs, CSOs, faith-based organizations and young people to fulfil children’s rights and needs. It represents the embodiment of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the local level, with its provisions being reflected in policies, laws, programs and budgets, and ensuring that children become active agents of change.
At the global level, UNICEF and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) have worked together for 15 years on the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative. The initiative builds partnerships to put children at the center of the urban agenda and to provide services and create protected areas so children can have the safer and healthier childhoods they deserve. In 2012, Metro Manila will join 10 other cities around the world in supporting this initiative.
“Urbanization is a fact of life and we must invest more in cities, focusing greater attention on providing services to the children in greatest need,” Lake said.
* * *
Email: dominimt2000@yahoo.com


Source of Philippine Daily News

http://www.journal.com.ph/
http://www.inquirer.net
http://www.mb.com.ph
http://www.tempo.com.ph
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/
http://www.tribune.net.ph/
http://www.bworldonline.com/
http://www.manilatimes.net
http://www.malaya.com.ph/
http://www.philstar.com
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/

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