POPCOM eyes keeping Philippine growth rate at 1%

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) on Wednesday said it wants to maintain the country's population growth rate at 1%, as it vowed to continue its ongoing programs for family planning and adolescent health and development.

At the Laging Handa briefing, POPCOM Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III said the population growth rate was below 1% in the previous two years. However, he noted that population growth could go up again amid the reopening of the economy.

“Well, actually, sa nakaraang dalawang taon, yung population growth natin nung 2020 was around 0.9%, below 1%. In 2021, it was actually 0.4%. I don't expect that it will stay that low kasi bumabalik na yung ekonomiya, nagiging mobile na ang mga tao [the economy is opening up]. So I expect population growth to again go up but we hope it will stay at 1%,” he said.

“That is manageable and a stable population that will help government achieve, let's say, poverty reduction,” he added.

Perez said the agency will continue programs on family planning and responsible parenthood to maintain the population growth rate.

“We want to maintain it at around 1%. To do that, we have to maintain the family planning program that covers eight to nine million Filipinos. So medyo malaking programa ito at kailangan lalo na ng darating na panahon ang collaboration with local governments because sila yung nagdedeliver mainly ng services so kami ng Department of Health (DOH) nagtutulungan dyan,” he explained.

(That is a fairly large program and collaboration with local governments will be especially needed in the future because they are the ones who will deliver mainly services and we will coordinate with the DOH.)

The POPCOM undersecretary said they would also continue programs on adolescent health and development to address teenage pregnancy, citing that it records around 150,000 teen pregnancy a year.

He added that social protection of adolescent mothers and their children will also be implemented with the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Perez said they also want to reduce population poverty by addressing developmental issues such as employment for youth and women.

“At isang malaking bagay yung pag-shift sana natin from minimum wage to living wage. Ibig sabihin binibigyang konsiderasyon yung poverty level sa iba’t iban rehiyon sa Pilipinas,” he said.

(And a big thing is that we should shift from minimum wage to living wage, which means that the poverty level in various regions in the country is taken into consideration.)

The agency also wanted to strengthen zero-hunger projects and provide services for the family of food producers.

“Ang pagtutok namin sa Zero Hunger Task Force ng government ay para magbigyan ng serbisyo sa mga pamilyang nagpo-produce ng pagkain para hindi na sila at risk sa hunger mismo,” Perez said.

(Our focus on the government’s Zero Hunger Task Forceis to provide services to food-producing families so that they are also no longer at risk of hunger.) —KBK, GMA News