DOLE supports the RH bill

Officials of the Department of Labor and Employment gave their support on the RH Bill on Monday.

In fact, DOLE's Labor Code promotes family planning and responsible parenthood as they persuade their employees to manage the number of children they are going to have; for they firmly believe that family plays a great role in the performance of employees in the workplace. This is according to Lourdes Trasmonte, Labor Undersecretary.

Article 134 of the Labor Code states that the department is required to sustain a clinic inside its premises in order to provide family planning services for free, which includes a guide in the the application and use of contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices.

Trasmonte said that having a lot of children can cause parents' frequent absence from work especially if the children get sick. Moreover, the Labor Department believes that the reason for having less job opportunities is because of overpopulation.

DOLE has been an advocate of Family Planning ever since. However, Trasmonte emphasized that they are not into the distribution of contraceptive pills among their employees.

Now that the labor department already gave their support to RH Bill, and takes it as a final decision, it is up to the church and other religious organizations, militant groups and all other private entities to discuss the pros and cons of the population policy. — ARA