30 congressmen pledge P5M each to MDG goal

Each member of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday pledged to give P5 million each to programs and projects that would lower maternal deaths during childbirth and improve maternal health. The money would be taken for their yearly Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), more popularly known as pork barrel fund. “This much maligned PDAF is now to the rescue of the [Department of Social Welfare and Development]," said House minority leader Edcel Lagman during the House appropriations committee hearing on the P34.3 billion proposed budget of the DSWD for 2011. Each congressman has a P70 million allotment for PDAF. Lagman said the 30-member minority bloc agreed on the pledge during a meeting Monday. “As far as the minority is concerned we had a meeting this lunch time and all of us unanimously agreed to give P5 million of our PDAF annually for the [Millennium Development Goals]," he said. MDGs are measurable targets state leaders promised to fulfill by 2015 in order to eradicate poverty and hunger, lower child mortality, improve maternal health, reduce inequality, and promote human rights. Lagman believed that if the 272 House members will pledge a portion of their PDAF to the MDG, a total of P1.35-billion a year or P6.75 billion in five years can be used to boost the country’s chances of achieving the MDG by 2015. He lamented that of the eight MDGs, the least achievable is Goal No. 5 or maternal health. He underscored that least progress has been in the area of lowering maternal mortality and improving maternal health. The Albay lawmaker emphasized that alloting funds from the PDAF for basic and emergency obstetrics and information campaign to avoid high-risk pregnancies will lower maternal mortality and morbidity. “The enactment of a rights-based, development-oriented and health-driven law on reproductive health that is well-funded and national in scope will help ensure that the miracle of life will not mean death for so many mothers," he said. In the Philippines, 11 women die daily of pregnancy- and birthing-related causes. The country’s maternal mortality rate is at a high of 162 deaths:100,000 live births. The MDG target is 52:100,000 by 2015. —KBK/VS, GMANews.TV