Recto seeks higher allocation for women empowerment, maternal health

Senator Ralph Recto urged government to provide more funds for programs that would empower women and promote maternal health.

Recto revealed that in the 2006 re-enacted national budget, government set aside a woefully small budget for gender development.

What is more appalling, Recto admitted, was the huge budget gap for maternal health programs last year, which was pegged at P4.7 billion.

It would be a pity if more and more nursing mothers are afflicted with diseases all because the government could not provide them with what they need. When the mother goes, so do the children, he warned.

Recto said allocation for the reduction of infant mortality was short by P1 billion last year.

Even the five percent budget allocation has been criticized by womens rights advocates as inadequate, Recto added, and policymakers should consider that more and more women are taking positions of power and challenging the traditional domination of men in politics and business.

We should remember that women hold half the sky, as the Chinese say, and we must strengthen the role of Filipino women in keeping hearth and home together and building a stable and prosperous nation, he added.

Rectos plea comes as the world celebrates International Womens Day on March 8 and remembers the long struggle of women for equal pay, suffrage and dignity.

Government must recognize the significant role of women in building the nation and this could not be achieved by allocating bulk of the money for gender development for the mere hiring of women and purchases of office equipment, along with expenditures for seminars that remotely concern women empowerment, he stressed.

Apart from this, he batted for strengthening the Womens and Childrens Desk in every station of the Philippine National Police (PNP), increasing the budget to improve maternal health, reduce infant mortality and promote relevant reproductive health programs.

Recto explained that crucial to achieving women empowerment is a stronger economy that can provide jobs and incomes and better funded gender programs.