PALO, Leyte- About 39 hospitals in the region have been surveyed by the Commission on Population (Popcom) to re-evaluate the availability of reproductive health (RH) services for its clients.
Popcom Regional Director Elnora Pulma said hospitals were asked about the available reproductive health services, human resource, equipment and instruments, and physical plant.
Pulma said facilities that are found to have RH services available and regularly accessible can expect to have increased number of individuals who want those services.
Pulma added that hospitals with gaps in one or more areas of RH services delivery may be reassessed for appropriate assistance by the Department of Health (DOH) or other agencies.
“By mapping available RH services, the survey will improve the linkage of the couples with unmet need with services available in their identified service delivery networks (SDNs),” Pulma said.
Popcom is currently lending its strong support to the attainment of Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (KP) throughout the country.
A key element to achieve KP is the attainment of the Philippine target for the reduction of maternal mortality to one-third by 2015.
This is a Millennium Development Goal which can be achieved by improving the contraceptive prevalence rate for modern methods leading to a reduction of the unmet need for reproductive health services.

(IMRD, RPO-8)

CAMP KANGLEON, Palo, Leyte, – The hiring of 603 civilian employees this year will allow the Police Regional Office 8 (PRO8) to deploy the same number of policemen to the streets for increased police presence and combat criminality, the region’s top police official said.
“This will close the gap in achieving the ideal 1 is to 500 police-to-population ratio as our policemen will now focus on actual law enforcement tasks like patrolling the streets, investigating crimes and traffic management instead of performing clerical works,” said Police Chief Supt. Henry Losañes, acting regional director of PRO8.
Losañes earlier announced the hiring of 603 non-uniformed personnel (NUPs) or civilian employees aimed at freeing policemen from doing administrative tasks and the deployment of more cops to the streets for crime prevention and control.
He added that the recruitment of civilian employees will increase police presence in the field and boost their anti-crime efforts.
There are currently 6,101 policemen in the region and about 10 percent of them are doing desk jobs or engaged in administrative works. The PRO8 also has 140 NUPs or civilian employees.
“We will hire two IT (information technology) and two communication equipment operators per municipality or city that will be assigned as crime registrars,” the police official said.
The quota intended for Eastern Visayas is part of the 7,439 civilian employees who will be hired by the Philippine National Police (PNP) nationwide to fill the posts occupied by policemen doing administrative works.
On the recommendation of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima, President Benigno Aquino III approved the hiring of civilian employees who will be tasked to perform administrative work.
The PNP has recommended the hiring of 15,000 civilian employees and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved an initial budget for 7,439.

By: PINSP ROMUEL NACAR, PIO PRO8