HOUSE Deputy Speaker Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar has filed a bill that seeks to mandate the provision of maternity kits to low-income pregnant Filipinos.
Villar filed House Bill (HB) 10694 on July 30.
HB 10694 seeks to create a program for the provision of maternity kits for poor and near-poor pregnant Filipino women for the “advancement of prenatal care, thereby reducing child mortality and empowering women to perform their role in nation-building,” the bill’s explanatory states.
House Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar
Under the bill, the kit must contain “blanket, diapers, gauze, towels, nappies, bedding, cloth or fabric that could be used to make clothing for the baby, and child care products.”
Qualified beneficiaries will receive the kit for free. Pregnant Filipino women “identified as poor or near-poor based on the standardized targeting system under” the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act are covered by the program.
Another requirement is for expectant mothers to “avail of pre-natal services, give birth in a health facility attended by a skilled health professional, and receive post-partum care and postnatal care for her newborn.”
The bill tasks the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as the program’s “central planning, implementing and monitoring body.”
It also tasks the DSWD, the Department of Health “and relevant agencies, in coordination with the relevant stakeholders,” with crafting the implementing rules and regulations of the measure within 30 days from the time it takes effect if it becomes law.
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