Former ARMM lawmaker named "RH champion"
HEALTH • 18:45 PM Sat Oct 12, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
Former ARMM lawmaker Irene Tillah received the award last week. (Contributed photo)
COTABATO CITY --- A former lawmaker in the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was named "reproductive health champion" for having authored a law benefiting RH stakeholders in five southern provinces.
Social media blogs and radio reports on Saturday said former Assemblywoman Irene Tillah of the 24-member ARMM Regional Assembly was cited last week by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development, or PLCPD, for her role in the enactment of the autonomous region RH law.
The awarding rite capped off the culmination of a PLCPD-sponsored dialogue on RH issues and concerns last week in Quezon City.
The PLCPD is involved in various programs promoting RH and women and children’s rights.
Tillah, a Tausug, was principal author of the ARMM reproductive health law approved six years ago by the Regional Assembly that got deactivated with the creation early this year of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The fledgling BARMM is a product of 22 years of peace talks between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Romeo Dongeto, executive director of PLCPD, told Tillah in an exploratory letter dated September 19 that the committee, comprised of members of Congress, recognizes the effort of Tillah to improve RH services in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The five provinces of the defunct ARMM now belong to BARMM.
Dongeto said the enactment into law of the ARMM reproductive health law complemented the common program of the PLCPD and its foreign partners, the Oxfam and the European Union dubbed Improving Availability of Reproductive Health Services (ARCHES) in the country.