The country’s conscious effort to address the issue of rapid population growth started in 1967 when it signed the United Nations Declaration on Population. The said declaration stressed that the population problem must be considered as a principal element in long-term planning for governments to achieve their economic goals. The Philippine government took this view and created the Commission on Population (POPCOM) in 1969. The agency was tasked to study the population problem and come up with the appropriate solutions.

          Based on the recommendation of the POPCOM, the government officially launched the National Population Program (NPP) in 1970 through Executive Order No. 233. The Program’s principal thrust was the reduction of fertility with family planning as the core strategy. In particular, the Program provided information and services as well as advocacy of a small family size norm. The years that followed saw the transformation of the program—from family planning to family welfare and development to reproductive health—until it has achieved its current form, the Philippine Population Management Program (PPMP).