Nereus Acosta, chairman of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) and former lawmaker in Bukidnon, said he is hopeful that Lim could come up with programs regulating the city's population and also save mothers from pregnancy-related deaths.

"We used to work with Senator Lim and he's not necessarily opposed to this," Acosta said in an interview during the recent celebration of World Population Day.

PLCPD members are not the only parties waiting for the mayor's response on the issue. Suppliers of contraceptives started knockign on the doors of the city health office soon after Lim was sworn into office.

A staff from the city health office said suppliers of birth control pills have begun visiting them.

She said they, too, are waiting for Lim's announcement on whether artificial contraceptives would now be allowed in Manila's health facilities.

The contraceptive prevalence rate in the country is pegged at 49 percent, according to government statistics.

But if there is minimal support for artificial contraceptives, there is less clamor for natural family planning methods, data show.

Data from the Commission on Population (POPCOM) indicates that married Filipino couples are more into birth control pills. About 16.6 percent of them used pills last year.

Ligation or female sterilization is the second most effective birth control method and was used by 10.4 percent of married women in 2006. POPCOM found that this method was highest in the urban areas than in rural areas.

The traditional withdrawal method is third in the list. It is used by 7.3 percentof the women surveyed last year.

Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods, backed heavily by the government, lag behind the abovementioned birth control tools.

POPCOM data shows that science-based methods such as lactational amenorrhea, mucus or billings methods, and standard days method were used only by 0.3 percent of married women last year.

Asked why the government is promoting the "more complicated" NFP methods, PopCom Executive Director Tomas Osias said the government has not given NFP a complete boost in the past compared with artificial birth control methods. It is about time that NFP methods be given the same promotion, he said.

"But it is always about informed choice," Osias said, stressing that the government is not pushing for NFP methods solely but it is also giving couples a free hand on family planning.