THE Supreme Court has stood by its decision prohibiting the distribution of contraceptive implants, including Implanon and Implanon NXT, that President Rodrigo Duterte wants lifted.
Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te said the high court’s latest decision made the ruling final.
“There’s nothing left to be one other than to comply,” Te said in a statement.
The high court in April denied the appeal of the Department of Health seeking to proceed with the distribution of the contraceptives. It also gave the Food and Drug Administration 60 days to declare whether or not the implants were abortifacient or could cause abortion and to reissue its certification.
The high court issued its ruling after Duterte again publicly criticized Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for “sitting” on the case, which he said was hampering the implementation of the Reproductive Health law.
But Te said the high court ruling “involves a TRO over two implants only and not all contraceptives and not over the entire RH Law.”
In its 2015 ruling, the high court struck down the certifications and recertifications issued by the FDA on 77 contraceptive drugs and devices”•including Implanon and Implanon NXT”•for violation of the constitutional requirement of due process.
The high court had found that the agency certified and administered 77 contraceptive drugs and devices “without the observance of the basic tenets of due process, without notice and without public hearings, despite the constant opposition of petitioners.”
While the Court voided the certifications, it remanded the case to the FDA for the processing of new certifications.
The Court specifically ordered the FDA “to observe the basic requirements of due process by conducting a hearing, and allowing the petitioners to be heard, on the recertified, procured, and administered contraceptive drugs and devices, including Implanon and Implanon NXT; and to determine whether they are abortifacients or non-abortifacients.”
The Court also ordered the FDA to formulate the rules for screening, evaluation and approval of all contraceptive drugs and devices to be used under the RH law.