Following the Supreme Court’s April 2017 decision on the temporary restraining order that has affected women’s access to contraceptives, our hopes are up with the Department of Health’s and Food and Drug Administration’s commitment to abide by the SC directives.
The SC has ordered the DoH to amend the RH law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations so they adhere to the High Court’s rulings. DoH should also make a list of RH services being implemented by government and publish the same for everybody’s information. The FDA, for its part, must revise its procedures and processes in registering/certifying contraceptives so opposing groups are afforded the chance to present their side.
As of the last meeting of the National Implementation Team on the RH law, the DoH has already drafted the amendments to the law’s IRR based on SC decisions. The FDA, on the other hand, also presented its draft amended process for registering and re-certifying contraceptives that include summary hearings as required by the high court.
We take these to mean that soon, we may be able to see the RH law’s FULL implementation. That is, discounting another legal challenge from the anti-RH groups.
Pro-RH Civil Society Organizations are also gearing up to help in this most important work in a bigger way. As an initial step, my group, the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, together with the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, and the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development, have joined forces in the conduct of community and LGU-based initiatives advocating for the law’s full implementation. This initiative will run in different areas in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
I have always said that for the law to truly benefit the women for whom it was passed, one, the law should be understood by them, especially when it concerns the services that should be provided to them; and, two, implementation of programs should capitalize on the grassroots women’s capacities since they know their communities, and are known and trusted by other people living there.
Women should not be considered as mere beneficiaries but major players in making the RH law work for them.
Moreover, the role of Local Government Units cannot be underestimated. The LGUs are at the forefront of implementing programs as mandated by the RH law and the closest to people in terms of proximity. LGUs are also the ones that know their constituents best.
This joint undertaking by DSWP, Likhaan, and PLCPD draws active participation from community women, LGUs and other RH groups. To start the action, we had a meeting with community women in Luzon together with Non-Government Organizations providing family planning services to poor women.
The meeting was also aimed at gathering information from the women on ongoing local initiatives on the RH law implementation. Present were leaders of community women’s organizations in Metro Manila, Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon. It was very plain during the discussions that these women are leaders in their own right, they know their communities well, and are knowledgeable about the goings on therein. These are women who are recognized in their communities for their many years of work for the disadvantaged.
Many of them have been involved in the more than a decade-long advocacy for the bill’s passage, and have been waiting for the chance to be actively involved in the implementation of the law they worked hard for.
During the sharing session of local initiatives, there are glaring similarities in what the women said no matter if they are from different provinces and cities. One, most community women do not know about contents of the RH law and the services that it mandates to be provided to them. Two, teen-age pregnancy is a big problem in both urban and rural poor communities. Three, while family planning programs exist, there is imbalance in the availability of methods. Specifically, there are areas where contraceptive implants are not being provided. These are areas not yet reached by NGOs since the DoH and its agents are prohibited from promoting and administering these to women because of the SC TRO. Fourth and last, there is very little action on the issue of teenage pregnancy. In fact in more areas, nothing is being done.
Truly, there is much to do for the RH law to be fully implemented. This year is the fifth year of the law but until now, it has yet to benefit the tens of millions of women needing or wanting the services it is supposed to deliver. Thanks to the non-stop challenges by those who want to impose their beliefs and will on others. The promise of the law remains unfulfilled and this has got to change.
We need the TRO to be lifted as soon as possible. Women need the FDA especially to fast track its compliance with SC orders. A lot is at stake here. Women’s right to choose how they will plan their families, young people’s future, and many times, women’s and girls’ very lives are at stake.
#ImplementRH is the battlecry now.
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