BAGUIO CITY August 25 – Members of Parliament from the European Union (EU) claimed the enactment of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) law is a monumental victory for both women and men in the Philippines but what would ultimately spell the difference in thir lives is the full implementation of the law.
Seven European parliamentarians from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Romania and Catalonia in Spain are in the country for a week-long study tour to learn about the nation’s sexual and reproductive health and rights situation.
The members of parliament urged stakeholders, particularly their counterpart lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, and government officials, to ensure the implementation of the RH law.
The study tour in the country was organized by the European Parliamentarians ‘Forum on Population and Development’ and was hosted by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD).
“We commend the Congress of the Philippines for passing a very important law. We understand that pushing for this law had been very challenging, and required so much courage from those who chose to stand for it,” Johan Verstreken, a member of the Belgian Parliament, stated.
Now that there is a law, he underscored, every opportunity must be seized to transform the political game to a reality for the Filipino people.
The delegation was able to meet members and staff of PLCPD; legislators including Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and former Senator and now Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, both main authors of the RH law; officials of government agencies that have major roles in the implementation of the law, including the Department of Health, Commission on Population and the National Economic and Development Authority; civil society organizations that were at the forefront of the movement for the passage of the law, and the provincial government of Benguet and the municipal governments of La Trinidad led by Gov. Crecencio Pacalso and Mayor Romeo Salda, respectively.
The series of meetings with various groups featured a discussion on the salient provisions of the law and the difficulties in the implementation that national agencies and local government units face, including: funding, legal challenges concerning young peoples’ access to services and public procurement and distribution of family planning commodities and retrogressive bills filed by anti-RH lawmakers at both the national and local government levels.
Sari Tanus, MP of Finland, shared the most alarming situation for her, that of Filipino adolescence, saying that as a mother, a medical doctor, and a public servant, it is quite disturbing for her that the RH law through some limitations in the age at which services can be freely obtained effectively excludes young people, yet this is the sector that needs the services the most and that teenage pregnancy is on the rise in the country today with one in ten young women aged 15 to 19 years pregnant for the first time or already a mother by 2013.
The RH law mandates the provision of maternal health services, almost universal access to a full range of family planning services, information and education on sexuality and the RH law and funding for its implementation. It also prohibits private providers, local government officials, and employers from banning, restricting or coercing the use of reproductive health services.
However, despite the law, key RH indicators in the country are still wanting.
Romeo Dongeto, PLCPD Executive Director, shared with the European MPs the fact the Philippines miserably failed in meeting its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal mortality ratio to 52 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s maternal death ratio stands as 221 deaths per 100,000 live births or about 15 deaths per day.
As parliamentarians who recognizes the centrality of sexual and reproductive health and rights in protecting human rights in achieving development, they stated they were blessed to have had the opportunity to know more about the RH situation in the country and that they are aware that there are still a lot of challenges but having met all the passionate individuals working in the field, they also saw that Filipinos can look forward to a better future.**By Dexter A. See
