GMA won’t stop Cabral from distributing condoms

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo will not stop Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral from distributing contraceptive pills amid strong opposition from the Catholic Church and other sectors, deputy presidential spokesperson Charito Planas said yesterday.

Planas said Cabral, who is a cardiologist, continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of the President, who has espoused natural family planning methods.

“The policy of the President is not to go over the head of her Cabinet secretaries. So when there are things like that, the President does not decide for herself. That’s why you have Cabinet secretaries, who are also your advisers,” Planas said.

Planas told a news briefing at Malacañang that Cabinet officials are given the discretion to perform their duties and functions.

Planas noted Cabral was advised by deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo, a religious conservative, to consult Mrs. Arroyo before undertaking such controversial projects.

Planas, however, agreed that if an undertaking would be too controversial and is repeatedly discussed in public, it would be prudent to have the matter discussed again in the Cabinet.

Cabral, for her part, said she would take the initiative and seek common ground with the Catholic Church and other stakeholders by inviting them for a summit on the government campaign against AIDS and HIV.

Cabral said the Department of Health (DOH) would organize a summit next month on HIV/AIDS and “they are number one in our guest list.”

“We will keep them informed and if ever they want a presentation in the Cabinet, we’ll schedule that the soonest possible time,” she said.

The DOH is expected to report the status of HIV/AIDS in the country in a bid to secure suggestions and recommendations from the Church and other concerned sectors on how to control the spread of the disease.

Cabral drew criticism from the Church when she authorized the distribution of condoms and birth control materials to the public at the Dangwa flower market in Manila during Valentine’s Day.

Cabral defended the move, saying the promotion of the use of condoms was intended to curb the increasing HIV/AIDS cases in the country, and not to promote family planning and reproductive health.

She maintained the DOH still adheres to the policy of the national government against the procurement of contraceptives but welcomes donations for its family planning projects.

Cabral said the distribution of condoms is among the means to combat the spread of the AIDS virus.

“There is a process. We have social hygiene clinics where sex workers are registered. Those with HIV can also register, as well as the men-having-sex-with-men,” she said.

Cabral said the promotion of condom and other contraceptive use is part of the DOH’s mandate to protect the people’s health.

“As enshrined in our Constitution, we are also against abortion. That’s illegal, that’s punishable under the law. Secondly, responsible parenthood – meaning parents have the right to informed choice so that they can make an intelligent decision regarding the size of their family. Birth spacing is also encouraged,” Cabral said.

Freedom of choice

Cabral got the support of health groups led by the Forum of Family Planning and Development (FORUM), which said the government has the responsibility to promote the health of its people, including measures to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“We firmly support condom distribution as part of Philippine response in halting the spread of HIV and AIDS. It will help save the lives of more than four million youth who are sexually active,” the health advocates said in a statement.

The group commended Cabral for taking the initiative to address HIV and AIDS epidemic amid criticisms from the Church.

With almost 5,000 recorded cases of HIV and AIDS in the country, the group said, now is the time for the government to take stronger action.

Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. said the people should make their own decisions on family planning, including the use of contraceptives.

Villar reiterated he was against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill and said the government should not enforce what couples should decide.

“I don’t believe that this has to be dictated by law. I believe that couples should be left to make their own decisions,” he said.

Lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the RH Bill at the House of Representatives, said Cabral should be commended for her move to distribute contraceptive pills to interested couples in the country.

Speaking on behalf of the pro-RH bloc, Lagman said the plan is “consistent with the freedom of informed choice on which the RH bill is firmly anchored.”

Lagman pointed out the RH bill provides that the state upholds and promotes the right to informed choice and that “the freedom of informed choice, which is central to the exercise of any right, must be fully guaranteed by the state.”

He said Cabral’s initiative to distribute condoms and contraceptives tends to “counterbalance” the “flawed policy” of the Commission on Population to promote only natural family planning methods.

Roughly 27 percent of women accept or employ natural and traditional methods combined, as compared to the 73 percent who use modern methods, according to the National Statistics Office’s Family Planning Survey in 2006.

‘Antithetical’

European Union Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said the lack of effective access to reproductive health services in the Philippines has become “antithetical” to the struggle to combat poverty and the country’s efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Although MacDonald acknowledged that the debate on reproductive health in the country is a sensitive issue, he pointed out that Filipinos often have strongly held views on different sides of the debate.

MacDonald said at the launching of the Emphasis-RH project that lack of access to reproductive health services is anti-poor, anti-women, anti-children and anti-development.

He noted the total fertility rate (TFR) for the richest quintile of the population is 2.0, while the TFR of the poorest quintile is 5.9.

The TFR for women with college education is 2.3, about half that of women with only elementary education (4.5).

“And surveys suggest that the total wanted fertility rate for the Philippines is 2.4 children, well below the actual TFR of 3.3 children,” he said.

Because the maternal mortality ratio in the Philippines has fallen only very slowly, to reach 162 in 2008, it is still three times the MDG target of 52 by 2015, he said.

“It seems to me extremely unlikely that the Philippines will be able to meet its commitment under the MDGs under the present policy,” he added.

MacDonald stressed the denial of an effective RH service is not “anti-abortion.”

“I have to underline that the lack of access to RH services is not anti-abortion – rather it serves to encourage abortion, to create a situation in which there are more than 500,000 illegal abortions per year in the Philippines,” he said. –Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) with Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin, Delon Porcalla, Pia Lee-Brago