Palace: Not all DOH funds will go to contraceptives

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday assured Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III that the entire budget of the Department of Health (DOH) would not be allotted solely for the purchase of contraceptives, but only a portion of it.

“The entire budget, it’s not just for the purchase of contraceptives, it’s really for family planning services. It’s not the whole amount,” lawyer Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson, told government-run radio dzRB.

Valte made the clarification in light of reports that Sotto has been objecting to the allocation of some P880 million for the purchase of contraceptives alone that will be distributed to the poor.

“The budget of DOH, it’s not forced. It should be for responsible parenthood,” she said.

Sotto earlier threatened to block a portion of the health department’s budget, which, he suspected, is intended for the purchase of condoms and other types of contraceptives next year.

The DOH included the allocation for family planning services and essential drugs in its proposed P32.7-billion budget for 2011 amid efforts to pass the reproductive health bill before the House of Representatives.

During interpellation, Sotto asked Sen. Franklin Drilon – an ally of President Aquino – about the wisdom of spending P880 million on contraceptives, supposedly hidden in phases such as “leveraging services” and “procurement of logistics.”

Sotto said the amount would better be used for other services such as financial aid for farmers and information drives to address the problem of infant and maternal mortality.

“If you want to buy a condom, go buy it yourself,” Sotto said. “Why ask money from the government for it?”

Drilon agreed to look into how the P880 million would be spent during the period of amendments. “How the P880 million will be spent – whether or not it will include contraceptives – is something that is still the subject of debate,” he told reporters.

“This is not the time to convince each other on the validity of each other’s position and we are fully aware of this difference in opinion and maybe it is best that we move on and see what kind of wording we can have in the period of amendments that can satisfy all parties,” he said earlier in the plenary deliberations.

Under questioning by Sotto, Drilon said the distribution of the P880 million would depend on the specific needs of local government units. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)