RH bill benefits poor mothers

MANILA, Philippines — Mothers in indigent communities would greatly benefit from the passage of the Reproductive health (RH) bill now being debated in Congress by getting better access to modern family planning methods.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committees on health and demography and youth, women and children, stressed this point during heated plenary debates on the bill.

Citing different names and cases of women, Cayetano said many of them would want to avail themselves of contraceptives from local health centers but could not do so as many local government units (LGUs) have passed ordinances banning use of contraceptives.

She said she does not believe the contention of a colleague, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, a staunch critic of the Rh bill, who believes contraceptives should be the least of local governments’ priorities.

“I don’t believe that contraceptives should not be a priority. It does not have to be number one priority, but if you look and take the time to speak to these women, it is very important to many of them to plan their families,” Cayetano said.

The senator said it is vital for RH services to be made available and accessible to women in respective towns or barangays as opposed to making them avail of these services elsewhere. Historically, she said women traditionally bear the brunt of suffering with their children.

For most of the poor, any additional expense would already pose a problem, like the transportation fare they would need, for instance, to travel to and from their barangay all the way to the Department of Health (DoH) or a television station in the hopes of getting assistance.

“It is the women who have to balance the household budget and they are the ones who are forced to make decisions like sending their children to the province, giving up their children to a neighbor, giving up their children to a stranger, leaving their child at the door of a rich neighbor, leaving their children inside a basket in the church,” she said.

“Women do these not because they do not want to be a mother to these children, but because they do not know how to feed their children. And they will explore; they need to find ways to support their children and plan their families,” said Cayetano.

At the same time, Cayetano lauded Sen. Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. for standing up and defending her point by sharing his own experience as a governor.

Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on local government and has manifested his support for the RH Bill, said, “In my experience in local government, this kind of problem comes to us very often. And it is precisely this reason why I have thrown my hat in support of the RH Bill.”

“If there is a mandate from the national government that the LGU can ask for assistance under the auspices of this proposed law [RH Bill], then I guarantee that every local government official will try everything possible, do everything they can to help,” Marcos said.

“It is not being done – not because it is not the desire of the LGU to help –but because there is no clear guidance as to how these kinds of problems are handled, and secondly, there is no funding for the LGUs to be able to provide that service,” he said.

Most of the time, Marcos said the problem “does not always boil down to money” saying that it is the education facet of the measure that is very significant.

“If we give the capability to the LGU, then they would be able to exercise that ability and provide better assistance to their constituents,” Marcos said. –HANNAH L. TORREGOZA, Manila Bulletin