The mess at DOH

“Mixed messages” is the least of its troubles. A public awareness campaign video addressing adolescent pregnancy and sexuality has been making the rounds of social media and drawing mostly negative feedback.

The video was sponsored (was it commissioned?) by the Department of Health, although I think that in the wake of all the negativity it engendered, the DOH has since pulled it out—although it’s destined to live on in the circles of hell to which bad videos are consigned.

On initial impression, the video seems to have been made on the cheap, with harsh lighting, spotty camera work, and a setting that looks like an unused warehouse. Ostensibly, the occasion is a practice session of a mixed group of cheer dancers. Although the message purports to be against irresponsible sexuality, with warnings to young people not to be “gaga girls” or “bobo boys” (“gaga” and “bobo” are rather harsh terms for dumbness), the visuals send an altogether different message.

The girls, especially, look vampy, clad in midriff-baring shirts and ultrashort skirts. Although this seems but par for the course for most cheer-dancing outfits, the rather racy wear cancels all the virtuous, if not self-righteous, admonitions.

Some claim the video was shown to focus groups of young people who found nothing wrong with it. Even the rather harsh language was acceptable, it seems, because in today’s overloaded media landscape, young people need to be shocked and outraged before they deign to pay attention.

Sure, there’s nothing wrong in aspiring for edginess or teasing viewers with racy images. But did the verbal messages have to bear down so hard on young people, while the images sent out provocative unsaid messages?

Who was the (non)creative mind behind this video? And who approved it for public distribution? If I were (still) a young person, I would be offended and not in the least amused.

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This seems but another new controversy on the rather full plate of the DOH, currently roiled by scandals that have emerged in the wake of Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s going on leave, and the temporary stewardship of Acting Secretary Janette Garin.

As yesterday’s editorial in this paper points out, Ona’s departure (which has been extended recently) amounts to a “slow-motion crucifixion” of the health secretary. One by one, questions have been brought out in the media on decisions made by Ona before he went on leave: the choice of a cheaper, albeit reportedly less comprehensive, pneumonia vaccine; the approval of human trials on a still-controversial drug for dengue and malaria; his alleged preference for “facility-based” treatment options instead of promoting preventive health; and even the priorities he set in the wake of a windfall in the form of “sin” taxes which, by law, should go toward improving the public health status of Filipinos.

In her short stint so far at the DOH, Garin has not been spared from criticism, much of it centered on her alleged flouting of established guidelines of quarantine when she, together with the Armed Forces chief of staff, wearing no protective clothing, visited Caballo Island where former peacekeepers in the “hot zones” of the Ebola epidemic were being held.

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There are speculations that the rather high profile that Garin has adopted since taking the reins at the DOH may be related to higher political ambitions, particularly a Senate run in 2016.

Garin has proven to be a rather reliable ally of P-Noy’s, leading the charge for the reproductive health bill, which the President supported and encouraged, since the last two Congresses and ably managing the flow of legislation that doubtless helped move along the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.

I wouldn’t be surprised, in fact, if it turns out that the road to Secretary Ona’s premature (if officially only temporary) ouster was paved somehow by negative reports emanating from the office of the newest health undersecretary—Garin herself.

And what’s this I hear that the DOH’s reproductive health program—which had been painstakingly fought for, through legislative battles and a yearlong hiatus thanks to the Supreme Court—has not been moving, with Garin “spooked” by pending suits filed by various prolife groups? What a waste of time and political will, as well as of the lives and health of women!

If there was one thing I had hoped—and earnestly believed—that Acting Secretary Garin would have placed priority on at the DOH, it was the reproductive health program. After all, she had been a “face” of the program for so long! But being spooked by the power of the Catholic Church (which can only grow with Pope Francis’ coming visit) is a sure sign of political ambitions on her part.

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Still, even if the troubles confronting the DOH are really the result of infighting among the secretary-on-leave and the acting secretary and their minions, the unfortunate situation is really the consequence of actions taken, or not taken, by the appointing power.

P-Noy needs to intervene now, and intervene quickly, to settle the troubles at the DOH. I am inclined to believe that there is no malice in the decisions made or about to be made by our health officials. The choice of pneumonia vaccine, for instance, could be the result of far more complex issues, including cost, cost-effectiveness, reach and distribution that we ordinary Filipinos can barely understand. Each type of vaccine had its champions, but obviously a choice had to be made, and it’s up to the authorities to determine if that choice was made out of credible public health concerns.

It’s time P-Noy stepped into the mess.