Where they stand on RH
In the middle of all the sound and fury preceding the May 9 polls, certain issues and “sticky” problems continue to hound the Philippines and Filipinos.
One such issue is that of reproductive health, which, despite the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law, continues to be highly contested and continues to face difficult challenges especially at the grassroots level.
A recent Pulse Asia preelection survey revealed that an “overwhelming majority” of Filipinos—95 percent of respondents, actually—“believe in the importance of family planning, public funding for family planning, inclusion of family planning in national and local candidates’ platforms of action, and young people’s access to family planning service.” All of which are keystones of the RPRH Law.
Another survey, by Social Weather Stations, found—yet again—that Filipinos would “vote for candidates who will ensure the implementation of the RH Law.”
It was precisely to bridge the gap between the law and public opinion, and the process of decision making by Filipino voters, that the Purple Ribbon for RH Movement, led by former health secretary Esperanza Cabral, held a press conference last week to rally the troops, as it were, and place the issue of reproductive health and rights at the forefront of the people’s and the candidates’ consciousness as they troop to the polls.
Called “Kami ang 95%: Tinig naming pakinggan, RH panindigan!” (We are the 95%: Listen to our voice, Support RH!), the activity gathered representatives of political parties and candidates, as well as of groups working on RH issues, to discuss “why RH is an important electoral issue.”
The organizers prepared a brief backgrounder on the policies articulated by the different candidates, as well as their track records in advocacy and implementation on the issue, that could be used to guide voters who believe RH deserves priority among the wide range of issues a new president will have to confront.
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Typical of his no-holds-barred approach to controversies, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently leading in the public opinion polls, says that if he wins, he “will strongly promote family planning—whether artificial or natural—even if it runs counter to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.”
In public events, Mayor Digong has spoken openly of his support for family planning, encouraging couples to have no more than three children, even offering to pay for tubal ligation and vasectomies. However, say reports, “the offer of money was reduced when too many people swarmed to avail [themselves] of the offer [and] then was scrapped when the program was given an overwhelming response years later.” This was in 2005, even before the passage of the RH bill.
My personal take on this, though, is that the seemingly prowomen’s rights position of Duterte on RH is contradicted by his subsequent public airings of stories denigrating women—from rape to womanizing, to blaming women in bikinis for provoking sexual harassment, if not worse. Sad to say, the ability to maintain two separate, if not contrasting, views on women without irony or guilt seems to be common among public officials, and not just Duterte.
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Vice President Jojo Binay has not taken a public position on RH, although he says the “Makati model,” which offers access to extensive health services to all Makati residents, may well be replicated throughout the nation should he win.
However, Binay’s daughter Abigail, a congresswoman who is now contesting the mayor’s post in Makati, was a supporter of the RH bill even if, as she recalled, her father “repeatedly called her to convince her to change her mind.” But it seems the Supreme Court’s upholding of the constitutionality of the RH Law has convinced Binay, who says it should “put the issue firmly behind us.”
In a policy statement, Mar Roxas has said that the government would “ensure the proper implementation of the RH Law.” While he has not been outspoken in his support for RH, Roxas was one of four emissaries of President Aquino who were present at the South Lounge of the Batasan during the second reading for the RH bill and “stayed on until every vote was cast—and counted—in favor of passing” the bill.
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Of the two women candidates for president, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago was the author of the RPRH bill in the Senate. Indeed, in the light of the recent P1-billion cut from the Department of Health’s budget for family planning, Santiago called it an “abandonment” of the government’s commitment to women, “immoral in a country where some 200 out of 100,000 women who give birth die.” A staunch advocate, she has declared that since “enemies of reproductive health never sleep, we, too, must not rest in fighting for women’s health.”
Sen. Grace Poe, on the other hand, has been described as “neutral in principle,” although she says that she “believes in women’s right to choose,” and says the RH Law “is a good progress in our struggle to address the high prevalence of maternal deaths in the country.”
One would wish that Poe, who is ranking second to Duterte in the public opinion polls, would take a more proactive stance, being herself a wife and mother of three. It is reasonable to assume that she and her husband Neil Llamanzares availed themselves of modern family planning, so why this seeming disconnect between personal experience and public policy?
But as we have seen in other candidates, the disconnect is not only possible, but prevalent as well. So, RH advocates, who gets your vote?
