A

POLICY REPORT
IN
PA 321 (SEMINAR ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT)
2ND SEMESTER 2021-2022

PRESENTED TO:
DR. CHRISTINE JOY S. OCTOBRE
PROFESSOR

PRESENTED BY:
MOHAMMAD MERHASSHAN G. GUBAT
DPA STUDENT
 REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW
by
MOHAMMAD MERHASSHAN G. GUBAT
Student
I. Introduction
The Philippines passed the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive
Health (RPRH) Law in 2012 which was officially designated as Republic Act
No. 10354. It declared universal access to RH services as integral to the
rights to life, health, and sustainable human development. [1] But
was suspended by the Supreme Court, following objections from religious
groups that alleged the law violated the rights to religion and free speech.

On January 9, 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed

an executive order calling for universal access to modern family planning
methods. The document also called for accelerated implementation of the
country’s Reproductive Health Law. The purpose of this paper is to analyze
what the bill addresses, what the bill proposes to do, and how the bill is being
implemented.

II. Social Problem

Since the very first incarnation of the RH Bill, it turned out to be one of the
most contentious and divisive pieces of legislation in our country’s history.
The laborious path toward the RH Law’s passage kept running into the dead-
end that is Article II, Sec. 12 of the 1987 Constitution: “The State recognizes
the sanctity of life… It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of
the unborn from conception.”

Because of this provision, otherwise rational debates about family

planning or women’s reproductive rights were repeatedly reduced to
philosophical, moral, and even existential debates about “life” and
“conception.” 2
 Viewed in a broader historical frame, the ongoing debate is a continuation
of the Philippines’ long journey towards reproductive health - and its having
been turned into a political and moral issue by various actors. It’s also
inexorably bound to the Church’s long-running enmeshment in the politics of
a country where 80% of the people are, at least nominally, Catholic.3

The restrictive parts of Philippine norms are rooted in conservative beliefs

and values espoused mainly by the Catholic hierarchy and the so-called “pro-
life” movement. Conservatives believe that modern contraception thwarts the
natural procreative process, destroys embryonic life, undermines the family,
weakens parental rights over children, and promotes sexual license. These
religious beliefs are used in political action by advocates adept at working and
[4, 5]
influencing the executive, legislative and judicial departments.

The Catholic Church’s staunch opposition to the Responsible Parenthood

and Reproductive Health Act has stalled the law’s enforcement for the last
seven years, to the detriment of millions of women and their families. 6
Though,
the Catholic Church has emphasized that the rejection of the RH bill is not
about a Roman Catholic verdict but a reflection of the “fundamental ideals and
aspirations of the Filipino people”. 7

Another factor is the COVID-19 pandemic it has disrupted family planning

and maternal and newborn health services globally, and in the Philippines to
these indirect effects it significantly increase the annual maternal deaths and
unintended pregnancies for 2020 compared with the pre-COVID years, a study
by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) revealed.10

III. Overview

It is an act providing for a national policy on responsible parenthood and

reproductive health. The law, which stemmed from the strong advocacy of
stakeholders and the commitment of the Government, is a point for
convergence of multi-sectoral efforts toward the improvement of health
outcomes of the country. It mandates the government to adequately address
the needs of Filipinos on responsible parenthood and reproductive health.

The law aims to empower the Filipino people, especially women and
youth, through informed choice and age- and development- appropriate
education. Further, the law guarantees access to information, facilities and
services most especially for the poor by ensuring stable and sustainable
reproductive health programs are in place through partnerships between
national and local governments in collaboration with CSOs, basic sectors,
academe and private sector.

The RP-RH law is rooted on the human rights of all persons including their
right to equality and nondiscrimination, the right to sustainable human
development, the right to health including RH, the right to education and
information, and the right to choose and make decisions for themselves in
accordance to their religious convictions, ethics, cultural beliefs and the
demand of responsible parenthood.

In particular, the law upholds and guarantee the following principles:

 The right to make free and informed decisions of every person particularly
couples, adult individuals, women and adolescents including preference
and choice for FP methods, determination of ideal family size;
 The provision of effective and quality RH care services by the state that
will lead to universal access to affordable and quality RH care and
services;
 The provision of truthful information and education on RH; and
 The preferential access to the poor and the marginalized.

(RA 10354 Section 3)

 With the passage of the RP-RH Act, the country has now a
comprehensive law that guarantees the provision of the RH care services
and information to all individuals particularly the poor and the
marginalized.

The following measures are all aimed towards improving access to RH

Services of the people:

 Enhanced Service Delivery Networks (SDN) through facility mapping

and population matching with facilities;
 Provision of mobile health clinics in GIDAs;
 Improved PhilHealth coverage of RH services;
 Ensured supply of RH commodities particularly in the procurement and
distribution of FP supplies;
 Hiring and training of skilled health professionals;
 National and local government cooperation in implementation;
 Participation of the Private Sector, Academe, Basic Sector and CSOs;
and
 Continuous monitoring and review of programs.

IV. Implementation

Beyond biological health, reproductive health (RH) is tied to access to

information and services that enable choices for the well-being of one’s self
and family. From empowering individual and household decisions,
comprehensive RH policies have national impact, facilitating sustainable
population growth, human capital investment, and socioeconomic
development.

To effectively accomplish these goals, the provision of acceptable and

affordable RH care services requires an awareness of the social and
economic determinants affecting gender and interpersonal relations. Hence,
 interventions to address the social determinants of sexual health and RH
must acknowledge that individual health outcomes are not solely determined
by the health sector but instead require action from multiple sectors. 1

A critical factor for the success of multi-sectoral action is governance, which

encompasses how activities of different stakeholders with respective
responsibilities and resources can be oriented toward a single vision in a
process of negotiation, collaboration, and reporting for enforcing
accountability.

Governance plays an important role in low- and middle-income countries

(LMICs), creating a policy environment conducive to investing in social
development without stifling economic growth. Amid the difficulties of this dual
role, plans are affected by limited resources and competing political interests.
Thus, many LMICs have yet to implement successful multi-sectoral
governance approaches.1

The wide scope of RPRH envisioned contributions from multiple sectors

represented by national government agencies (NGAs) (Supplement). In late
2014, the National Implementation Team (NIT) was created to manage and
coordinate interagency RPRH activities. 1

NIT is chaired by an undersecretary of the Department of Health (DOH), and

its members include NGAs, civil society organizations (CSOs), and
multilaterals. Keeping with the decentralized system of governance in the
Philippines,8 regional implementation teams, composed of government
agencies’ regional office staff, were envisioned to mirror NIT’s functions at the
regional and local government unit (LGU) levels. 1

V. Analysis
The Church’s claim that contraception destroys the symbolic value of sex and
that sex is a sacred act that has been weakened by its introduction. However,
we must acknowledge that outdated beliefs are impeding social progress. We
must move forward because those traditions are based on earlier obsolete
societies.

Consequently, more than six years after the reproductive health (RH) law was
enacted, the Philippines is still far from its goal of achieving a contraceptive
prevalence rate of 65 percent by 2022.9 The country’s current contraceptive
use stands at only 40 percent, 10 percentage points below this year’s target,
according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom).

The Covid-19 has may have contributed with impedement of services, as the
national and local health systems are overwhelmed by the necessary
response to the COVID-19 patients, attention, and resources for women's
health have been diverted. Services for RH declining, because of service
disruption, difficulty in commuting, and their fear of contracting COVID-19.
Similarly, their access to modern contraception has also been facing
challenges.

In addition, contraception is used to avoid the creation of new life that would
otherwise be neglected, not just for so-called sinful acts of sexual intercourse. If
a woman gives birth to a kid she didn't want in the first place, the youngster is
more likely to be neglected and placed in an orphanage or foster home.
Contraceptives have reshaped thousands of years of religious belief in
modern culture. Family planning and the use of contraceptives provided a
shift in perspective, allowing women to pursue aspirations formerly reserved
for men. Since then, women's economic position has been quickly catching
up to men's. In today's environment, there are already homes where the
female is the earner and the husband is the breadwinner.
 Nowadays, women are no longer in constant fear of pregnancy when
engaging in sexual intercourse. With contraceptives, women have more
control over whether they want to reproduce and bear a child. Without the
ramifications usually associated with unprotected sex, women can benefit
from the pleasures and intimacy of sex as often as men have in the past.
Reproductive health ensures that people can have a satisfying and safe sex
life, they are capable of reproducing and have freedom to take decision
regarding when and how often to perform it. Aside from promoting family
planning, the RH law covers wide-ranging provisions for emergency obstetric
care, sex education, and maternal and child health.

VI. Recommendations

The following measures are recommended towards improving access to RH

Services of the people:

 Enact separation of Church and the State as what is prescribed in the

constitution;
 Reinforcement of informed choice and voluntarism leading to an understanding
of the full range of services;
 Availability of Responsible Parenting and Reproductive Health information
through health promotion and communication campaigns such as (Mainstream
media and Social Media);
 Both the government and private sector to find innovative ways to ensure the
continuity of essential SRH services for women of reproductive ages, such as
family planning and maternal health services and social and protective networks
even in the midst of the pandemic,
 Development of age- and development- appropriate education.
 Enhanced PhilHealth services that handling of RH services;
 Guaranteed supply of RH commodities particularly in the procurement and
distribution of supplies;
 Cooperation and Participation in the Baranggay level in implementation;
  Continued Participation of the Private Sector, Academe, Basic Sector and CSOs;
and
 Constant monitoring and review of programs.

References:

1
Vanessa T. Siy Van, Jhanna Uy, Joy Bagas and Valerie Gilbert T. Ulep (2021) Trends in
National-Level Governance and Implementation of the Philippines’ Responsible Parenthood
and Reproductive Health Law from 2014 to 2020 https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-21-
00184

2
Punong Bayan (2018). [Analysis] Whatever happened to the Reproductive Health Law.
Rappler. Retrieved through: https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/214581-
analysis-whatever-happened-to-reproductive-health-law-philippines/

3
Adetunji, Jo (2017). Inside the Philippines’ long journey towards reproductive health.
The Conversion. Retrieved through: Inside the Philippines' long journey towards
reproductive health (theconversation.com)

4
Austria, Ruiz CS (2004). The church, the state and women’s bodies in the context of
religious fundamentalism in the Philippines. Reproductive Health Matters. 12:96–103.

5
Melgar J, Carrera-Pacete (2016). Understanding Catholic fundamentalism in the
Philippines: how conservative religious teachings on women, family and contraception
are wielded to impede the reproductive health law and other reproductive health
policies. http://arrow.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/7.-Philippines_with-extra-
pages-added.pdf.

6
Yee, Jovic (2019). Church opposition stalling reproductive health law. Inquirer.
Retrieved through: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1144442/church-opposition-stalling-
reproductive-health-law
7
Sison, Jose C. February 4, 2011. Reaching another crossroad. A Law Each Day
(Keeps Trouble Away). The Philippine Star. Http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?
articleId= 654222&publication SubCategoryId=64

8
Republic of the Philippines. The Local Government Code of the Philippines. 1991.
Accessed July 16, 2021. Retrieved through
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/1991/10oct/19911010-RA-7160-
CCA.pdfGoogle Scholar

9
Yee, Jovic (2019). PH still below target of contraceptive prevalence rate. Inquirer.
Retrieved through: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1100652/ph-still-below-target-of-
contraceptive-prevalence-rate

10
UNFPA (2020). Significant rise in maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies feared
because of COVID-19, UNFPA and UPPI study shows. Relief web. Retrieved throught
Significant rise in maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies feared because of COVID-19,
UNFPA and UPPI study shows - Philippines | ReliefWeb