MANILA, Philippines – Shock, dismay, outrage.

Reproductive health rights advocates went through a whole range of emotions when they learned of the sudden decision to cut the P1 billion allocated for contraceptives from the Department of Health (DOH) budget. (READ: What happened to the 2016 budget for contraceptives?)

One emotion that eludes them though is acceptance.

“Any budget changes should have been discussed and made at the committee or plenary level. When you reach the bicameral level, that should only be fine tuning of details – not something like a budget cut,” said Rom Dongeto, executive director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD).

“This (budget cut) is an assault on a law that our legislators themselves passed. They know very well that not funding a program renders it useless,” Dongeto added.

A budget of P1 billion was allocated for the purchase of contraceptives that would have been distributed to poor communities and public health centers as mandated by the Reproductive Health Law.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, defended the budget cut saying that the DOH still has unspent money from last year that can be carried over to the 2016 budget. (READ: DOH may have to divert family health fund to purchase contraceptives)

Health Secretary Janette Garin refuted this, saying the health budget is broken down into various expense lines to show what funds are specifically going to be used for.

“We can’t because it’s a line item. We can’t touch it. If this allocation is for this purpose, you stick to it. It’s not flexible, unlike before,” said Garin.

Face-off…again

Former congressman and principal author of Reproductive Health (RH) Law Edcel Lagman earlier  accused Senator Vicente Sotto III, a staunch opponent of the RH law, of blocking the implementation of the landmark policy. 

“The Congress, particularly the Senate, reneged on its obligation to adequately fund the speedy and full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law,” Lagman added in a The Standard report. 

This is not the first time that reproductive health advocates and legislators faced off in the implementation of the RH Law.

When it was passed in December 2012, pro-life groups questioned the law’s constitutionality causing the Supreme Court to temporarily suspend its implementation. The Supreme Court upheld the law’s constitutionality in April 2014.

In June 2015, the Supreme Court acted on a motion filed by the Alliance for the Family Foundation, Philippines, Inc (AFLI) and issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) banning the DOH from purchasing and distributing contraceptive Implanon and Implanon NXT. 

No one wins

One reproductive health rights group described the last minute budget cut as a vindictive move. (READ: Reproductive health budget cut: A cut betrayal of women)

“Natalo sila nang napasa yun RH, tapos nagsampa sila ng kaso sa Supreme Court. Nang natapos ‘yun, implants naman yun na-question. Tapos ito naman. Ganito na lang ba ito? Parang kailangan laging makabawi sila?” asked Bic Bic Chua, executive director of Catholics for RH.

(They lost when RH was passed so they filed a case with the Supreme Court. When that was resolved, they questioned implants. Now this. Is this the way it’s going to be? Like they always have to have the upper hand?)

Chua also expressed concern about the effect the budget cut would have on the lives of Filipino men and women: “We are running a race against time – against increasing maternal deaths, increasing teen pregnancies and increasing HIV rates. In the end, lahat tayo talo. Walang panalo dito. Hindi ba nila nakikita yun?”

(In the end, we all lose. No one wins. Don’t they see that?)

Lina Bacalando, a barangay health worker for the last 30 years knows first hand what free contraceptive supplies mean for women who have barely enough to feed their families.

“Ang dali-dali sabihin na bumili ng pildoras kung may pera ka, pero sa mga walang wala, hindi basta basta ganun. Ang isang pildoras, katumbas na ng isang kilong bigas at sardinas na pangkain na sana nila. Hindi kasi naiintindihan ng mga mambabatas yun,” Bacalando said.

(It’s so easy to say tell women who have the means to buy pills but for poor women who have nothing, it is not like that. One pack of pills is equivalent to one kilo of rice and a can of sardines.  Our legislators don’t understand the realities poor women face.)

“Noong naipasa yun RH, nagkaroon kami ng pag-asa na yun mga mahihirap na babae, magkaka-access na din ng family planning tulad ng mga mayayaman,” added Bacalando.

(When the RH Law was passed, it gave us hope that poor women would have the same access to family planning services as the rich women.)

Garin said that the DOH will now have to look to partners and donors for assistance in filling in the shortfall in contraceptive supplies.

Begging for help

“We are back to begging for help and that leaves a very bad taste in the mouth,” said former DOH secretary Esperanza Cabral in a telephone interview.

“All these years of sustained economic growth, a P122-billion health budget and yet we have no money to provide funds for contraceptives?”

Cabral is currently the chairperson of the National Implementing Team (NIT) of the Reproductive Health Law.

The Philippines’s improved economic status from a low income to a middle income country comes with the expectation that it can fund its own programs with less support from donor partners, said Klaus Beck, country representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Philippines. – Rappler.com