sexandsensibilities.com

Every August , the Department of Health celebrates Family Planning Month.  This year the theme was: “May plano ako.  Kaya mo ring magplano.” (I have a plan. You can plan, too.)

The theme was centered on the attainment of a better quality of life for mother, father, and the family as a whole.

How did the city of Manila, under Executive Order 003 which “encourages only natural family planning methods” filed by former Mayor Lito Atienza celebrate family planning?

Under Executive Order 003, all local government unit (LGU) run health clinics and hospitals like the Ospital ng Manila, do not offer forms of modern contraception. Other services such as tubal ligation and vasectomy are also not available.

How would one celebrate family planning month under such conditions?

Sex and Sensibilities (SAS) and fellow RH advocate Carlos Celdran decided to celebrate by throwing a family planning party where the women in the City of Manila could sit down with a health care professional and avail of the full range of pills, injectables and condoms for free – APART from the natural family planning methods supported by the local government.

At the end of their consultation, the moms and their kids would get a free snack, juice and a loot bag.

The idea became much bigger than just providing merienda for the moms. Other RH supporters pledged to donate money (in response to Carlos Celdran’s blog post about the event) and NGOs pledged their support and resources.

There was going to be an inflatable playground so the moms would not have to worry about looking after their children while being checked by a health care provider.  There were going to be lootbags, games and even a free kilo of rice.

All of this was going to be provided for free to the moms. All they had to do was come.

It started to look like a big party, one the required a bigger venue – and permission from the office of the Mayor or the Vice-Mayor.

Dr. Alberto “Quasi” Romualdez, former DOH Secretary and now one of the executive officers of Forum for Family Planning and Development penned a short note on the formal letter to Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno, endorsing the request.

Weeks later, a letter from the Barangay Bureau came. The family planning party was turned down.

The reason cited that the city of Manila would not shell out a single centavo for family planning efforts.

Poor women suffer the most

“Well, it seems to me that because of long standing city policies, there have developed within the bureaucracy in the city of Manila, including the city health department, a core resistance to providing artificial family planning services.”, said Romualdez .

“That is to the detriment, actually of the poor people of Manila. As we all know, the policy of the city of Manila does not affect any of the population except those who live in slums who have no access to information and services.”, added Romualdez.

A request for interview was made to Mayor Lim to comment on the issue, but the request was referred to the Manila Health Office instead. Calls and text messages to Vice Mayor Isko Moreno were unanswered.

Dr. Gina Pardilla, Chief of the Planning office under the Manila Health Department says that the services of Manila should be looked at from a comprehensive offering.

“All the services are provided for free – birthing, immunization, pre and post natal care — except those that have to do with making them act as responsible parents”, said Pardilla. “Paying for your own choice [of family planning method], takes on a responsibility angle. A meager P20 cost of some of the methods is nothing compared to the cost of the free services that we offer like pre and post natal care, immunization”.

Citing the other non-government organizations in Manila that offer these family planning services for free, Pardilla said that “the access part is not a problem.”

“We allow other organizations to give these services, but we cannot spend our meager funds on this. [modern forms of contraception]”.

The contents of the letter from the Manila Barangay Bureau declining the Family Planning Party sponsored by Sex and Sensibilities was shared with Dr. Pardilla.

Pardilla declined to comment on the letter. “I cannot speak for Ms. Buan (chairperson of Manila Brgy Bureau who was also the signatory of the decline letter), you will have to ask her about the Bureau’s reasons for declining that event since I do not know what transpired.”

“The EO does not ban anything, it only discourages and encourages natural family planning.”, explained Pardilla who says that the city of Manila has again been “wrongly highlighted”.

On the other side of the RH fence

In Quezon City, there is a different perspective on family planning.

“If you do not offer it for free, they will not avail of modern contraceptive methods. They will not be able to afford it.”, said Dr. Mike Marasigan, Medical Officer III at the San Francisco “Frisco” Lying-in and Reproductive Health Clinic.

A full range of family planning services including pills, condoms, IUDs, and injectables are provided for free. Education on natural family planning methods is also available at a patient’s request. “There are those who will still want to try natural family planning methods. But this requires a level of literacy and understanding – like when it comes to taking your temperature”, said Marasigan.

Click here to see photos of the San Francisco “Frisco” Lying-in and Reproductive Health Clinic.

At Frisco Clinic, they sometimes even designate one day as “vasectomy” day where men can come in and get a free vasectomy. “Otherwise, they would have to come and schedule it. Setting aside a day and then informing people in advance of it, allows the men to drop by for a vasectomy, which is actually a simple procedure which doesn’t take very long.”, explained Dr. Rico Tongos, Medical Officer III.

Quezon City, since the time of Mayor Sonny Belmonte, already offered a comprehensive range of family planning services. It was in 2008 that City Ordinance No. 1829 establishing a Quezon City Population and Reproductive Health Management Policy was passed, institutionalizing RH programmes and their budget appropriation.

Councillor Joseph Juico, who was a principal author and one of the prime movers of the ordinance, said “It was not an easy task to pass this ordinance. It took more than 7 months to pass the ordinance whereas a normal one would just take only over a month.”

Juico also faced opposition from the Church who labeled him a “spawn of Satan” and even hinted at excommunication. “We had dialogues with the religious sector and eventually, we were able to get the ordinance passed.”

Expounding on the matter, Jucio said, “Usually when somebody’s pregnant, they’re happy but when you see a poor mother with  her fifth pregnancy, she doesn’t look like a happy mother at all. The lack of information, the lack of knowledge, that’s one thing we’re trying to address here.  That’s it. If they want to avail of the services, then we’ll give it to them. If they don’t want to, then that’s okay, too, but what we’re after is for them to have informed choices.”

It seems that Quezon City is bent on celebrating family planning and the better quality of life that it offers mothers, father and their children not just during the month of August, but all year round.

What was the impact of the various RH policies in Quezon City and Manila? Part 2 of this series aims to answer that question.

This three part series is produced under a media fellowship grant awarded to Sex and Sensibilities.com by the Probe Media Foundation.