Public consultations set on RH law implementing rules

CORON, Palawan, Philippines – Public consultations on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 will be held in Metro Manila, Davao and Cebu on March 5, 6 and 8.

Health Assistant Secretary Paulyn Ubial told The STAR the technical working group (TWG) will present to participants the draft of the IRR during the public consultations.

“We are required under the law to hold public fora so the TWG will be doing that next week,” she said. “We coordinated with our regional offices and in each meeting, we expect some 300 people to come.”

Representatives from non-governmental groups like the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, Family Planning Organization of the Philippines and Bishop’s Business Conference for Human Development Inc. helped in drafting the IRR, Ubial said.

The Department of Health hopes to come up with the IRR on March 15, the “self-imposed deadline” that Secretary Enrique Ona had set.

Under Republic Act 10354, the secretary of health or his representative shall serve as head of the committee that will formulate the IRR.

Members shall come from the Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Commission on Women, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority, League of Provinces, League of Cities and League of Municipalities. 

In an earlier interview, Ona said the IRR would strictly adhere to the provisions of the law. 

“Everything is in the law and all we have to do is go into some details,” he said.             The law mandates all accredited public health facilities to provide a “full range of family planning methods which shall include medical consultation, supplies and necessary and reasonable procedures for poor and marginalized couples having fertility issues who desire to have children.”

“No person shall be denied information and access to family planning services, whether natural or artificial, provided that minors will not be allowed access to modern methods of family planning without written consent from their parents or guardians, except when minor is already a parent or has had a miscarriage,” said the law.  

Tarpaulins to remain in church

The tarpaulins proclaiming the senatorial candidates for “Team Buhay” and “Team Patay” will remain hanging from the façade of the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City until election day on May 13.

Fr. Felix Pasquin, vicar of the San Sebastian Cathedral, said the Catholic Church believes tarpaulins are not campaign materials.

“The main message of the Diocese of Bacolod is not really about the candidates in the May 2013 elections but about the rejection of the RH (Reproductive Health) Law, a piece of legislation which the diocese finds anti-life, anti-marriage, anti-family and inimical to the future of the nation,” he said.

Pasquin said the original 6 X 10 feet tarpaulin was cut into two, each measuring 2 X 3 feet to comply with the rules of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Two tarpaulins now hang from the cathedral’s facade, one bearing “Team Buhay” and the other “Team Patay.”

Pasquin said the lawyer of the Diocese of Bacolod had written the Comelec Legal Department in Manila to ask for the definitive ruling on campaign materials. 

“The hanging of tarpaulin in our own private property should be covered by a broader constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression and conscience, and not by the limited rules and regulations of the Comelec,” he said.

Pending the Comelec reply and the availment of legal remedies available to the diocese, the tarpaulins should be allowed to remain on the cathedral’s façade, Pasquin said.

Four other Catholic dioceses will come out with their own “Team Patay” and “Team Buhay” candidates.

These are the Archdiocese of Lipa, Batangas under Archbishop Ramon Arguelles; Diocese of Tarlac under Bishop Florentino Cinense; Diocese of Sorsogon under Bishop Arturo Bastes; and the Diocese of Borongan, Samar under Bishop Crispin Varquez.

In an interview over Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas, Fr. Melvin Castro, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Family and Life executive secretary, said: “It is the right of the Diocese of Bacolod to do that (post tarpaulins) and it has been agreed that the Archdioceses of Lipa and Tarlac would do the same.” Sorsogon Bishop Bastes said the idea of the Diocese of Bacolod had inspired him. “We will do it. We will do it. It is the agenda of the diocese,” he said. 

“We will mention those who voted ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ for RH bill. We will follow the lead of Bishop Navarra. I’m happy that the Diocese of Bacolod started the campaign.” 

Bastes said displaying tarpaulins on how some candidates voted on the RH Law would not run contrary to the non partisan stand of the Catholic Church. –Sheila Crisostomo, Danny Dangcalan, Evelyn Macairan