Our Official Stand on the RH Bill

We, the members of the Development Society, inspired by the Atenean value of persons for and with others, support the passage of the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act (also known as House Bill 5043). We support the Bill as it seeks to address critical aspects of deprivation in the country like poor maternal health care, empowerment of the LGUs, and greater provision for education and health services which can ultimately help empower and protect the people not only in their immediate needs but also in the over-all development of the country.
From a development perspective, we recognize the need to discuss the issue in a holistic manner, which comprise the political, sociological, economic and environmental dimensions. But, we also believe that beyond these disciplines is a need to refocus on the complete well-being of the human person.

Human Security Asserts Health and Education
The Commission on Human Security in the 2000 United Nations Millennium Summit emphasizes the importance of adequate health services and access to education opportunities. “Human security” in its broadest sense, emphasizes the need to focus on the people. It has broadened the framework of the concerns for development involving not only violent territorial or terrorist-induced conflicts but also the issue of deprivation itself. “Human security” now encompasses issues on “extreme impoverishment, pollution, ill health, illiteracy, and other maladies.” Thus, when viewed from this approach, health and education have become necessities for the over-all development of a person (Commission on Human Security. 2003. Human Security Now. New York: UNHCR.)

Uplifting Women’s Health Enables Better Quality of Life
In connection with the concerns of this paper, health and education have a profound impact on women. Health and education are particularly important to women  because the capability and condition of women determine the quality of her own life, the quality of life of her child, and to a great extent, the well-being of her entire family.

Furthermore, the bill also addresses crucial aspects of severe entitlements deprivation, which requires a critical evaluation of the availability, accessibility, security, acceptability, and quality of certain goods and services. In the case of the Reproductive Health Bill, these goods and services refer to the provisions for access to health care services and the full range of family planning methods (Sections 6, 7,9, 10, 11) and the mandatory age-appropriate reproductive health education (Section 12).

Demographic surveys show that at least two million married women of reproductive age are in favor of family planning, but are unable to do so due to lack of information and access to affordable quality services. In the table below, the desired or wanted fertility rate is less than the actual fertility rate, especially in the lowest socioeconomic sector of the country. The reason is that there are a few options for them to control or maneuver their lives because they lack information and access. (National Statistics Office. 2004. National Demographic and Health Survey 2009. Metro Manila: NSO.)

Therefore, there is indeed a need to impart the knowledge and information to the greater majority of the Filipinos, which a good reproductive health policy can help provide. A good reproductive health policy can also be beneficial on the socioeconomic premise because it can help reduce poverty in the Philippines.

Social Services, the Philippine State and Civil Society
Poverty, indeed, has several dimensions. The provision of the Reproductive Health Care Bill can help address some of these problems. It recognizes the importance of labor power for the development of the country, which is why it gives primacy to the importance of adequate health care services to ensure the birth of healthy children as well as responsible parenting and access to education for the members of the population.

However, we recognize the reality of Philippine politics, where indeed corruption is prevalent, thereby becoming a hindrance to the provision of these basic social services. To depict this reality more clearly, Paul Hutchcroft describes the Philippine political system as a “patrimonial oligarchic state” wherein he asserts that a “dominant social force has an economic base largely independent of the state apparatus, but the state nonetheless plays a central role in the process of wealth accumulation.” Because of this, a relationship arises where the official and private spheres overlap and the powerful oligarchic elites are able to extract privileges from the state apparatus because of the weak bureaucracy (Hutchcroft, Paul. 1991. “Oligarchs and Cronies in the Philippine State: The Politics of Patrominial Plunder.” World Politics 43 (3): 414-450.). Thus, it can be said that penetrating the Philippine political system will not be sufficient to achieve long-term reforms.

Initiatives to change the system should no longer just be confined within the state apparatus but also beyond it. Simultaneous, “top-down” and “bottom-up” initiatives are needed: where the latter requires the “emergence of concrete pressures from below.” In this case, strengthening civil society and the Local Government Units (LGUs) can be taken as an initial step to this goal of political reforms.

The emergence of an equipped and capable civil society can be a means to fight systematic corruption in the government. Civil society can also help counterbalance the power of the state. The bill recognizes the role of civil society in addressing issue as is stated in Section 18 (support of private and non-government health care service providers). Similarly, the emergence of strong LGUs in the country is one of the notable effects of the phenomenon. However, the changes that are happening in the different scenarios of the LGUs are insufficient in its self because they are still constrained by the national problems of inadequate resource distribution. Thus, the Reproductive Health Care Bill is a crucial means where reforms from the “top” are deemed relevant and simultaneous reforms from “below” can also happen. This can be done with the Bill’s provision on empowering the LGU as they collaborate with the National Government for the realization of its policies in the local setting (Sections 9, 13, 14, 15).

Development for All
The Reproductive Health Care Bill, contrary to its many criticisms, can greatly help solve the daunting problem of poverty in the country. It is by no means the only solution to the needed reforms today for the problem is far more complex. But we recognize that it can help solve critical aspects of deprivation in the country like poor maternal health care, empowerment of the LGUs, and greater provision for education and health services which can ultimately help empower and protect the people not only in their immediate needs but also in the over-all development of the country. With this as our basic premise, we support the passage of House Bill 5043 on the aforementioned grounds.

In order to move forward, we recognize the need to create public demand for reproductive health services, to refocus efforts to local governments, and to create venues to find compromise that the different groups can agree on. Lastly, we call for a more comprehensive and open discussion of those for and against the bill to talk about its implications on the lives of the Filipinos as we endeavor to realize our common quest for a people-centered development where no one is left behind.

We are now accredited! :)

We are now officially part of the Issue and Policy Analysis cluster of the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo and it wouldn’t have been possible without everybody’s hardwork and passion for development. Congratulations!