Health chief nangakong ipapatupad ang reproductive health law

Inihayag ni Health Secretary Francisco Duque III na tutuparin niya ang kanyang tungkulin upang lubusang maipatupad ang Responsible Parenthood at Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law.

“We have to implement the law as a member of the executive branch and the bureaucracy. It is our duty to implement what is in the law,” ani Duque sa panayam ng mga mamamahayag nitong Lunes, at sinabing kapag hindi ito nagamapanan ay, “dereliction or gross neglect of duty”.

Sa kanyang unang pag-upo bilang health secretary sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni dating Pangulong Gloria M. Arroyo, nakilala si Duque bilang advocate ng natural family planning method.

Sinabi niya na ang kanyang “strict stand” nang panahong iyon ay dahil sa kawalan ng batas hinggil sa reproductive health.

“There was no law yet (back then). Now, we have a law already,” ani Duque nang tanungin kung bakit hindi niya ipainagpatuloy ang modern family planning methods sa kanilang unang pag-upo bilang head ng Department of Health (DoH).

Nilagdaan ang Republic Act No. 10354 o ang RPRH Law ni dating Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino III. Ang buong implementasyon nito ay sinubok ng ilang beses, ang pinakabago ay ang Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) na inisyu ng Supreme Court sa dalawang contraceptive implants. Nakasaad sa kautusan na kailangan matukoy ng Food and Drug Administration (FDA) kung ang mga contraceptive products na ito ay magdudulot ng aborsyon o hindi.

Gayunman, sinabi ng FDA na kailangan ng 2015 TRO na “suspend its certification/recertification of all contraceptives”. Kasalukuyan nitong pinagaaralan kung ang 51 contraceptives ay abortifacient o hindi.

Samantala, nanawagan si Duque sa iba’t iabng ahensiya na “exercise sobriety” sa isyu upang makakuha ulit ng certification ang 51 contraceptives.

“We will have to wait for the FDA resolution... We have to let the FDA do its job,” anang health chief.

“The process is technical and scientific in nature and not a political one. As scientists, we work with empirical evidence and we make sure that our conclusions are based on facts and not on hysteria,” lahad ni FDA Director General Nela Charade Puno sa naunang pahayag.