We may not be noticing it but the Filipino family faces threats of various kinds.
The Supreme Court decision on contraceptives, moves to derail passage of the 100-day maternity leave bill, the strong push to lower criminal liability to cover nine-year-old children, and the railroading of the bill that legalizes death penalty—all these have negative impact on our families.
Until now, the SC has yet to reverse its ruling expanding the temporary restraining order against contraceptives. Until now, the Food and Drug Administration cannot register and certify new contraceptives. This means that no new contraceptives can be bought by private companies and government.
The Department of Health still cannot use its sub-dermal implants, a very popular and effective long-acting contraceptive among women. This means that women are deprived of one of the best choices among family planning methods.
In the meantime, registrations and certifications of contraceptives are expiring. By this time, according to the Commission on Population, more than 60 percent of the registrations have already expired. By 2018, more than 90 percent shall have expired. If the SC does not act in favor of the women and our families, there may be a total stock-out of contraceptives.
What does this mean? Simply put, contraceptives will not be available to all women, even to those with money to buy. Effectively, this is a total “ban” on contraceptives.
What does this mean for families? For mothers, especially those in the poorest quintile, this means more unplanned pregnancies. This means giving birth to many more children than their desired numbers. At present, poor women give birth to two children more than desired. On the average, poor women want only three kids but on the average, they give birth to five children. Without family planning, imagine the number of children poor families will have against their will.
Imagine how much more difficult it will be for poor families to make ends meet, and more importantly, for them to break the shackles of poverty which has become inter-generational. If parents continue to fail to provide their children with their needs, most particularly in terms of education and health, how can we expect them to have a better future?
Family planning affects the family’s economic development. Without it, expect more Filipino families to remain in abject poverty. This is a serious threat.
A few weeks back, I wrote about the good work being done by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Women and Gender Equality. The Committee passed the 100-day maternity leave bill. This is commendable as the bill has been pending or several Congresses. The bill not only extends existing maternity leave (which is among the shortest in the world), it also covers more women, and has removed the limit in number of pregnancies that can be covered. These mean that all pregnancies by more women will be covered, and the leave will be longer.
Recently however, I received news that the bill has been remanded to the committee because of objections raised by the Social Security System. Apparently, the SSS is concerned about the funds needed for the implementation when the bill becomes a law. Obviously, the mothers’ well-being is of little concern to SSS and it does not see women’s maternity function as a social responsibility.
Not passing the 100-day maternity leave is a big disservice to mothers and their families. It will impact on the Filipino family because the need for mothers to fully care for their infants will not be addressed. Those who want to breastfeed their babies will have difficulties, and the mothers’ health may also suffer since they need many months to recover from pregnancy and childbirth. Congress needs to pass this bill if only to protect the health of mothers and infants.
If the 100-Day Maternity Leave Bill is encountering delays, the reverse is being done to two bills that will do more harm than good to Filipino families. These are the bills lowering criminal liability to nine years old from 15, and the one that brings death penalty back.
No less than House Speaker Alvarez is a co-author of the bill that can turn nine-year-olds into criminals. He is also called for the swift passage of the death penalty bill.
Imagine your grade three child or grandchild being treated like a hardened criminal. Would you allow this to happen? What do these kids know? What will happen to their future? How will their families accept this? A nine-year-old is a CHILD. He or she needs to be with his/her family to be loved and cared for. Children need to be in school. They have the right to enjoy their childhood and develop into the best person they can become.
What kind of lawmakers can agree to treating nine-year-old CHILDREN like criminals in case they commit mistakes? Are these legislators willing to have their children jailed and lumped with murderers, rapists, and drug pushers? What will happen to families of these children? Will they not suffer in the same way their child will? Most definitely, this bill must be blocked by people. We cannot treat our kids this way.
What about death penalty? We know how our “justice” system works. It is easy to put the poor in jail. The process is very protracted and costly. It takes a lot of money to have justice. The system is far from being infallible. And when one is already dead, nothing can be done even if in the end, new evidence comes and s/he is proven to be innocent.
By now we all know that most of those who are meted the death penalty are poor. They are those who cannot afford to fight in our courts. They are those whose families are poor. What happens to families of those who were subjected to lethal injection? They are forever tarnished. They also carry the penalty like an ugly scar on their faces. The children are marked even if they knew nothing. The family suffers. Our society is quite harsh on the poor, and harsher on poor families marked by criminality. We must strongly oppose the reimposition of the death penalty.
From the TRO on family planning to maternity leave to treating children as criminals to the death penalty, the Filipino family is under threat. These are issues that must be acted on. We cannot afford to be passive. At stake here are our families.
@bethangsioco on Twitter
Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook
