CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia of Balanga City in Bataan have defended seven barangay (village) councils threatened with legal suits following their approval of ordinances protecting the life of the unborn child.
In a statement, Pimentel and Garcia said EnGendeRights and its lawyers had “no reasonable ground” to assume that the ordinances of Barangays Puerto Rivas Lote, Puerto Rivas Ibaba, Puerto Rivas Itaas, Cupang Proper, Cupang West, Tortugas and Tanato were already being implemented.
The statement came after Dean Pacifico Agabin, Prof. Alfredo Tadiar and their client, EnGendeRights, as well as the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, filed position papers questioning the constitutionality of the ordinances.
“The provisions of the… barangay ordinances can be struck down for being prejudicial to public welfare, unconstitutional, inconsistent with existing laws such as the Local Government Code of 1991, Magna Carta of Women, Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, and for violating international laws,” lawyer Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGendeRights, said in a statement.
The group said it “actively promotes a human rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health in Philippine laws and policies and in East and Southeast Asia.” It said it “believes that making abortion safe and legal saves women’s lives.”
No Balanga approval yet
But the Balanga City council, according to the mayor, has not yet approved the seven ordinances because the Food and Drug Administration has yet to respond to a request for a dialogue to shed light on abortifacient pills.
The barangay councils, on the other hand, have asked for time to study further the ordinances.
Citing results of interviews with health workers and village officials on September 7, Padilla said that despite the suspension of the ordinances, women were not allowed to avail themselves of free supplies of pills and injectibles.
“These are examples of mounting repression by local government units in restricting access to modern contraceptives and infringing on the rights to sexual and reproductive health,” Padilla said.
According to Garcia, there is no law that requires the local government to distribute contraceptives for free.
Pimentel and Garcia said the barangay ordinances were clearly not meant to “repress the rights of anyone but in fact to protect the life of the mother and unborn from conception,” as enacted in the 1987 Constitution.
Pimentel, author of the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160), said the barangay ordinances are constitutional, based on the general welfare provision of the code and principle of local autonomy.
Harmful contraceptives
Pimentel said that barangay ordinances banning contraceptives that may cause harm or injury to the unborn and the mother are “not arbitrary but are based on updated and valuable medical and scientific studies.”
Garcia said Balanga has “one of the most intensive and genuine responsible parenthood programs in the country.” Its program focuses on “protecting virtues and values which help and lead parents to become truly responsible.”
Pimentel and Garcia told EnGendeRights to be careful with “labeling the proposed ordinances as repressive and using false assumptions to gain media mileage in the campaign for the [reproductive health] bill.”
EnGendeRights is filing cases against city and village officials with the Commission on Human Rights and the Department of the Interior and Local Government so that “these reproductive rights violations will not be committed,” Padilla said.-Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon