Another bill on free menstrual products filed in Senate

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MANILA, Philippines—  Free menstrual products for indigent women and students in public schools?

Yes, if Senate Bill No. 2658 known as the “Free Menstrual Products” initiated by Senator  Sonny Angara, becomes a law.

Senator JV Ejercito filed a similar bill last year.

Angara’s bill seeks to  promote menstrual health and hygiene by providing  free menstrual products to indigent women as well as girls enrolled  in all public primary and secondary schools nationwide.

The Department of Health  (DOH), in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government units would distribute the menstrual products to indigent women as proposed  in the measure filed Monday.

The DOH  was  likewise tasked under the bill to ensure that “locally-made menstrual hygiene products are included in the distribution of free menstrual hygiene products depending on availability and in accordance with the provisions of relevant procurement laws.”

Angara believes it is only proper for the state  to ensure that the rights of 34  million adolescent girls and women of reproductive age in the country “are protected through the provision of adequate support in their needs, specifically in access to health care.”

“One pivotal stage of womanhood is menstruation as it is crucial in the creation of life and human development,” he said in his explanatory note in the bill.

Angara, however, cited a 2023  survey  by the civil society organization Humanist Alliance Philippines, which showed  that 74 percent of women between the ages of 14 and 30 have missed work or school because they did not have access to feminine hygiene products or “felt too embarrassed to leave the house due to the lack of products.”

“Therefore, it is only proper to address Period Poverty or the limited access to or affordability of menstrual health and hygiene services and products that poses serious health risks, particularly reproductive and urinary tract infections among other complications,” he said.

“The prevalence of these illnesses can be prevented through the promotion of menstrual hygiene,” Angara added.