(Update) SWS: Majority of Manileños want RH policy
by DAVID DIZON, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/18/2009 11:11 AM
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Majority of residents in Manila want the city government to have its own policy on reproductive health, a survey conducted by research firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) said Wednesday.
The SWS Special Omnibus Survey on General Health in Manila was conducted last December 27-29 and interviewed a total of 600 men and women of reproductive age in all six districts of Manila.
The survey showed that 88 percent of Manila residents of reproductive age agree that Manila should have a policy on reproductive health while 86 percent say that there should be a national law on reproductive health. Ninety-two percent of non-Catholics interviewed for the survey favor the passage of the reproductive health bill while 85 percent of Catholics surveyed also favored the bill.
SWS President Mahar Mangahas said majority of Manileños agree on several issues:
- 69 percent believe that there is a population growth problem in Manila as well as the Philippines;
- 70 percent believe that population growth slows down economic growth; and,
- 74 percent believe that population growth increases poverty incidence.
“This only shows that what is being taught in our universities is also commonly known at the grassroots level,” he said.
Mangahas said 64 percent of Manileños agree that there should be a law that requires government to distribute condoms, intra-uterine devices and pills to people who want to avail of them. On the other hand, 56 percent disagree that the use of condoms, pills and IUDs can be considered as abortion compared to 29 percent who agreed and 14 percent who were undecided.
Mangahas said the survey results are significant since the local government of Manila has yet to junk Executive Order No. 003 by former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, which bars the promotion of artificial family planning methods in city health centers. A group of 20 petitioners earlier filed a case before the Court of Appeals to nullify the order.
Junice Melgar, executive director of Linangan ng mga Kababaihan (Likhaan), said the SWS survey results are an indictment of EO 003 and shows a "dissonance between the pulse of the people and the policymakers."
She said poor women interviewed by Likhaan related how the lack of information on other methods of family planning resulted in poverty, poor health of children and even strained relationships of couples.
Melissa Upreti, senior manager and legal adviser for Asia of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said the controversial EO is one of the most extreme examples of a ban on artificial contraceptives.
"There are clear gaps between this police and international human rights standards. While it does not outright ban contraceptives, this is exactly what happened. What's worse is that the EO is inherently discriminatory because it deprives low income women access to information and services that would help them become more responsible parents," she said.
Hunger incidence
Mangahas said the SWS survey also showed a marked increased in hunger incidence as family size increases. For families with sizes of 7-8 people, total hunger was estimated at 29.7 percent with 20.7 percent of families saying that they experienced hunger once or a couple of times in the past three months while another nine percent said they experienced hunger often. Total hunger also increased to 39.1 percent for families with sizes of nine people and up.
“This should not be a surprise to economists because the relationship between family size and poverty or hunger has always been known. The bigger the family, the higher the incidence of hunger there,” Mangahas said.
The survey showed that 92 percent of Manileños believe that students between the ages of 15-24 should be given adolescent health education in school while 89 percent said men and women between the ages of 15-24 should be given family planning information and services.
Majority of respondents also disagreed that including sex education in the classroom is a formula for sexual promiscuity. One of the questions asked of the respondents was “If family planning would be included in their curriculum, the youth would be sexually promiscuous.” Fifty-nine percent of respondents disagreed with that statement, 29 percent said they agreed while 12 percent remain undecided.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, co-author of House Bill 5043 or the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Bill, said the survey results are a clear reminder to lawmakers about what their own constituents want. He said the SWS findings back similar surveys done in the past about the public's demand for a law on family planning and reproductive health.
"For almost two decades, Filipinos have spoken in favor of family planning. They want to mitigate their fertility and they want to space their children, They also want government to spend money on family planning and contraceptives," he said.
He pointed out that the RH bill also has a repealing clause that will render the EO 003 in Manila ineffective once the bill is signed into law.
Lagman said the global financial crisis also provides additional incentive for Congress to pass the bill. "We are not responsible for the financial meltdown but all of us will be victims of this worldwide financial crisis. It is the more populous countries will have a harder time coping," he said.
