[therefore EOs] 003 and 030 are thus effectively revoked.”7 The state party also indicated
that “[Manila City] has committed to implement the [RPRHA and] has conducted
reorientation trainings for its health personnel and distributed family planning
commodities to [local] health facilities.” 8
Lack of express revocation for EOs 003 and 030. Since the submission of our presession letter, the state party has not taken any clear steps to review and revoke Manila
City’s EOs 003 and 030, issued in 2000 and 2011 respectively, which continue to serve
as a de facto ban on modern methods of contraception and local government funding for
such. 9 As raised in our pre-session letter, the absence of an express declaration of
unconstitutionality of the orders have caused legal and practical uncertainty about their
application and confusion as to their validity among local health care providers and
community women and adolescent girls who continue to suffer the effects of the ban.
In a public hearing organized by the CHR as part of its national inquiry, a representative
of the DoH reported that there have been improvements in the restoration of the
availability of contraceptives in local health centers in Manila City, but admitted that
there are still issues in translating availability to accessibility i.e. ensuring that women
and girls can access certain reproductive health services that are available such as modern
contraceptives. 10 However, as reflected in testimonies gathered through interviews
conducted by the Center and EnGendeRights, availability of modern contraceptives
remains limited for women and girls in Manila City. Adolescent girls in Manila City
remain highly vulnerable to unintended pregnancies, notwithstanding the enactment of
the RPRHA and in large part due to the failure to explicitly repeal the Manila City’s EOs.
One adolescent shared her experience before the passage of the RPRHA,
[Lourdes]11 dropped out of school after learning she was pregnant. She gave birth
when she was 15 years old at Gat Andres Bonifacio Hospital. She neither
received any post partum contraceptive counseling at the hospital nor was
advised on the different forms of family planning methods she could use. During
her visits to Vitas Health Center, she only received immunization for her son and
was never counseled on modern contraceptive methods. She recounted how
nurses and doctors at the local health center and hospital scolded and pinched
her for engaging in sex at such a young age.
Since the RPRHA was passed, access to contraceptive information and services as well as
quality maternal health care remains a challenge.
[Dolores] 12 became pregnant as a result of rape when she was 14 years old. She
was 15 years old when she gave birth at Tondo Foreshore Health Center in May
2014—after the RPRHA was already in effect. No one told her about using any
form of contraception, but she had heard of pills and injectables from her sister
who acquired pills from [a local NGO]. Similar to [Lourdes’] experience, when
[Dolores] visited Vitas Health Center, she did not receive any information about
contraceptives and was called “malandi” or “slut” for getting pregnant early.