Pro-life groups welcome to file injunction anew after FDA clearing of 51 contraceptives —DOH

Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III on Thursday said pro-life groups have every right to file another legal injunction after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared 51 contraceptives, including the implants Implanon and Implanon NXT, as non-abortifacients.

"That's well within their rights. If they want to file another injunction, case, a petition for injunction, it's really up to them," Duque said at a press briefing at Tayuman on Thursday.

"But the legal recourse is there for all parties, whether you're from the group of the oppositors or from the proponents," he continued.

Duque added that he will meet with Senator Vicente Sotto III to clarify their positions on the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Act of 2012 or Republic Act No. 10354.

"We respect the opinion of Senator Sotto. But there is a law which the executive branch is mandated to execute... we can only make sure the good senator that we will reasonably execute or implement the provisions of RH Law," Duque said.

"I will also get in touch with him so that our communications are open, so that we understand exactly our respective positions. And who knows, at the end of the day, there might complementation of our positions. So we may not want to discount that possibility," he added.

Sotto is one of the lawmakers who cut P1 billion from the DOH's budget for “Modern and Natural Family Planning Supplies." He has previously failed to block the passing of the RPRH Law in its current form.

The DOH will propose a budget of P4.3 billion for the RPRH Law in 2018; P342 million will be allotted to family planning supplies alone.

Duque and the Commission on Population (POPCOM) noted that the lifting of the TRO meant that the DOH could also replenish their nearly empty stocks of contraceptives that were also affected by the order.

According to the FDA, the TRO mandated them against approving new or pending applications for Certificates of Product Registration (CPR) within the two-year period of the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order.

More than 20 contraceptives reached the expiry point of their CPR from 2015 to 2017, leading to the DOH's stock of injectibles to be reduced to a six month stock and completely clearing out their supplies of  Progestin-only pills (POP).

The SC issued the TRO in response to a petition filed by the Alliance for the Family Foundation Philippines Inc. (ALFI) back in 2015 requesting the suspension of the procurement and distribution of the contraceptives — particularly Implanon and Implanon NXT — pending their recertification as non-abortifacients.

Regional health offices and civil service organizations will be resupplied with government-issued contraceptives, including implants, in two weeks' time. — MDM, GMA News