Budget cut on family planning only covers allotment for contraceptive implants

A budget of P2.27 billion still exists for family planning commodities under the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA), a Palace official clarified on Tuesday.

The budget cut of more than P860 million pertains to procurements of “Implanon” or the contraceptive implant, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said, noting its distribution was stopped by the Supreme Court (SC).

“Senator Sotto had intimated during the Senate deliberations that he would move to delete the budget for the Implanon implant in view of the Supreme Court TRO to temporarily stop the distribution and selling of the said contraceptive,” Coloma said, citing the explanation of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad.

Last July, the SC issued a temporary restraining order that prohibited the Department of Health (DOH) from “procuring, selling, distributing, dispensing or administering, advertising and promoting” contraceptive implants.

Under the proposed budget submitted by Malacañang to Congress, the amount for the family planning program was P3.14 billion. It was lodged under the women and men's health development component of the DOH Family Health and Responsible Parenting.

In the 2016 General Appropriations Act passed by the legislative body, the amount was reduced to P2.27 billion.

Details

“So meron pang halaga na maaaring gugulin para sa family planning bukod pa doon sa mga halagang hindi ganap na iginugol nitong nakaraang taon na maaari pa ring gugulin ng DOH,” Coloma said.

Senator Pia Cayetano, an advocate of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law, earlier called out Senator Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, claiming lawmakers were not informed of the nearly P1-billion budget cut.

“This was not the third reading version we passed in the Senate, and neither was this major cut on reproductive health, which is a very important part of health care, revealed to us when we voted on the bicameral report,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano also said that the details of the P1-billion cut were only made known after President Benigno Aquino III signed the GAA on December 28, 2015 and after the DOH discovered it.

Health Secretary Janette Garin first revealed the budget cut in a television interview, saying it will be a challenge to implement family planning programs in 2016 because the allocation for contraceptives was cut from the DOH’s 2016 budget. – Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/VS, GMA News