EDITOR’S NOTE: Repost to correct earlier report that the petition was filed before the Supreme Court. It was filed before the Court of Appeals. Our apologies.
MANILA, Philippines -- A group of “very poor, married Catholic women in Manila” have asked the Court of Appeals (not the Supreme Court as earlier reported) to nullify an order by former Manila mayor Jose “Lito” Atienza prohibiting the use of artificial contraceptives in the city.
In their petition for certiorari and prohibition, the 20 women said the Manila City government, through Atienza, by issuing Executive Order No. 003 in 2000, the City of "disregarded and patently violated the clear mandate of the Constitution, Philippine international obligations, Philippine statutes, issuances and orders to make access to reproductive health information and contraception available to all Philippine citizens."
"The City of Manila has clearly acted without and/or in excess of their jurisdiction," said the petitioners, through their lawyers Elizabeth Pangalangan, Harry Roque, Raul Pangalangan, Florin Hilbay and Diane Desierto.
In issuing the order, Atienza "unilaterally and without reference to the enforcement of any existing Philippine law or ordinance of the City of Manila acted without jurisdiction when it arrogated legislative authority to explicitly set the policy of discouraging artificial methods of contraception under the EO," petitioners said.
"The legality of Respondents' acts of issuance and continuing enforcement of E.O. No. 003 raises a landmark issue,” she added. “Can a local government unit such as the City of Manila unilaterally prohibit its residents and constituents any and all access to artificial contraceptives and reproductive health information in favor of natural family planning methods, taking an ‘affirmative stand on pro-life issues and responsible parenthood?’"
The petitioners noted that, despite the Atienza order’s being in conflict with both national and international law, “the national government has allowed the policy to remain in effect” partly because of what they claimed was a “misreading of the Local Government Code and the scope of local governments' autonomy regarding policy-making in the area of health.”
They also linked this attitude to the Arroyo administration’s “own position on family planning, which is focused on promoting natural family planning."
They added that the Department of Health’s (DOH) failure to provide them information on its services denied them equal protection of the law.
As a result of the Manila City Health Department’s implementation of E.O. No. 003, "Declaring Total Commitment and Support to the Responsible Parenthood Movement in the City of Manila and Enunciating Policy Declarations in Pursuit thereof," the petitioners said they were denied reproductive health services and referred to other health centers outside Manila.
"But that means extra transportation and who is going to look after the children? Often you spend half a day away from the kids lining up, waiting just to get one pack of pills from the DOH center," Pangalangan said.
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