On Travelling

an essay by Roger B Rueda

We travel for a lot of reasons, evidently: itchy feet, the love of a culture, the desire to leave it all behind, the need to forget, or the need to see new people.

St Augustine once averred ‘The world is a book, and he who doesn't travel reads only one page.’ That’s because most of us get so caught between commutes and supermarket runs. We forget how to take breaths and smell roses or lantanas or temple flowers or crowsfoot grass. But on the street, every instant represents a new beginning. No day is as before. We can't plan out what will happen because nothing is carved on a stone. No commutes, no errands, no scheduled meetings, just us and our caprice. Everything is so different that months begin to feel like years.

Anyway, where should we travel these days and what places should we avoid? Well, let’s go just about any which place we want. For one, if we’re disposed to put up with some uneasiness and able to be flexible with our whereabouts, the recompenses of travel in troubled places are vast. Such travel can show us the downright senselessness of much human conflict and the inspiring ways people manage to live their lives.

We need to travel to appreciate life in the world and realise how others express their humanity. Rough travel can be, well, coarse, and at times the lessons learned come only on second thought, but they are lessons worth learning, at this time and at some point.

Recognisably, we travel, largely, to mislay ourselves or to discover ourselves. We travel to uncover our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our mass media will cover. We travel to take along what little we can, in our ignorance and understanding, to those parts of the earth whose treasures are dispersed and isolated in its own way. Regina Nadelson, a writer, said that most travel is best of all in the anticipation or the remembering; the reality has more to do with losing your luggage.

When we travel, strikingly, we leave all our philosophies and faiths at home, seeing everything we think we know in a different light, and from a warped perspective.

We travel, then, in part just to stir our satisfactions by seeing all the ethical and radical insistences, the pivotal catches, that we by the skin of our teeth ever have to face at home. Travel is the best way we have of freeing the humanity of places, and saving them from construct and philosophy.

In the course, we also get saved from construct ourselves, and come to see how much we can bring to the places we break in our journey, and how much we can become a carrier  in transporting from side to side what every place needs. We can always take pinasugbo or pancit Molo to Baguio, and bring Igorot woodcarvings or Ifugao baskets back to Iloilo.

But more tellingly, we hand on ideals and beliefs and news to the places we go, and in many places, we come to be mobile audio-visual monitors and breathing broadsheets, the only networks that can take people out of the bowdlerised limits of their birthplaces. In out-of-the-way or hard-up places, we are the eyes and ears of the people we bump into, their only connection with the world outside and, every so often, the closest, fairly factually, they will ever come to Charice or Kris or Boy or Angel or Phil or Manny or Marian. Not the least of the dares of travel, for that reason, is learning how to embrace, and carry across, thoughts with sensitivity.

In consequence, travel turns us about in dualistic ways coincidentally: it shows us the marvels and values and matters that we might ordinarily close our eyes to, but it besides, and more openly, shows us all the parts of ourselves that might if not grow tarnished. For in travelling to a truly distant place, we inescapably travel to humours and states of mind and unknown innermost paths that we’d otherwise seldom have reason to visit.

We travel, then, in search of self-worth and facelessness, and, undeniably, in finding the one, we catch the other.  We make a night of it, follow whim, and find ourselves as wide open as when we are besotted with someone. We live without a past or future, for a moment at best, and are ourselves for the taking and open to interpretation. We even may become ambiguous, to others, at first, and on occasion to ourselves.

Travelling is a style to reverse time, to an insignificant magnitude, and make a day last a year, and travelling is an easy way of surrounding ourselves, as in early years, with what we cannot recognise.

Travel allows for adjustment. The fresh, the exhilarating, the different, and the adventure, it’s all there when we travel. Our days no longer are verbalised by business hours but by the changing breezes of our own sentiment. We all want something different from our routine, something to dare us. People thrive on diversity. It is hardwired into our nuts. Nobody comes about and is thankful for parking herself eight hours in a workspace. All we point out is breaking free from it. Breaking the ramparts down and going somewhere diverse.

In our seat on a bus or L300 van we could be in a compulsory state of tranquillity, and moving already, there would be no need for momentum, but we’re not there so far, so we’re some degree of to the activities on the way: reading, thinking, looking out the window, and these are the kinds of things we would like time to do more of. Stationary, yet there’s the exciting edge of eagerness, the opportunity that comes with arriving somewhere new.

The changing landscape outside our window more often than not provides a lot to muse, the immense expanses, the cheerful, surprising colours of towns or the far-reaching view of highlands. Places to pass through can offer a surprising rich sojourn, a way to capture the real thrill of travelling and perhaps have some startling thoughts or happenstances, like they used to.

‘A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving’ said Lao Tzu. OK, have just the sense, will travel.

Hometown

a poem by Roger B Rueda

We are you. We are your voice.
You are the history
of our presence
and before.
You cuddle us living
there now,
and the voice
of our verses.
We are as much a fragment
of the scenery
as the earth we stand on.
We find an enchantment
in being alive
in the here and now.
You are the cradle
of our shared sense
and sustenance -
images, metaphors,
and the wretched delusion
beyond legend. 
We have faith in 
some newfangled ways.
They must be found,
in the real image,
a conversion
of your antiquity.
Renewing
the mortal relation
to you rests upon
the ink slingers,
your sons
or daughters,
or us, or anyone, taking to the spur.

Barotac Nuevo

a poem by Roger B Rueda

Not being in you, I am for I know
where I was,
you being here in me.
I know
I’ve lost myself in you,
turning myself
inside out,
the single-mindedness
of knowing who you are
the bounds
of vagueness, my poems
with cosmic magnitudes
containing
everything outside them,
including me.
I don’t  want
to be by myself,
loneliness is the disquiet
compelling me
to be
with an other or
with otherness,
to vanish into another,
to feel for.
I want to find myself
in you.
You are what you are
to me
as things that
have happened in you
and with me
are remembered
to my purpose
as you resonate my reality.

On K-12 Education

an essay by Roger B Rueda

K-12 doesn’t seem to make perfect sense to me. It seems like a good idea now, but in practice it will be a disaster. I can't see how K-12 is going to work in practice.

I think the Department of Education has to make an effort to keep its teachers conscientious and loyal workers to the Filipino people. But I’m certain that it’ll take it decades to make this problem solved like a dream. For one, as I observed then, a lot of teachers I know had demonstrated almost unbelievable incompetence in their teaching, despite the eligibility rules.

They would go home early or would be absent for a week, making their students wait for ages. Regrettably, this has become the way of life, especially the general beliefs, of most students and such a practice is unobjectionable to them. So, most of their time is spent doing virtually worthless activities or killing themselves writing down the same thing from the textbook. This stupidity is beyond belief sometimes, though. So, how come the Department of Education says K-12 is to decongest and enhance the basic education curriculum?

Some teachers would ask students to help them to clean out the classrooms or spend the whole afternoon hoeing the vegetable patches or weeding them. They would gossip and gossip instead of getting on with some work. One by one they would narrate the sequence of events which led up to what they had become then or how their love life started. I think this technique made learning fun, imperceptibly, because it was most generous of them to give students good grades, at a guess. They were so lazy and unreliable. Thus, I see what they had been doing then as a sell-out or deceitfulness. They’ve got no conscience at all about making their students do nothing or learn nothing at all.

Some teachers would require students do a class project on something useless.

Schools are meant to guide the young to the best information, the wisdom of the ages as well as the best insights of our best thinkers, but it seems schools have become havens of dishonesty and of corrupting the young minds. I think our politics is partly to blame for this. Most teachers got their job on their mayor’s (or representative’s) recommendation. So, the hirings and firings of teachers have become increasingly politicised. Anyway, I don’t want to upset myself by thinking about what might have been.

The Department of Education should invest in good textbooks fairly, I think, and not in those below the satisfactory standard or were only in print to give way to sleaze. For one, good textbooks and good lectures remain an indispensible method of organising what the society has learned into synthesised pieces which make learning efficient, appealing, and sometimes clarifying.

So they say, given the rapid change and the intricacy of information sources facing citizens of the next century, our students must be capable of making their own meanings even when confronted by complexity, vagueness, and info-glut. But how, when they have got plenty of time before they need to know everything taught at school, as their time is always unconditionally useless as their learning seems like superficial or spurious?

The textbook and the lecture have a firm grip on many classrooms. But it seems that no school has started to turn its attention to first-rate textbooks and it’s unprepared to provide classrooms with admirable teachers. I think best textbooks are those made overseas, or by university presses. How can we hold a textbook with a lot of typographical errors in the highest regard? Giving students pedestrian textbooks is a crime, I think. It is greediness. Government officials who have done this have no perceptible vision for this country, but to subsist or make use of their positions to take advantage of the poor Filipino students. Oh, what a shame. I found them rather shallow and depraved.

When I saw the textbooks used by Filipino students, I was disappointed to notice that these textbooks do not compact and synthesise immense bodies of knowledge, simplify and condense the story, organise and translate complex disciplines, and provide teachers and students with a clear path. They do not take students on a quick tour of subject matter which, by all accounts, could easily occupy a lifetime. And most of these textbooks are so out-of-date by this time. Filipino students should be aware that any economy in the world now is becoming increasingly knowledge-based, creating new jobs based on the raw material of ideas and technical innovation.

Observably, most teachers don’t transform the events into terms which arouse the interest of 9 year-olds or 15 year-olds. Something cold and old could become hot and lively if these teachers breathed life into the material. But, sad to say, most teachers in the Philippines don’t bring artistry and fireworks to the classroom. They can’t light fires.

Most of them don’t do a great deal of extra reading and research into the topic before their students, either. They don’t synthesise, summarise and report the best parts. They are not able to translate what might otherwise seem foreign, confusing, monotonous, or overly nonfigurative into a half hour of explanation and illumination.

They can’t build bridges which take their students to the other side.

So, isn’t it that K-12 would just make parents and students struggle under their heavy burden? How about if this will achieve absolutely nothing, and it’ll just be a complete waste of time? For one I'm having doubts about the ability of the Department of Education to do its job. The Department of Education should rather maximise the existing levels of elementary and high school education as I think the majority of what is learned at school these days is not meaningful. Thus, students will retain some of the knowledge for a short while to pass the numerous quizzes and tests they will be faced with that relate to the books but it will be discarded afterwards. Our schools fail to teach anything of pragmatic value and usually just pertain to the programme. This is not about K-12, right? For me, this is about quality education which leads to an excellent student education, this is about creating a foundation of teaching methods that works, and this is about not leaving any child not understanding what was taught.

For me, quality, and not quantity, is at the heart of education and what takes place in classrooms and other learning environments is basically essential to the future well-being of children, young people, and adults. A quality education is one that satisfies basic learning needs and deepens the lives of learners and their overall experience of living. Thus, the Department of Education should access and make available to all, the latest approaches and strategies to make teaching and learning effective, helping transform individuals to become sustainable.

The Department of Education will prove ineffective in delivering K-12, if it won’t fix the Philippines educational system first. Our problem is not about adding two more years. Our problem is not about the Philippines being the only remaining country in Asia with a 10-year basic education programme. It is about a growing need for world-class education. It is more about the pragmatic approach to problems than about an idealistic one. It is teaching and learning in some depth.

Family

a poem by Roger B Rueda

As if she, full of the joys of spring,
was a wool blanket,
or perhaps,
a patadyong, a wrap around
with a floral ethnic design:
no one can see you,
and it seems
they forget
what you have been keeping
under wraps, the batik designs
capturing the minds
of those who seem to have
turned a blind eye, or
those who don’t
know shit from Shinola.
Then much more when
it comes cuddling up to her,
a sitting duck,
and you looking happy
as a sandboy,
beside them.
You three were as if
one happy family,
your smiles
perfect and completely
impenetrable, your
photographer having
a dab hand at it.
Your photographs in magazines,
people see the best,
forget the rest.
No family, your name
would be mud,
you think, but
your being the real you
is nine times out of ten,
people reexamining the world
through a new lens.
Won’t you be dead on your feet?

Surnames

an essay by Roger B Rueda

Historically, surnames, the name that you share with other members of your family, have played an important, fascinating role in society, providing instant cues to a person's background and social standing.

In ancient times when communities were small and all members of a village, clan, or tribe knew each other, a surname was unneeded for identification, but often used to trace lineage. In societies where leadership was transmissible, being able to prove a pure connection to the king or chief was crucial.

Here are some names I have studied in detail in order to discover new information on or reach a new understanding of them:

Abanco means an opening or a device that allows fresh air to come into a closed space.
Abellar means a bee-hive.
Acebedo means a plantation of holly-trees.
Acelar means to accelerate, to hasten, to hurry, to forward, to expedite.
Alobin means striped bass.
Alojado means guest, lodger.
Alvarez means son of Alvaro.
Aguilar, Aguilera, & Aguirre mean a person who came from Aguilas in Spain.
Alejandria means protector of mankind.
Amase means to press something, especially a mixture for making bread, firmly and repeatedly with the hands and fingers. 
Aquino means the layer which develops from the ovary wall around the seed of a plant after it is fertilised and forms the skin and flesh of the fruit.
Arca means a large strong box, usually made of wood, which is used for storing valuable goods or possessions or for moving possessions from one place to another.
Baito means facecloth (= a small cloth used to wash the body, especially the face and hands).
Baliao means a native of Baliao in Taiwan.
Bandada means flock of birds.
Barrido means the act of sweeping.
Bayanban means the appearance of someone or something, especially when intended to deceive.
Bayogos means having a long face.
Bayona means a person from Bayonne in France. 
Bayoneta means bayonet, knife attached to the muzzle of a rifle.
Bedaño means damage, hurt, injury, prejudice, harm, mischief, maim, nuisance, loss, hindrance.
Bedia means a long heavy spear (= long sharp weapon) fixed to a rope, used for killing whales.
Belandres means acorn.
Belaca-ol means a person beaten with a strap.
Belga means Belgian.
Belgira means master of tour.
Belicena means a person from Belize in Central America.
Bernardo means Bernardine monk or nun.
Biboso means attractively energetic and enthusiastic.
Biñas means a piece of land on which vines (plants which produce grapes) are grown.
Boglosa means lobster of a large size.
Bordon means repetition of words in a discourse.
Botavara means a small boom or pole which crosses the sail of a boat in a diagonal direction, boat-hook.
Braga means diaper.
Braza means a measure of six feet.
Cabrera  means goatherd or bad-tempered.
Cajelo means cashier or boxmaker.
Caligdong means  a person who does not usually talk about or make her own abilities and achievements obvious.
Catalan means a language in Cataluña in Spain.
Catedrilla means small or poor professor’s chair or in some universities, the less important professorship.
Chavez means keys.
Corneja means the part of a horse's leg at the back, just above the foot, where longer hair grows.
Coyoca means to try to persuade a politician, the government or an official group that a particular thing should or should not happen, or that a law should be changed.
Defensor means defending or protecting.
DeJulian means of Julius Caesar.
Delgado means a crippled or deformed person or a thin person. It originated in the Mountains of Santander.
DeLlana means of a trowel.
Deloso means of the bear.
Demavibas means a person who thinks and acts in an independent way, often behaving differently from the expected or usual way.
Depaloma means of the dove.
Deriada means of freshet, overflow, flood.
Dichoso means happy, fortunate, prosperous, successful, lucky.
Ecita means a place where a particular group of people often go or meet, by arrangement or habit.
Entredicho means something officially forbidden (= not allowed), or an order forbidding something.
Espinosa means spiny, thorny, arduous, dangerous, bony.
Estrada means causeway, paved road; turnpike road.
Fabillano means the soft grey or black powder that is left after a substance, especially tobacco, coal or wood, has burnt.
Fernandez means son of Fernando. Fernando being a given name means journey or venture.
Formacion means the act of forming or generating,  the manner in which something is formed, form, shape, figure, array of troops, twisted cord of silk, gold, silver, etc., used by embroiderers, training or education.
Fuentes means fountain, fount, a spring of water.
Garcia means descendant or son of Garcia (the Spanish form of Gerald). It means like a fox.
Garin means guardian.
Gomez is a popular surname which means man.
Gongob means pompous.
Gonzalez means son of Gonzalo.
Grapa means staple; clip, fastener or kind of mangy ulcers in the joints of horses.
Gregori means neck cloth.
Guanzon means an open road, a bay.
Gulmatico means soldier's herb.
Gutierrez means son of Gutierre (son of Walter). Gutierre is a given name which means he who rules.
Guzman means descendant of Guzmán (good man), a lord or nobleman, or a cadet or noble who served in the military.
Hidalgo means noble.
Jabonete means bar of soap.
Jaspe means jasper, a precious stone.
Javellana means the nut of the hazel tree which has a hard brown shell.
Javier means bright, splendid, or new house.
Jimenez means son of Jimeno, a given name which means gracious hearkening.
Ladrido means barking or howling of a dog, vociferation, outcry; calumny; incitement.
Lacuesta means slope.
Lagradante means a stairway with teeth.
Laplana means a person from Laponia in Sweden.
Lee means the side of hill, wall, etc. that provides shelter from the wind.
Libo-on means consisting of parts that are positioned together closely or in a tidy way, using very little space.
Lopez means son of Lope. Lope comes from the Spanish form of Lupus, a Latin name meaning wolf. The Lopes variation of this surname often originates from Portugal.
Lozada means a path with a hard surface on one or both sides of a road, that people walk on.
Lustria means bright, brilliant, lustrous, shining, glossy, golden.
Mabilog means shaped like a circle.
Magbanua  means a person who lives in the particular small area which you are talking about.
Maravillosa means wonderful, marvellous, monstrous, astonishing, admirable, miraculous; strange.
Marin means sea.
Mejorada means causing something to get better.
Mendoza means a person who came from Mendoza (cold or high mountains).
Montano means mountainous.
Nalangan means damaged, no longer able to work.
Oren means a person from Orense in Spain.
Ortiz is a popular patronymic surname meaning son ofOrton or Orta.
Osayda means valour.
Pagapos means to put manacles around a person's legs or arms.
Palencia means want of security, uncertainty, mistake.
Paler means a person who makes or sells shovels.
Palisada means a strong fence made out of wooden or iron poles that is used to protect people or a place from being attacked.
Palomo means male dove or pigeon.
Panes means corn or grain in the field.
Parpa means blinking or flickering.
Peñaflorida means stone full of flowers.
Perez means son of Petros.
Piosca means mixture of vinegar and water.
Posadas means inns, guest houses.
Quilla means keel, the long piece of wood or steel along the bottom of a boat that forms part of its structure and helps to keep the boat balanced in the water.
Quino means cinchona-tree.
Ramirez means son of Ramon (wise protector).
Ramos means branches or offshoots, olive branch, or palms or palm branches, from Domingo dos Ramos, a Catholic feast day known as Sunday of the Palms or Palm Sunday.
Remoto means remote, distant, far off; foreign, alien; unlike.
Rizal means ricial, growing again: applied to the aftercrop of corn, cut green for the feed of cattle.
Robles means oak tree.
Rodriguez means son of Rodrigo. The given name Rodrigo means famous power.
Rueda means a wheel, a crown, a round slice of eatables, or short sunfish.
Salarda means to feed salt to.
Salazar means a person who came from Salazar (manor house).
Sales means salts.
Salud means health.
Sarabia means rabies,rage, fury.
Sargado means a strong cloth made from wool which is used especially to make jackets and coats.
Sarrosa means incrusted, covered with sediment.
Sarroza means ground covered with brambles and bushes.
Sazon means ripeness.
Silva means a miscellany.
Solis means a musician who performs a solo.
Solivio means the act of rising or raising a little.
Soto means grove, swamp.
Tabaosares means wild rice.
Toledo means a song bird.
Treñas means scarf, sash, garland of flowery, prison, jail, burnt silver.
Tupas means satiety, repletion or the act of pressing close.
Tupaz means topaz, a precious stone.
Valdez means son of Baldo (prince, fame). Baldo is a shortened form of Baltazar, one of the three magi.
Vasquez means a shepherd, one who tended sheep.

Blue Ocean: A Blend of Philippine and Korean Country Dishes

an essay by Bex Lee

This May discover Blue Ocean when you have not tried it before. Here satisfy your palette with flavorsome food exquisitely cooked and set up for all regulars and guests.

In Boardwalk where there are a lot to go to, Blue Ocean is one of those bistros where both the local and foreign diners spend time eating Philippine and Korean fares. Boozing is also the best here as the restaurant has a bar but can bring the drinks wherever one is in the restaurant.

At Blue Ocean, the chefs have fashioned a carte du jour that re-creates that of a classic—a creative blend of traditional food and Philippine and Korean country dishes. The restaurant also showcases its creativity with local and contemporary culinary fare. Blue Ocean is a perfect place to wind down in the mezzanine or enjoy the night away on the ground floor. Here customers can sing on stage and jam with their friends.

The menu at Blue Ocean offers Philippine and Korean specialties such as Bicol express, fish ceviche, shrimp tempura, onion tempura, signature fried chicken (out of the ordinary), shellfish cocktail with lobster, roasted grouper, grilled pork, rare seared tuna and squid, carajay-grilled pork, spicy shrimp, crab, sea bass, pajeon (green onion pancake), japchae (transparent noodle with beef and vegetables),

bindaeddeok (mung bean pancake), jjinmandu (steamed dumpling), goojeolpan (crepes with eight stuffing), bap (boiled rice), paht bap (red bean rice), kongnamoool bap (rice with soy bean sprouts), bibim bap (beef & mixed vegetable bowl), kim bap (Korean style roll), jeonbok jook (rice porridge with abalone), kimchi bokeum bap (kimchi fried rice), miyeok guk (beef & seaweed soup), mandoo guk (Korean dumpling soup), ddeok guk (rice cake soup), yookgaejang (spicy beef & scallion soup), dwenjang jjigae (Korean bean paste stew with beef and vegetables), soondooboo jjigae (soft tofu stew), maeun tang (spicy fish stew),

bulgogi (grilled marinated beef), galbi gui (grilled beef short rib), gogi jeon (pan fried beef with egg), galbi jjim (beef short rib in sweet soy sauce), dwejigoki pyeonyook (braised pork), samgye tang (chicken soup with ginseng), dak jorim (spicy chicken & potato stew), dak gal bi (grilled spicy chicken with vegetables), gyeran jjim (baked egg with green onion), ohjing-oe bulgogi (grilled spicy squid), saewoo jeon (pan fried shrimp), nakji bokeum (spicy octopus), saengseon jeon (pan fried fish), saengtae jiri (pollack stew with vegetables), gim gui (grilled seaweed sheet), kongnamool moochim (soy bean sprouts salad), hobak namul (squash salad), shigmchi namul (spinach salad), gosari namul (fernbrake salad), ho bak jeon (pan-fried squash), gamja jorim (potato in sweet soy sauce), mul naengmyon (buck wheat noodle in cold beef broth), bibim naengmyon (spicy buck wheat noodle), janchi guksu (noodles with vegetables in dried anchovy broth), jjolmyon (spicy chewy noodle), baesook (cooked Asian pear with peppercorn),

wha jeon (pan fried rice cake with flower), in jeol mi (sweet rice cake covered with toasted bean powder), (rice cake in hot sauce), ohjing-oe tuigim (fried squid), ggoma kimbap (mini roll), ramyon (instant noodle), shikhye (sweet malt beverage) - non alcohol, soojunggwa (cinnamon & ginger tea with persimmons), bori cha (toasted barley tea), oksoosoo cha (toasted corn tea), and insam cha (jinseng tea). But my much loved of all is its shrimp chowder.

It also offers fruit shakes from strawberry to banana and mouth-watering desserts that have recognizable names but have Blue Ocean signature flavors.

Blue Ocean's authentic interior details flourish with mahogany frames and colored glass windows. It has a wonderful ambience. Sitting at the window, one can glimpse the serene Iloilo River and bikers that pass by on the lit boulevard along the watercourse.With a gracious smile, servitors here are welcoming and believe that everyone who comes here is special.

Blue Ocean serves dinner seven nights per week beginning at 5:00 p.m. Reservations are suggested mainly on Friday night. To join Blue Ocean, please call Jinky at (033) 3296083. We look forward to seeing you in Boardwalk (Iloilo City) where best foods and promos are! The place is just a walk away from the famous Smallville.

Have your say at 09195085171 or bex_news@yahoo.com.

Treelike

a poem by Roger B Rueda

To know and not to act is not to know.
—Wang Shouren

A tree at a remote corner of the street
is idyllically ignorant
of every thing,
though it knows,
perhaps, like
us – thinking long
and hard,
speaking out, writing,
crying, smiling, just
like us, but
not you.
It seems your ears
have vanished into thin air,
to the woman
pulled from the car
and shouting
at the top of her voice
from the bottom
of the shrubbery
and struggling,
her future pulled off
like pages
having been torn
out of the book
as her knickers
fell to the grass
and as she soared away painlessly.

15th Congress - House Bill 4244 (full text, final consolidated RH Bill)

SECTION 1. Title

This Act shall be known as the "The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011."

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy

The State recognises and guarantees the exercise of the universal basic human right to reproductive health by all persons, particularly of parents, couples and women, consistent with their religious convictions, cultural beliefs and the demands of responsible parenthood. Toward this end, there shall be no discrimination against any person on grounds of sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, political affiliation and ethnicity.
Moreover, the State recognises and guarantees the promotion of gender equality, equity and women’s empowerment as a health and human rights concern. The advancement and protection of women’s human rights shall be central to the efforts of the State to address reproductive health care. As a distinct but inseparable measure to the guarantee of women’s rights, the State recognises and guarantees the promotion of the welfare and rights of children.

The State likewise guarantees universal access to medically-safe, legal, affordable, effective and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices, supplies and relevant information and education thereon even as it prioritises the needs of women and children, amongst other underprivileged sectors.

The State shall eradicate discriminatory practices, laws and policies that infringe on a person’s exercise of reproductive health rights.

SECTION 3. Guiding Principles

The following principles constitute the framework upon which this Act is anchored:
1. Freedom of choice, which is central to the exercise of right, must be fully guaranteed by the State;
2. Respect for, protection and fulfilment of reproductive health and rights seek to promote the rights and welfare of couples, adult individuals, women and adolescents;
3. Since human resource is amongst the principal asset of the country, maternal health, safe delivery of healthy children and their full human development and responsible parenting must be ensured through effective reproductive health care;
4. The provision of medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable and effective reproductive health care services and supplies is essential in the promotion of people’s right to health, especially of the poor and marginalised;
5. The State shall promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal;
6. The State shall promote programmes that: (1) enable couples, individuals and women to have the number and spacing of children and reproductive spacing they desire with due consideration to the health of women and resources available to them; (2) achieve equitable allocation and utilisation of resources; (3) ensure effective partnership amongst the national government, local government units and the private sector in the design, implementation, coordination, integration, monitoring and evaluation of people-centred programmes to enhance quality of life and environmental protection; (4) conduct studies to analyse demographic trends towards sustainable human development and (5) conduct scientific studies to determine safety and efficacy of alternative medicines and methods for reproductive health care development;
7. The provision of reproductive health information, care and supplies shall be the joint responsibility of the National Government and the Local Government Units (LGUs);
8. Active participation by non-government, women’s, people’s, civil society organisations and communities is crucial to ensure that reproductive health and population and development policies, plans, and programmes will address the priority needs of the poor, especially women;
9. While this Act recognises that abortion is illegal and punishable by law, the government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner;
10. There shall be no demographic or population targets and the mitigation of the population growth rate is incidental to the promotion of reproductive health and sustainable human development;
11. Gender equality and women empowerment are central elements of reproductive health and population and development;
12. The limited resources of the country cannot be suffered to be spread so thinly to service a burgeoning multitude making allocations grossly inadequate and effectively meaningless;
13. Development is a multi-faceted process that calls for the coordination and integration of policies, plans, programmes and projects that seek to uplift the quality of life of the people, more particularly the poor, the needy and the marginalised; and
14. That a comprehensive reproductive health programme addresses the needs of people throughout their life cycle.

SECTION 4. Definition of Terms

For the purposes of this Act, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

Adolescence refers to the period of physical and physiological development of an individual from the onset of puberty to complete growth and maturity which usually begins between eleven (11) to thirteen (13) years and terminating at eighteen (18) to twenty (20) years of age;

Adolescent Sexuality refers to, amongst others, the reproductive system, gender identity, values and beliefs, emotions, relationships and sexual behavior at adolescence;

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) refers to a condition characterised by a combination of signs and symptoms, caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which attacks and weakens the body’s immune system, making the afflicted individual susceptible to other life-threatening infections;

Anti-Retroviral Medicines (ARVs) refer to medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV;

Basic Emergency Obstetric Care refers to lifesaving services for maternal complications being provided by a health facility or professional, which must include the following six signal functions: administration of parenteral antibiotics; administration of parenteral oxytocic drugs; administration of parenteral anticonvulsants for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia; manual removal of placenta; removal of retained products; and assisted vaginal delivery;

Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care refers to basic emergency obstetric care including deliveries by surgical procedure (caesarian section) and blood transfusion;

Employer refers to any natural or juridical person who hires the services of a worker. The term shall not include any labour organisation or any of its officers or agents except when acting as an employer;

Family Planning refers to a programme which enables couples, individuals and women to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children, acquire relevant information on reproductive health care, services and supplies and have access to a full range of safe, legal, affordable, effective natural and modern methods of limiting and spacing pregnancy;

Gender Equality refers to the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in opportunities, allocation of resources or benefits and access to services;

Gender Equity refers to fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men, and often requires women-specific projects and programmes to end existing inequalities;

Healthcare Service Provider refers to (1) health care institution, which is duly licensed and accredited and devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care of individuals suffering from illness, disease, injury, disability or deformity, or in need of obstetrical or other medical and nursing care; (2) a health care professional, who is a doctor of medicine, a nurse, or a midwife; (3) public health worker engaged in the delivery of health care services; and (4) barangay health worker who has undergone training programmes under any accredited government and non-government organisation and who voluntarily renders primarily health care services in the community after having been accredited to function as such by the local health board in accordance with the guidelines promulgated by the Department of Health (DOH);

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) refers to the virus which causes AIDS;

Male Responsibility refers to the involvement, commitment, accountability, and responsibility of males in relation to women in all areas of sexual and reproductive health as well as the protection and promotion of reproductive health concerns specific to men;

Maternal Death Review refers to a qualitative and in-depth study of the causes of maternal death with the primary purpose of preventing future deaths through changes or additions to programmes, plans and policies;
Modern Methods of Family Planning refer to safe, effective and legal methods, whether the natural, or the artificial that are registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the DOH, to prevent pregnancy;
People Living with HIV (PLWH) refer to individuals who have been tested and found to be infected with HIV;

Poor refers to members of households identified as poor through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or any subsequent system used by the national government in identifying the poor.

Population and Development refers to a programme that aims to: (1) help couples and parents achieve their desired family size; (2) improve reproductive health of individuals by addressing reproductive health problems; (3) contribute to decreased maternal and infant mortality rates and early child mortality; (4) reduce incidence of teenage pregnancy; and (5) recognise the linkage between population and sustainable human development;

Reproductive Health refers to the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes;

Reproductive Health Care refers to the access to a full range of methods, facilities, services and supplies that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health-related problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations. The elements of reproductive health care include the following:
(a) family planning information and services;
(b) maternal, infant and child health and nutrition, including breastfeeding;
(c) proscription of abortion and management of abortion complications;
(d) adolescent and youth reproductive health;
(e) prevention and management of reproductive tract infections (RTIs), HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmittable infections (STIs);
(f) elimination of violence against women;
(g) education and counseling on sexuality and reproductive health;
(h) treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers and other gynecological conditions and disorders;
(i) male responsibility and participation in reproductive health;
(j) prevention and treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction;
(k) reproductive health education for the adolescents; and
(l) mental health aspect of reproductive health care.

Reproductive Health Care Programme refers to the systematic and integrated provision of reproductive health care to all citisens especially the poor, marginalised and those in vulnerable and crisis situations;
Reproductive Health Rights refer to the rights of couples, individuals and women to decide freely and responsibly whether or not to have children; to determine the number, spacing and timing of their children; to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence; to have relevant information; and to attain the highest condition of sexual and reproductive health;

Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education refers to a lifelong learning process of providing and acquiring complete, accurate and relevant information and education on reproductive health and sexuality through life skills education and other approaches;

Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) refers to sexually transmitted infections, and other types of infections affecting the reproductive system;

Responsible Parenthood refers to the will, ability and commitment of parents to adequately respond to the needs and aspirations of the family and children by responsibly and freely exercising their reproductive health rights;

Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) refers to any infection that may be acquired or passed on through sexual contact;

Skilled Attendant refers to an accredited health professional, such as midwife, doctor or nurse, who has been educated and trained in the skills needed to manage normal (uncomplicated) pregnancies, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, and in the identification, management and referral of complications in women and newborns, to exclude traditional birth attendant or midwife (hilot), whether trained or not;

Skilled Birth Attendance refers to childbirth managed by a skilled attendant including the enabling conditions of necessary equipment and support of a functioning health system, and the transport and referral facilities for emergency obstetric care; and

Sustainable Human Development refers to bringing people, particularly the poor and vulnerable, to the center of development process, the central purpose of which is the creation of an enabling environment in which all can enjoy long, healthy and productive lives, and done in a manner that promotes their rights and protects the life opportunities of future generations and the natural ecosystem on which all life depends.

SECTION 5. Midwives for Skilled Attendance

The Local Government Units (LGUs) with the assistance of the DOH, shall employ an adequate number of midwives through regular employment or service contracting, subject to the provisions of the Local Government Code, to achieve a minimum ratio of one (1) fulltime skilled birth attendant for every one hundred fifty (150) deliveries per year, to be based on the annual number of actual deliveries or live births for the past two (2) years; Provided, That people in geographically isolated and depressed areas shall be provided the same level of access.

SECTION 6. Emergency Obstetric Care

Each province and city, with the assistance of the DOH, shall establish or upgrade hospitals with adequate and qualified personnel, equipment and supplies to be able to provide emergency obstetric and neonatal care. For every 500,000 population, there shall be at least one (1) hospital with comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care and four (4) hospitals or other health facilities with basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care; Provided, That people in geographically isolated and depressed areas shall be provided the same level of access.

SECTION 7. Access to Family Planning

All accredited health facilities shall provide a full range of modern family planning methods, except in specialty hospitals which may render such services on an optional basis. For poor patients, such services shall be fully covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and/or government financial assistance on a no balance billing.

After the use of any PhilHealth benefit involving childbirth and all other pregnancy-related services, if the beneficiary wishes to space or prevent her next pregnancy, PhilHealth shall pay for the full cost of family planning.

SECTION 8. Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Crisis Situations

The LGUs and the DOH shall ensure that a Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for reproductive health, including maternal and neonatal health care kits and services as defined by the DOH, will be given proper attention in crisis situations such as disasters and humanitarian crises. MISP shall become part of all responses by national agencies at the onset of crisis and emergencies.

Temporary facilities such as evacuation centers and refugee camps shall be equipped to respond to the special needs in the following situations: normal and complicated deliveries, pregnancy complications, miscarriage and post-abortion complications, spread of HIV/AIDS and STIs, and sexual and gender-based violence.

SECTION 9. Maternal Death Review

All LGUs, national and local government hospitals, and other public health units shall conduct annual maternal death review in accordance with the guidelines set by the DOH.

SECTION 10. Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines

Products and supplies for modern family planning methods shall be part of the National Drug Formulary and the same shall be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and local hospitals and other government health units.

SECTION 11. Procurement and Distribution of Family Planning Supplies

The DOH shall spearhead the efficient procurement, distribution to LGUs and usage-monitoring of family planning supplies for the whole country. The DOH shall coordinate with all appropriate LGUs to plan and implement this procurement and distribution programme. The supply and budget allotment shall be based on, amongst others, the current levels and projections of the following:

(a) number of women of reproductive age and couples who want to space or limit their children;
(b) contraceptive prevalence rate, by type of method used; and
(c) cost of family planning supplies.

SECTION 12. Integration of Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Component in Anti-Poverty Programmes

A multi-dimensional approach shall be adopted in the implementation of policies and programmes to fight poverty. Towards this end, the DOH shall endeavor to integrate a responsible parenthood and family planning component into all antipoverty and other sustainable human development programmes of government, with corresponding fund support. The DOH shall provide such programmes technical support, including capacity-building and monitoring.

SECTION 13. Roles of Local Government in Family Planning Programmes

The LGUs shall ensure that poor families receive preferential access to services, commodities and programmes for family planning. The role of Population Officers at municipal, city and barangay levels in the family planning effort shall be strengthened. The Barangay Health Workers and volunteers shall be capacitated to give priority to family planning work.

SECTION 14. Benefits for Serious and Life-Threatening Reproductive Health Conditions

All serious and life threatening reproductive health conditions such as HIV and AIDS, breast and reproductive tract cancers, obstetric complications, menopausal and post-menopausal related conditions shall be given the maximum benefits as provided by PhilHealth programmes.

SECTION 15. Mobile Health Care Service

Each Congressional District may be provided with at least one (1) Mobile Health Care Service (MHCS) in the form of a van or other means of transportation appropriate to coastal or mountainous areas. The MHCS shall deliver health care supplies and services to constituents, more particularly to the poor and needy, and shall be used to disseminate knowledge and information on reproductive health. The purchase of the MHCS may be funded from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of each congressional district. The operation and maintenance of the MHCS shall be operated by skilled health providers and adequately equipped with a wide range of reproductive health care materials and information dissemination devices and equipment, the latter including, but not limited to, a television set for audiovisual presentations. All MHCS shall be operated by a focal city or municipality within a congressional district.

SECTION 16. Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education

Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be taught by adequately trained teachers in formal and non-formal educational system starting from Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School using life skills and other approaches. The Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall commence at the start of the school year immediately following one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act to allow the training of concerned teachers. The Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the DSWD, and the DOH shall formulate the Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education curriculum. Such curriculum shall be common to both public and private schools, out of school youth, and enrollees in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) based on, but not limited to, the psychosocial and the physical well-being, the demography and reproductive health, and the legal aspects of reproductive health.

Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be integrated in all relevant subjects and shall include, but not limited to, the following topics:

(a) Values formation;
(b) Knowledge and skills in self protection against discrimination, sexual violence and abuse, and teen pregnancy;
(c) Physical, social and emotional changes in adolescents;
(d) Children’s and women’s rights;
(e) Fertility awareness;
(f) STI, HIV and AIDS;
(g) Population and development;
(h) Responsible relationship;
(i) Family planning methods;
(j) Proscription and hazards of abortion;
(k) Gender and development; and
(l) Responsible parenthood.

The DepEd, CHED, DSWD, TESDA and DOH shall provide concerned parents with adequate and relevant scientific materials on the age-appropriate topics and manner of teaching Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education to their children.

SECTION 17. Additional Duty of the Local Population Officer

Each Local Population Officer of every city and municipality shall furnish free instructions and information on responsible parenthood, family planning, breastfeeding, infant nutrition and other relevant aspects of this Act to all applicants for marriage license. In the absence of a local Population Officer, a Family Planning Officer under the Local Health Office shall discharge the additional duty of the Population Officer.

SECTION 18. Certificate of Compliance

No marriage license shall be issued by the Local Civil Registrar unless the applicants present a Certificate of Compliance issued for free by the local Family Planning Office certifying that they had duly received adequate instructions and information on responsible parenthood, family planning, breastfeeding and infant nutrition.

SECTION 19. Capability Building of Barangay Health Workers

Barangay Health Workers and other community-based health workers shall undergo training on the promotion of reproductive health and shall receive at least 10% increase in honouraria, upon successful completion of training.

SECTION 20. Ideal Family Size

The State shall assist couples, parents and individuals to achieve their desired family size within the context of responsible parenthood for sustainable development and encourage them to have two children as the ideal family size. Attaining the ideal family size is neither mandatory nor compulsory. No punitive action shall be imposed on parents having more than two children.

SECTION 21. Employers’ Responsibilities

The Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) shall ensure that employers respect the reproductive rights of workers. Consistent with the intent of Article 134 of the Labour Code, employers with more than two hundred (200) employees shall provide reproductive health services to all employees in their own respective health facilities. Those with less than two hundred (200) workers shall enter into partnerships with hospitals, health facilities, or health professionals in their areas for the delivery of reproductive health services.
Employers shall furnish in writing the following information to all employees and applicants:

(a) The medical and health benefits which workers are entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave benefits and the availability of family planning services;
(b) The reproductive health hazards associated with work, including hazards that may affect their reproductive functions especially pregnant women; and
(c) The availability of health facilities for workers.

Employers are obliged to monitor pregnant working employees amongst their workforce and ensure that they are provided paid half-day prenatal medical leaves for each month of the pregnancy period that the pregnant employee is employed in their company or organization. These paid prenatal medical leaves shall be reimbursable from the Social Security System (SSS) or the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), as the case may be.

SECTION 22. Pro Bono Services for Indigent Women

Private and non-government reproductive health care service providers, including but not limited to gynecologists and obstetricians, are mandated to provide at least forty-eight (48) hours annually of reproductive health services, ranging from providing information and education to rendering medical services free of charge to indigent and low income patients, especially to pregnant adolescents. These forty-eight (48) hours annual pro bono services shall be included as pre-requisite in the accreditation under the PhilHealth.

SECTION 23. Sexual And Reproductive Health Programmes For Persons With Disabilities (PWDs)

The cities and municipalities must ensure that barriers to reproductive health services for PWDs are obliterated by the following:

(a) providing physical access, and resolving transportation and proximity issues to clinics, hospitals and places where public health education is provided, contraceptives are sold or distributed or other places where reproductive health services are provided;
(b) adapting examination tables and other laboratory procedures to the needs and conditions of persons with disabilities;
(c) increasing access to information and communication materials on sexual and reproductive health in braille, large print, simple language, and pictures;
(d) providing continuing education and inclusion rights of persons with disabilities amongst health-care providers; and
(e) undertaking activities to raise awareness and address misconceptions amongst the general public on the stigma and their lack of knowledge on the sexual and reproductive health needs and rights of persons with disabilities.

SECTION 24. Right to Reproductive Health Care Information

The government shall guarantee the right of any person to provide or receive non-fraudulent information about the availability of reproductive health care services, including family planning, and prenatal care.
The DOH and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) shall initiate and sustain a heightened nationwide multimedia campaign to raise the level of public awareness of the protection and promotion of reproductive health and rights including family planning and population and development.

SECTION 25. Implementing Mechanisms

Pursuant to the herein declared policy, the DOH and the Local Health Units in cities and municipalities shall serve as the lead agencies for the implementation of this Act and shall integrate in their regular operations the following functions:

(a) Ensure full and efficient implementation of the Reproductive Health Care Programme;
(b) Ensure people’s access to medically safe, legal, effective, quality and affordable reproductive health supplies and services;
(c) Ensure that reproductive health services are delivered with a full range of supplies, facilities and equipment and that healthcare service providers are adequately trained for such reproductive health care delivery;
(d) Take active steps to expand the coverage of the National Health Insurance Programme (NHIP), especially amongst poor and marginalised women, to include the full range of reproductive health services and supplies as health insurance benefits;
(e) Strengthen the capacities of health regulatory agencies to ensure safe, legal, effective, quality, accessible and affordable reproductive health services and commodities with the concurrent strengthening and enforcement of regulatory mandates and mechanisms;
(f) Promulgate a set of minimum reproductive health standards for public health facilities, which shall be included in the criteria for accreditation. These minimum reproductive health standards shall provide for the monitoring of pregnant mothers, and a minimum package of reproductive health programmes that shall be available and affordable at all levels of the public health system except in specialty hospitals where such services are provided on optional basis;
(g) Facilitate the involvement and participation of NGOs and the private sector in reproductive health care service delivery and in the production, distribution and delivery of quality reproductive health and family planning supplies and commodities to make them accessible and affordable to ordinary citizens;
(h) Furnish LGUs with appropriate information and resources to keep them updated on current studies and researches relating to responsible parenthood, family planning, breastfeeding and infant nutrition; and
(i) Perform such other functions necessary to attain the purposes of this Act.
The Commission on Population (POPCOM), as an attached agency of DOH, shall serve as the coordinating body in the implementation of this Act and shall have the following functions:
(a) Integrate on a continuing basis the interrelated reproductive health and population development agenda consistent with the herein declared national policy, taking into account regional and local concerns;
(b) Provide the mechanism to ensure active and full participation of the private sector and the citizenry through their organisations in the planning and implementation of reproductive health care and population and development programmes and projects; and
(c) Conduct sustained and effective information drives on sustainable human development and on all methods of family planning to prevent unintended, unplanned and mistimed pregnancies.

SECTION 26. Reporting Requirements

Before the end of April of each year, the DOH shall submit an annual report to the President of the Philippines, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HOR). The report shall provide a definitive and comprehensive assessment of the implementation of its programmes and those of other government agencies and instrumentalities, civil society and the private sector and recommend appropriate priorities for executive and legislative actions. The report shall be printed and distributed to all national agencies, the LGUs, civil society and the private sector organizations involved in said programmes.
The annual report shall evaluate the content, implementation and impact of all policies related to reproductive health and family planning to ensure that such policies promote, protect and fulfill reproductive health and rights, particularly of parents, couples and women.

SECTION 27. Congressional Oversight Committee (COC)

There is hereby created a Congressional Oversight Committee composed of five (5) members each from the Senate and the HOR. The members from the Senate and the HOR shall be appointed by the Senate President and the Speaker, respectively, based on proportional representation of the parties or coalition therein with at least one (1) member representing the Minority.

The COC shall be headed by the respective Chairs of the Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Population and Family Relations of the HOR. The Secretariat of the COC shall come from the existing Secretariat personnel of the Senate’ and the HOR’ committees concerned.
The COC shall monitor and ensure the effective implementation of this Act, determine the inherent weakness and loopholes in the law, recommend the necessary remedial legislator or administrative measures and perform such other duties and functions as may be necessary to attain the objectives of this Act.

SECTION 28. Prohibited Acts

The following acts are prohibited:

(a) Any healthcare service provider, whether public or private, who shall:
(1) Knowingly withhold information or restrict the dissemination thereof, or intentionally provide incorrect information regarding programmes and services on reproductive health, including the right to informed choice and access to a full range of legal, medically-safe and effective family planning methods;
(2) Refuse to perform legal and medically-safe reproductive health procedures on any person of legal age on the ground of lack of third party consent or authorization. In case of married persons, the mutual consent of the spouses shall be preferred. However in case of disagreement, the decision of the one undergoing the procedure shall prevail. In the case of abused minors where parents or other family members are the respondent, accused or convicted perpetrators as certified by the proper prosecutorial office or court, no prior parental consent shall be necessary; and
(3) Refuse to extend health care services and information on account of the person’s marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, personal circumstances, or nature of work; Provided, That, the conscientious objection of a healthcare service provider based on his/her ethical or religious beliefs shall be respected; however, the conscientious objector shall immediately refer the person seeking such care and services to another healthcare service provider within the same facility or one which is conveniently accessible who is willing to provide the requisite information and services; Provided, further, That the person is not in an emergency condition or serious case as defined in RA 8344 otherwise known as "An Act Penalizing the Refusal of Hospitals and Medical Clinics to Administer Appropriate Initial Medical Treatment and Support in Emergency and Serious Cases."
(b) Any public official who, personally or through a subordinate, prohibits or restricts the delivery of legal and medically-safe reproductive health care services, including family planning; or forces, coerces or induces any person to use such services.
(c) Any employer or his representative who shall require an employee or applicant, as a condition for employment or continued employment, to undergo sterilization or use or not use any family planning method; neither shall pregnancy be a ground for non-hiring or termination of employment.
(d) Any person who shall falsify a certificate of compliance as required in Section 15 of this Act; and
(e) Any person who maliciously engages in disinformation about the intent or provisions of this Act.

SECTION 29. Penalties

Any violation of this Act or commission of the foregoing prohibited acts shall be penalised by imprisonment ranging from one (1) month to six (6) months or a fine of Ten Thousand (Php 10,000.00) to Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00) or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the competent court; Provided That, if the offender is a public official or employee, he or she shall suffer the accessory penalty of dismissal from the government service and forfeiture of retirement benefits. If the offender is a juridical person, the penalty shall be imposed upon the president or any responsible officer. An offender who is an alien shall, after service of sentence, be deported immediately without further proceedings by the Bureau of Immigration.

SECTION 30. Appropriations

The amounts appropriated in the current annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Family Health and Responsible Parenting under the DOH and POPCOM shall be allocated and utilised for the initial implementation of this Act. Such additional sums necessary to implement this Act; provide for the upgrading of facilities necessary to meet Basic Emergency Obstetric Care and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care standards; train and deploy skilled health providers; procure family planning supplies and commodities as provided in Sec. 6; and implement other reproductive health services, shall be included in the subsequent GAA.

SECTION 31. Implementing Rules and Regulations

Within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of the DOH shall formulate and adopt amendments to the existing rules and regulations to carry out the objectives of this Act, in consultation with the Secretaries of the DepED, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the DOLE, the DSWD, the Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Commissioner of CHED, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and two NGOs or Peoples’ Organizations (POs) for women. Full dissemination of the IRR to the public shall be ensured.

SECTIONS 32-34. Separability Clause, Repealing Clause, Effectivity

SECTION 32. Separability Clause

If any part or provision of this Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect.

SECTION 33. Repealing Clause

All other laws, decrees, orders, issuances, rules and regulations which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 34. Effectivity

This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

The Death of Professor Wendam

a short story by Roger B Rueda

Myra Wendam, a professor, was killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a taxi outside the university.

Lots of students had a terror of her and her two gay colleagues, Ricky and Aba. They three had a heart of stone. They felt very bitter about their childhood and all that was denied them. They were subtle psychos. With the existence of the three at the college, all students were between the devil and the deep blue sea. So, some students wept for joy when they were told that their professor died.

A lot of students would get short shrift from them even if they fell sick while they were stressed out by being under a lot of pressure and, of course, by their waspish tongues which could hurt. The students found them arrogant and rude. Nobody could believe their pretentiousness but their innocent students, who thought that a diploma in communication arts was gold bullion. The three seemed to show signs of genius. They taught a lot of things, which they themselves didn’t know what these really were. Myra taught advertising, but never had she produced at least one half-decent advertisement. But they kept on believing that their MA’s (or EdD in the case of Aba) were credible evidence for convicting people around them.

***

Two years ago, both Ricky and Aba, who had been extorting money from their students for years, were found slain in an alley a block from a cinema where a lot of gays, who had promiscuous lifestyles, would go. Since then, the place was said to be haunted by the ghosts of the two gay professors.

There seemed no justice in the world as they were slain like that, but justice remained elusive for them and their family. Life just redressed the balance, perhaps.

***

Myra's cremation was a sad affair. Few mourners attended the funeral. All were her family. No students were there to symphatise. Only Ricky's family and his sister, who the rest of the class were sick of watching brown-nose, and Aba's cousin, who would dance attendance on all her professors. They all spent the entire afternoon schmoozing with Myra's family.

***

The death of Myra fuelled speculation that she had, indeed, struck terror into her students and that someone still must have held a grudge against her for doing all the bad things to him, or perhaps, her. The fault lay with her, whose manners were as worse as Ricky’s. But, of course, Ricky was a subtle evil genius.

No one, at first, knew what made the bus and the taxi collide at the crossroads, but after months of investigation the police suspected foul play. They investigated how a crime like that could have occurred. The killer or the mastermind must have borne any grudge against her. Myra died in mysterious circumstances, and there was a possibility that it was murder. For one thing, when the bus driver was in collision with a taxi, one passenger heard the noise of a gun firing at the helm.

The next scene was all a bit sudden. The one killed was not the real driver. The real driver had escaped, and her wife was on TV, weeping buckets and appealing to her husband to show up. After an autopsy was carried out, a week after, the police and the media concluded from the evidence that Myra was murdered.

A year ago, Myra kept herself aloof from what was happening around her. Her insensitivity towards the feelings of her colleagues, who would have a foul day  with her at work, was remarkable. But one of her colleagues noticed that she'd been seeing someone on the quiet. The woman looked strangely familiar, though her colleague knew she'd never met her before.  When the woman and Myra saw her, they gave her a black look, and, as she left the secluded restaurant, she was confronted by the angry women, Myra and her companion,  who tried to block her way. They threatened to kill her unless she did as they asked.  In order to escape threat, she resigned from her job unexpectedly and fled somewhere very far.  Since then, she seemed to have sunk without trace.

Myra’s family were surprised to see her pray. Praying became part of her morning and evening ritual. She was an atheist and what she was doing seemed paradoxical to them. She erected a statue to her god and decided to devote herself to him.  How she became like what she was remained a mystery until her death when, in the fading light, people saw bats flitting about on the street where the bus and the taxi ran into. Then police discovered a bundle of black books whose writings were difficult to decipher and small plastic discs whose information was fully encrypted and couldn’t be accessed. Myra's full name was carved into them. So, the police turned  them over to her family. A week after, her family got a going-over and all the books and discs were stolen. The family questioned the motives, but it remained wrapped in mystery save Myra's only daughter, Alexandria.

Some of her students recalled how Myra had paraded up Commonwealth Avenue, past Tandang Sora Flyover. She looked like some mad old woman in her wide-brimmed buri hat while she was dragging a cart with a statue of her god down to the street, her shoes and socks taken off, she walking barefoot. But when they remembered how she would start to swear at them in class, they would swear like a trooper, too. They loathed having known her in their life. What was very clear in their stories, which they were spreading, was their passionate hatred of her.

Everyone rejoiced at the news of her death. Her colleagues cried as if it was for joy when they heard the accident. She was believed to have died not in the accident but in revenge for what she had done bad in the past.

The news of her death was around for a week, then slid into oblivion.

Silence

a poem by Roger B Rueda

It is like water filling each fissure of stones or earth,
or even the holes of our skin. When it leaves,
only then do we know that it was there
as it leaves a memory of synchronisation
and strangeness
of being verbal, of knowing
that we are not by ourselves
in the midst of this home where the end
is the start and the start is the end,
like a helm spinning round.
We can walk out on through it as it doesn’t bear
all: it is the god of reticence
and surreptitiousness,
it is the god which knows everything, but,
perhaps has silence of itself
whose life ends
when it is broken or vanishes when heard.
It is it when we can only plumb its deepness
or sense or insight,
but through it we only
walk in the unknown and yet only it knows
that the truth is almost by it.
It can change everything, the truth,
maybe, for it is
as if an inconstant mechanism:
it has its form
but tends to be shapeless
as it is what it is, or who it is, I don’t know.
It is at the end of it that we can know the truth of it,
but only then when life doesn’t start or end
but finally admits to what we think of it or what it really is.

Star Apple

a poem by Roger B Rueda

A neighbour observed a man all of eighty
but so full of life
put a star apple seedling
into the ground.
The neighbour asked the old man
‘Do you believe
you can delight in star apples
from that tree?’
A star apple tree
is in fruit about eight summers.
The old man rested
smilingly on his shovel.
He said ‘No, I'm really
beginning
to feel my age.
But all my life I have been
enjoying the smooth and
creamy star apples
but never from a tree
I have put
into the ground before.
I wouldn’t have
had star apples
if others took star apples
with them when they went,
so I mustn't leave bearing
this gift unique
to this soil,’ grinning from ear to ear.

Nostalgia

a poem by Roger B Rueda

It’s like a secret message written in invisible ink.
We’ve been totally deaf to it
since then, no one has ever
heard it, believe me.
We can’t have a smell of it,
but it’s surely tangibly here, by heart,
our own heart only.
It’s your grandmother
telling some stirring tale
about her early days,
not that every part of it
is of laudable act done by her,
clearly including
those dullest acts
done by her.
Here there is no substantial body
of your grandmother
and you are not the single being,
rather it seems like you
are two different things.
The older one is your here
and the younger one is your there,
you as being the older one telling
your own mind
the story of yours
as being the younger one.
We are like a dog sniffing
and searching for a thing long been missing.

I’ve Got A Cat to See Me

a poem by Roger B Rueda

As the setting sun touched
the trees with red,
a tabby cat
was miaowing
pitifully
outside the door.
We had heavy rain
all day.
As I went out,
it came too near me
and wagged its tail
graciously and
repeatedly curled it
round my leg.
I felt a shiver
down my spine.
I bade it to go in
at once,
my hand gesturing
plainly
in the direction
of my room.
I fed it Lucky Me
chow mein.
It didn't feel
like eating,
but it was trying
its hardest to live,
so I cooked it
enormous meals:
chicken adobo
and menudo.
In a while,
it curled up on the sofa
to sleep.
I covered it up
with a towel.
It loved to be petted
and tickled behind
the ears.
I thought fate
had brought
us together, while
doodling all over my books.