Senator slams Ayala Alabang anti-contraceptive ordinance

MANILA, Philippines -  Sen. Pia Cayetano accused the barangay council of Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City of usurping the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by passing an ordinance that seeks to ban the sale of contraceptives without a prescription.

“It is incredulous how the local council of Ayala Alabang has arrogated to itself the power and responsibility to regulate drugs and devices, and even to determine what’s safe and what’s not. This is usurpation of power,” Cayetano said in a report by GMA News.

Cayetano, a resident of Ayala Alabang, said their village council cannot make up its own definition of abortifacients by including drugs and medical devices the World Health Organization has certified as safe and effective.

She said that as chair of the Senate health committee, she is “not aware of any law or bill authorizing the transfer of power to regulate drugs from the FDA to the barangay.”

Meanwhile, Ayala Alabang spokesman Luis Sison said they “agreed” to join a public hearing organized by the city government on the ordinance on March 8 because “we do not want to appear like we are fighting with our city council.” He earlier said the ordinance was being implemented, but he said yesterday that it has been suspended due to protests from various groups.

He said “no consultation” was made before the council passed the ordinance in January after it was proposed last December, but noted that the measure was “extensively studied” and that they availed themselves of the services of former senator Aquilino Pimentel in crafting the ordinance.

Sison maintained that the ordinance is legal because it is supported by Republic Act 5921, the law regulating the practice of pharmacy in the country, which states “no drug or chemical product or device capable of provoking abortion or preventing conception as classified by the FDA shall be delivered or sold to any person without a proper prescription by a duly licensed physician.”

The city council’s health committee has remanded the ordinance to the barangay council for revision, but Sison said Pimentel’s opinion is that the council, not the committee must do so.

City public information chief Omar Acosta said Ayala Alabang will not be allowed to enforce the ordinance in its present form.