Renewed calls to improve national policy around menstrual health care made waves online following a lawmaker’s call to remove taxes on period products.
Rep. Richelle Singson (Ako Ilocano Ako Party-list) earlier this month called the taxes “discriminatory” against women in her speech at a Women’s Month celebration of the House of Representatives.
A bill seeking to exempt period products from tax has been filed in the Senate in December last year. It also aims to provide them free in primary and secondary schools, as well as barangay health centers.
Two more related House bills introducing menstrual leave were filed last year.
Gabriela Party-list’s House Bill No. 7758 aims to grant women two days of menstrual leave per month with 100% remuneration, stating the need to provide flexibility in managing reproductive health without fear of penalty.
Rep. Samantha Santos’ (Cotabato; 3rd District)House Bill No. 6728 also seeks menstrual leave, but with 50% remuneration. Both bills are pending approval.
READ: ‘Sobrang need’: Filipino women rejoice over ‘menstrual leave’ bill
Many Filipinos online resonated with Singson’s call, agreeing that it is about time women get what they need.
A social media user said that aside from tax exemption, pads and tampons should be free to those who could not afford them.
One repost of the article, on the other hand, brought up how Philippines treats women by listing down issues. It gained traction with 1.3 million views so far.
This is how the Philippines treats women:
1. Tax on menstrual products
2. No menstrual leave
3. Criminalized abortion
4. When women demand those 3, they are ridiculed.
5. A drag queen is jailed while women abusers walk free
& yet they still dare to “celebrate” Women’s Month. https://t.co/61BJoy5Pxd
— 🍉 elle ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ (@elaswiftellie) March 5, 2024
Another Filipino agreed to the list of issues mentioned.
“Mahirap na nga maging Pilipino, mahirap pa maging babaeng Pilipino,” she wrote.
Abortion remains illegal in the Philippines. However, some women are turning to unsafe, under-the-table abortion. This was among the chief concerns of Filipinos who are in favor of easing the law around pregnancy termination.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. previously backed abortion for “severe” cases during his presidential campaign in 2022.
The severe cases he referred to are rape victims or pregnancy from non-consensual sex.