Ayala Alabang executives submit new version of anti-condom ordinance

Manila, Philippines - Officials of Ayala Alabang village in Muntinlupa City submitted to the city council yesterday a revised version of its proposed ordinance seeking to ban the purchase of contraceptives without a doctor’s prescription.

Rather than a total ban, the amended version set a legal age for those who wish to buy condoms and other contraceptives.

Drug stores and retail outlets selling contraceptives are also required to post the following statement: “It is unlawful for condoms and... contraceptives to be sold (or) distributed to persons below 18 years of age unless otherwise provided by existing laws.”

In case retailers are in doubt, the ordinance proposed that they ask the buyer for any valid form of “photographic identification” that contains buyer’s birth date. Establishments caught violating the ordinance will be fined P1,000 for each violation.

“It shall not be a defense of a drugstore and retail outlet...that it did not know or was not aware of the real age of the minor,” the ordinance read.

Condom vending machines or self-service facilities are prohibited unless “the machine has a mechanism for age verification.”

The Jan. 3 ordinance of Barangay Ayala Alabang, crafted for the “protection of the unborn child under its jurisdiction,” has divided residents.

Under the previous version of the ordinance, the purchase of contraceptives without a medical prescription and any form of contraceptive advertisement under its jurisdiction are not allowed.

The old version also banned sex education for minors without parental consent and the use of barangay funds for the purchase and distribution of contraceptives.The amended ordinance scrapped these provisions.

 The barangay council also removed a clause that condemns contraceptive use and endorses the view that contraceptive pills “may kill children and injure the health of women who use them.”

City public information chief Omar Acosta said Mayor Aldrin San Pedro directed the city council to “speed up the review of the controversial ordinance so that the issue, which had caused divisions among residents and various groups, may finally be put to rest.” 

He said San Pedro assured the public he will not intervene in the process.

“Ultimately, the ordinance will land on my desk and I’d rather wait for that time before taking any action,” Acosta quoted San Pedro as saying.