bahay bata

diana zubiri

sue prado

Pregnant woman: "Ayoko magpatali. ayaw ng asawa ko."
Nurse: "Bakit? ang asawa mo ba ang manganganak nitong 13th anak mo? sya ba ang nahihirapan? eh baka sa susunod mamatay ka na?

Thus, one of the opening dialogues inside the delivery room of the Cinemalaya 2011 entry Bahay Bata

Gabriela party-list, a party-list organization fighting for the rights of women has lauded the indie film 'Bahay Bata' enrty in Cinemalaya 2011  featuring Diana Zubiri and hopes  that the public  watch the film and learn about poor women's lack of access to reproductive health services.
"This film has to see the light of day as it tackles a very relevant and hotly debated issue of reproductive health," said Gabriela party-list Rep. Emerciana de Jesus in a recent statement."the fact that it focused on the conditions of pregnant women and that most of the scenes were shot mainly at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital is something everyone should appreciate," according to the lawmaker.

"What you will witness, as I have, in many of our public hospitals, is the continuing neglect of our public health system, starting with a measly 2011 General Appropriations Act budget of only P0.96 centavos per day per person. How can our pregnant women receive any substantial and quality health service out of this?” said De Jesus.

“I just hope that the movie does not singularly focus on the population question as the main reason why poor women are poor. In so many Third World countries such as ours, a big chunk of the population is hungry, jobless, sickly, and dies very young," she added.

Moreover, De Jesus is hoping that  movie  would send the message that "poverty stems largely from joblessness and the very exploitative conditions of labor, such as the much depressed minimum wage that cannot even provide for a decent quality of life for a family of six persons."

"Poverty is allowed to fester when national policies run in favor of big business interests. And secondly, the situation of so many poor and marginalized women is compounded when they have little or no access to information, services, and programs that will allow them to claim their right to basic reproductive health,” De Jesus said.