The RH Bill: Could it win the presidency?

Like in a horse race, the announcer declares that all the horses are already lined up ready for the starting gun to fire and you can very well say that the same is true with our Presidential race now that the tandem from the Liberal Party, Presidential standard bearer, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and vice-presidential bet Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas have already literally “jumped-the-gun” on the other Presiden-tiables as the dynamic duo. They are buoyed by the recent SWS surveys that showed Noynoy having a spectacular 50% advantage over the other potential Presidential rivals.

However the Presidential race isn’t a Kentucky Derby type of race where the fastest horse and rider around the oval course wins. It is more of a Show Jumping competition event where the horse and rider jumps into artificial walls and hedges with different gates and water obstacles. If you ask me, the first obstacle that the Noynoy-Mar tandem has to hurdle is the very controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill. Already, we learned that Noynoy is the co-author of this bill and therefore, he can never claim to have the Catholic Church on his side… unless he makes a mea culpa and withdraws his name from that bill?

Enter Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro who is supposed to be ranking very low in the last surveys, yet when the Noynoy-Mar tandem was officially declared, Sen. Mar immediately took potshots at Gibo, which could only mean that for Mar Roxas, Gibo is the man-to-beat. Why didn’t Mar take a potshot at the supposedly front-runner Sen. Manny Villar?

Anyway, while Gibo has still to be “officially” endorsed as the Administration Presidential bet, he too has ran into the same snag or wall as the Noynoy-Mar tandem on the very same issue of the RH Bill. I still haven’t talked with the Defense Secretary on this issue, but news sources say that he is not inclined to oppose this controversial bill, which can only mean that he really hasn’t completely understood the ripple effect that the RH bill will have for this country!

While it is not yet an abortion bill, the RH Bill is undoubtedly the launching pad for one! The RH Bill has been proposed and supported by many economists simply because of their simple equation that a nation with a lesser population would end up having rich citizens. What these economists don’t tell you is that, those nations that supported similar laws, have ended up reducing their populations to zero growth. Hence the populations of countries like Japan or Singapore are now aging and spending millions asking their people to produce babies! What is worrisome for these nations is it would take two generations for the population to rise up again!

There is no question that the population of the Philippines has grown by leaps and bounds, but no one has told you that our population growth has actually slowed down. Today we have become the world’s number one supplier of employees worldwide, thanks to ugly politics, because there are no jobs to be had in this country, hence Filipinos seek job opportunities outside and though they are separated from their families, they are actually better off than being home in the Philippines!

I just came from Dubai and I had a first-hand look of Filipinos working and making a living in that city. Many Filipinos are working as chambermaids, room boys, front desk staff, sales and marketing not just in hotels but in many other businesses. It is a fact that many Filipinos with better jobs bring their entire families to Dubai, yes including their maids because after work, they have a nice house to come home to. Chances are these people live in less than middle class communities or worse in shanty communities.

So the bottom line really is, our problem is not a raging population growth which the RH Bill is supposed to arrest, but rather it is the monies earmarked for the education of our poor people have found its way into the deep pockets of ugly politicians who stuff themselves with our tax money, making government service like a family business. So whether they like it or not, the support of the Catholic Church is very important, if not crucial to these elections. They may brush off the so-called “Catholic vote” but in a tight race, those votes would certainly count!

Meanwhile back to the Noynoy-Mar tandem, let me say it here that they are following the patterned that was used during Tita Cory’s candidacy because in those days, the Filipino people needed to help her with money in a “piso-piso” campaign. But these are different times. Noynoy and Mar are millionaires in their own right and they should fund their election campaign from their own pockets and not burden the Filipino people for contributions.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com. –Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star)