Electorate still immature, says CBCP official

FOR REELECTING RH BILL-BACKING SOLONS

The reelection of lawmakers who support the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress is an indication that the Filipino electorate is still not “mature” vote-wise, an official of the Catholic Church has said.

“Our electorate is not mature yet in the sense that their choices are not issue-oriented,” Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) media director, told reporters in an interview on the weekend.

He, however, said he believes there were other factors that gave weight to the Filipino voters’ decision to support pro-RH bill legislators.

“There must be other convening factors beside the issue. I think many will agree with me, and even the surveys will agree, that even in the selection of senators, (it can be seen that the electorate) is not so much issue-oriented,” he said. “So if you use that observation, that can also be used in the (case of the) presidential candidates,” he added in a hint of reference to President-apparent, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who has also expressed support for the controversial bill.

Quitorio, though, said he respects the voters’ decision to elect such candidates.

“Whoever the people vote for, that is their choice, their option. As long as the process is honest, clean and orderly (it alright with me). Whoever wins, it should be respected because this is the sovereign will of the people,” he said.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin are two of the lawmakers who support the controversial bill that won each their bids for a congressional seat in the May 10 polls.

Days before the general elections were held last May 10, the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the CBCP called on Filipino Catholics not to vote for candidates who had pushed for the enactment of the RH Bill, whose provisions the Church frowns upon for being “immoral.”

Quitorio said they would continue to be watchful of any move that destroys life and the Filipino family.

“We will remain vigilant. We will continue to monitor these people (lawmakers who are pushing the passage of the RH bill in Congress and have won reelection),” he said.

The Catholic Church has been vocal in its opposition to the approval in Congress of the RH bill, which it views as “anti-family and anti-life” as its provisions allegedly cater to immorality.

Church officials have said the bill goes against Christian mores and teachings, “especially in protecting life.” They meant this in reference to the provisions of the bill that they say seek to allow the practice of abortion by the members of the Philippine society.

Lagman, the author of the bill in the House of Representatives, Garin and others who support the proposed measure believe that Filipinos should be allowed to have a choice on whether to make use of modern birth control means other than the so-called “calendar method,” which the Catholic Church exclusively espouses as it sees it as a “natural way” of avoiding pregnancy.

The pro-RH bill people say its enactment into law is urgently needed to help arrest the burgeoning population of the country.

Experts in the field of social science say that among the major contributing factors to the continuous and rapid rise in the country’s population is unwanted pregnancies, which is practically due to the people’s lack of knowledge on the availability of several safe and legal methods of staving off such an occurrence. PNA –Marie A. Surbano, Daily Tribune