While supporters of the controversial Reproductive Health Bill are now preparing to push for the passage of the measure, a lawmaker from Davao City yesterday said that there was no need to legislate the government’s policy on population management.
According to Rep. Karlo Nograles, Filipinos have always the liberty to choose how to manage their families, including the choice on the number of their children and the choice of the family planning method that they want to use.
“Why do we have to legislate population management when in fact even without it, our people have always been free to do what they think is best for their family. I think it’s best that we just leave it that way and let our people choose what they want. It’s not illegal to use condom so why waste time and people’s money just to make a law that encourages the use of condom? It doesn’t make sense,” Nograles said.
Nograles said instead of wasting time and money to enrich condom manufacturers and other multi-national firms, Congress should focus its effort on measures that supports entrepreneurship and provide livelihood for the poor and expand government support for education and vocational training programs.
This developed as four lawmakers including House Minority Leader Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin and Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones reacted strongly against the alleged threat by the Catholic Church to excommunicate President Aquino for supporting the Reproductive Health Bill.
“The threat of excommunication against President Benigno Aquino for endorsing voluntary contraceptive use is an antediluvian method of compelling adherence to Church doctrines,” Lagman said.
Lagman maintained that the imposition of excommunication contradicts the Church’s principle on free will and defies freedom of informed choice which is the central advocacy of the Reproductive Health Bill.
Lagman claimed that if the basis for excommunication is the distribution and use of contraceptives, then the Church will lose its congregation since a great majority of Catholics favor the enactment of an RH law and the government’s funding the procurement and distribution of contraceptives to willing acceptors of family planning.
Evardone, for his part, called on President Aquino not to succumb to the threat of excommunication.
“I think his position on the issue is based on his sound judgment for the welfare and interest of the people. It’s about time that this issue on population and development is confronted head on,” Evardone, a former reporter, said yesterday.
Evardone said that Aquino should not waver on his stand.
“I think majority of the people believe on the soundness of his policy. After all, Pnoy is not advocating abortion. He just wants to make sure that people are given relevant information on how to manage their own families,” the Eastern Samar lawmaker said.
Garin described the Church threat as “ultra foul.”
“If indeed true, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should stop meddling in the affairs of the govt.. threatening people is an attitude that should be condemned,” Garin said.
She said that the CBCP should rather focus on how to uplift the lives of the Filipino people instead of blindly following the dictates of the Vatican.
Nograles, however, said the country’s real problem is not the number but the quality of our population.
“On the contrary, our human resource is our most important resource. We just have to provide the means and the opportunity for our population to become more productive,” Nograles added.
Nograles noted that while advocates of the Reproductive Health measure maybe correct in their claim that the population management can help in solving some of the country’s social ills, it may also open the floodgates for an irreversible moral decadence among Filipinos particularly the youth.
Furthermore, Nograles said, the Reproductive Health is an issue that unnecessarily divides not only Congress but the entire nation as well.
“Everything that is in the Reproductive Health proposal is being practiced by many Filipinos even without any RH law. This debate over the RH bill is a needless distraction on our focus to bring unity and progress for our people and for our nation,” Nograles said. –Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune
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