Speaker pushes Reproductive Health bill

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is ready to face the wrath of the Roman Catholic Church in pushing for the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

“Everyone has to assess that. Yet we ourselves have assessed it in the past, and we’re willing to take the risk,” Belmonte said, referring to the Church’s heightened campaign against the RH bill whose main feature is the state’s promotion of artificial birth control methods.

He recalled having faced strong opposition from some Church officials when he implemented a similar measure when he was mayor of Quezon City, along with some city councilors who are now members of the House.

Belmonte said President Aquino’s statement openly backing the bill as well as the rising number of fetuses being found in various parts of Metro Manila have provided an impetus to the measure in the House of Representatives.

Belmonte said he expects the Church to intensify its lobbying against the RH bill as both the House and the Senate prepare to decide the fate of the controversial measure.

He said Mr. Aquino’s standing up to the Church regarding the RH issue may embolden lawmakers in the 274-member chamber to voice their support for the measure.

Belmonte said the law and the Church are also at odds on what constitutes abortion.

Belmonte said it was possible the House leadership would ask Mr. Aquino to certify the measure as urgent or at least endorse it.

“I think it’s okay to ask the President, to request him if he can certify that. Anyway, he has bitten the bullet already,” he said.

Belmonte, however, stressed that despite the growing support for the RH bill, he would ensure fairness in the debates over the measure and that “it reaches the point of third reading where everybody can express his view for or against. That will be the will of the House.”

“I don’t like to say it will be approved or disapproved on third reading. I say let it reach that stage where it will be voted on. It will be a little bit presumptuous of me to say that this side or that side has the majority. I don’t know that,” he said.

Anti life

But Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez, who is also a medical doctor, warned his colleagues about the RH Bill’s “anti-life” provisions.

Golez said he is not comfortable with provisions in the RH Bill that promotes intra-uterine devices (IUDs), morning after pills and oral contraceptive pills.

“As a doctor we have the Hippocratic Oath that also talks about the respect and the protection of life from the moment of conception. No law can run contrary to that. Even if a lot of people say this will solve the problem of population management and population control,” he said.

Excommunication

President Aquino may face excommunication from the Catholic Church for being an “accessory” to legalizing abortion with his strong stand for the RH bill, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president and Tandag, Surigao del Sur Bishop Nereo Odchimar said.

“We are approaching these issues from the moral aspect like the unborn. Abortion is a grave crime, excommunication is attached to those (acts). That is an issue of gravity. That is a violation of God’s commandment,” said Odchimar over the Church-run Radio Veritas.

In Malacañang, Mr. Aquino shrugged off Odchimar’s declaration. “We are guided by our conscience. My position has not changed. The state’s duty is to educate our families as to their responsibilities and to respect their decisions if they are in conformity to our laws,” he said.

The 50-year-old bachelor president comes from a devout Catholic family.

“Right now it (excommunication) is a proximate possibility,” Odchimar said. But he stressed “we are open to dialogue.”

In a separate interview over Radio Veritas, Ebra Moxir of the Imam Council of the Philippines voiced solidarity with the Church on the issue.

“We support this through information drive, to encourage the people not to support this bill. We are really against this,” Moxir said.

He said was also saddened by reports that huge chunks of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the local government units would be used for the purchase of artificial contraceptives that would be given out to their constituents.

But a group of lay Catholics voiced its support for Mr. Aquino on the issue.

“As Catholics we express our admiration to the President. The poor health status of the Filipinos, especially the women, has a to do with the lack of political will of leaders for many years,” Ben de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development and member of the Catholics for RH Movement, said in a statement.

“I believe that the President should not fear the Catholic Church, after all the CBCP is not the Catholic Church,” the statement read. “While more than 80 percent of Filipinos are Roman Catholics, majority of the Filipinos support reproductive health and family planning according to numerous surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia,” De Leon said. –Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) with Perseus Echeminada and Evelyn Macairan