Leaders of the Catholic church have called on the people to once again “act together” in condemning the Reproductive Health (RH) bill following the House panel’s approval of the consolidated version of the birth control measure.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in its pastoral letter entitled “Choosing Life, Rejecting the RH Bill,” said “moral choices” today are at the “crossroads” again which calls for necessary action from the people even as it
noted that the controversial bill is a form of “moral corruption.”
The bishops cited President Aquino’s popular pronouncement “if there’s no corruption, there would be no poverty, but the bishops said that “moral corruption” is really the root of all corruption.
“On the present issue, it would be morally corrupt to disregard the moral implications of the RH bill. This is our unanimous, collective moral judgment,” the statement read.
“We strongly reject the RH bill commonly shared human and cultural values to the fundamental principles,” it added.
According the bishops, their mission of protecting the sanctity of life and the family is far from being simply a Catholic issue since the RH bill is “a major attack on authentic human values and on Filipino cultural values regarding human life that all of us have cherished since time immemorial.”
While advocates contend that the RH bill promotes reproductive health, the CBCP stressed that RH Bill certainly does not.
The CBCP also countered pro-RH groups claim that the bill is necessary to stop overpopulation and to escape from poverty.
“Our own government statistical office has concluded that there is no overpopulation in the Philippines but only the over-concentration of population in a number of urban centers… In fact, many Filipino scholars have concluded that population is not the cause of our poverty. The causes of our poverty are: flawed philosophies of development, misguided economic policies, greed, corruption, social inequities, lack of access to education, poor economic and social services, poor infrastructures, among others.”
It added world organizations have estimated that in the Philippines more than P400 billion is lost yearly to corruption.
“The conclusion is unavoidable: for our country to escape from poverty, we have to address the real causes of poverty and not population,” the CBCP said.
The bishops also called upon the legislators “to consider the RH bill in the light of God-given dignity and work of human life and therefore to shelve it completely as contrary to our ideals and aspirations as a people.”
The CBCP urged the Aquino administration to address effectively the real causes of poverty such as corruption, lack of social and economic services, lack of access to education and the benefits of development, social inequities.
Amid strong objections from the leaders of Catholic Church, the House committee on population and family relations yesterday adopted a committee report containing the consolidated bills on the controversial Reproductive Health.
The bill is proposing, among others the use of modern artificial birth control while giving the couples freedom of choice.
To enjoin support, framers of the controversial bill cited a constitutional provision which states that the State shall promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal.
To prevent population from growing, the consolidated bill proposed to the government to promote programs that will enable individuals and women to have the number and spacing of children they desire with due consideration to the health of women and resources available.
But in order to appease the Catholic church, the bill contained a provision stating it does not promote abortion.
“While this act recognized that abortion is illegal and punishable by law, the government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a human, non-judgmental and compassionate manner,” the bill stressed.
The bill provides that all accredited health facilities shall provide a full range of modern family planning methods, except in especially hospitals which may render such services on hospital basis.
“For poor patients, such services shall be fully covered by PhilHealth Insurance and/or government financial assistance on a no balance billing,” it added.
The committee decided to consolidate at least six RH measures after three extensive public debates.
Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia tried to delay the approval of the committee by asking the members to discuss first the amended provisions.
But Davao del Sur Marc Douglas Cagas and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin opposed and instead moved for the approval of the report.
According to Cagas, all of the features and views about RH have been debated and exhausted since the 8th Congress.
“These bills were basically re-filed and extensive debates have conducted already. Ang sa akin lang uulitin pa rin naman ang debate sa plenary,” Cagas said.
Minority Leader Edcel Lagman expressed elation over the approval of the committee to his bill, House Bill 96 and five others, adding that he will prepare for more intensive debates.
The plenary debate may start mid-February. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune
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