Responsible parenthood no longer Aquino priority

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III on Monday backpedaled on his promise to push legislation on responsible parenthood and freedom of information, leaving them out of his administration’s list of priority bills that will be presented to lawmakers on Feb. 28.

A bill to protect whistle blowers also failed to make the list to be taken up by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council that convenes at the end of the month.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Mr. Aquino decided to exclude the responsible parenthood bill from the list because the government was continuing to consult with the Catholic bishops, who oppose all forms of birth control outside of the rhythm method and abstinence.

“It will not be part of the [council meeting],” Lacierda said of the responsible parenthood bill.

“There is a possibility that it may be introduced in Congress within the year, but the President will not certify it as urgent.”

Lacierda said the decision to exclude the responsible parenthood bill, which aims to promote both natural and artificial family planning methods, was done “out of courtesy to the Church.”

“This does not mean we are backing down. We are just waiting for the dialog to end. The dialog process calls for listening to each other,” he said.

The groups advocating population management have called the responsible parenthood bill, as drafted by the Health Department, a watered-down version of the reproductive health bill pending in Congress.

Lacierda also said the President did not submit the freedom of information bill, which aims to grant citizens easy access to public documents, because it could violate a person’s constitutional right to privacy. The whistle-blower bill was left out because another measure was pending in Congress.

The 17 priority bills that made the cut were the following:

• An act postponing the August elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and synchronizing them with national and local polls in May 2013

• An act extending the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which expired last year, up to 2025

• An act establishing the country’s archipelagic sea lanes

• An act defining the country’s maritime zones

• An act promoting fiscal discipline in government-owned or -controlled corporations

• An act creating a Land Administration Authority that will be the sole agency for the preparation, issuance and registration of all land titles

• An act creating a Department of Housing and Urban Development

• An act removing the night-work prohibition on female workers given the increasing demand for female employees in the call center industry

• An act providing for a K+12 program of the Education Department that seeks to increase the country’s basic education from 10 years to 12

• An act strengthening the powers of the Philippine National Health Insurance Corp. and providing for government subsidy on the contributions of the poorest 20 percent of the population

• An act amending the Build-Operate-Transfer law to allow more public-private partnership projects.

• An act rationalizing fiscal incentives

• An act strengthening the National Food Authority

• An act amending the Electric Power Industry Reform Act as requested by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines

• An act reforming the water sector

• An act strengthening the Anti-Money Laundering Act

• A Fiscal Responsibility Act that requires a revenue source for every law that has an expenditure component. –Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today