House leader insists RH bill a priority measure

MANILA, Philippines – House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II on Tuesday assured that the Reproductive Health (RH) bill is a priority measure of the House of Representatives.

“Bagaman ang LEDAC (Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council) only identified 22 [priority bills], the Speaker met [House] leaders [and] we have identified about 106 priorities of the House as an institution, including the Reproductive Health bill,” Gonzales said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda.

The congressman said that the House leadership is bent on pushing the RH bill for debate on the floor and its eventual passage on 2nd to 3rd and final reading.

Gonzales said that it was unfortunate that the RH bill’s plenary debate was sidetracked by long interpellations of congressmen on Monday and many congressmen left the floor.

The congressman called on supporters of the RH bill to be more patient next time and keep their presence on the floor to push the controversial measure.

“Ako personally I’m supportive of RH bill eh,” Gonzales said. “Our appeal to those who professed to be in support of it, kailangan talaga nito make that sacrifice.”

He said that RH bill supporters are facing an uphill climb for the measure to pass the lower chamber. He said the measure needs the presence of 143 congressmen during debates.

He said congressmen against the measure can take advantage of the mere lack of quorum or the absence of RH bill supporters to bungle its passage.

“They should some real dedication by stapling their puwet sa mga upuan. Otherwise, tuwing uumpisahan iyan, palagi kang may quorum call eh,” Gonzales said.

Monday’s delay followed last week’s postponement of the RH bill’s floor debate due to faulty airconditioning system at the House building’s plenary hall.

The agenda was supposed to be carried over on Monday, but most of the plenary session was consumed by a privilege speech of ANAD party-list Rep. June Alcover, who spoke about the communist movement, and the ensuing interpellation.

RH bill author Rep. Janet Garin moved to tackle the issue on Monday, but subsequently withdrew to give way to a scheduled RH bill debate on Tuesday.

Long interpellations

Garin told ANC’s Headstart that they are expecting congressmen opposing the measure to delay the debate by making long interpellations on the floor.

“The way we look at it, one of the tactics to delay deliberation of the measure is for those against the bill to stand up and give long interpellations,” the congresswoman said.

She said the proponents of the bill only want congressmen to debate it on the floor and present the benefits of the bill to the people.

Garin, meanwhile, said that she believes that last week’s reason for postponement of the RH bill’s debate was not deliberate.

She said Speaker Sonny Belmonte has been very consistent and persistent that the measure be debated on the floor.

An opponent of the RH bill advocate, Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, believes that the measure “creates more dangers than solutions.”

Nograles said the measure violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion and poses grave danger to women’s health.

“There’s a lot of mandatory requirements provided by the bill that goes against the very essence of free choice,” he said.

He mentioned the measures’ proposed mandatory sex education at the age of 11, which, he said violates the freedom of religion.

“We also have Catholic hospitals that are being imposed to provide reproductive health procedures,” he said.

He also insisted that the measure is “the wrong way to spend public money” and “gives undue partiality and advantage to contraceptive manufacturers.” –abs-cbnNEWS.com