RH backers camp out; Church says bill promotes homosexuality

Sensing that the Reproductive Health (RH) bill is not going to get the nod of the House of Representatives before the Christmas break, supporters of the measure yesterday urged House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to intervene and rev up the legislative mill for the controversial bill.

Akbayan party-list Reps. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao and Walden Bello said the House leadership should refrain from entertaining repetitive queries from the critics of the RH bill.

“The discussions are over. The interpellation has been enough. It is clear that the anti-RH (lawmakers) are delaying this process. The discussion has been comprehensive and exhaustive. It is time to vote,” Bag-ao said. At the last count there are at least 25 lawmakers who are queued to debate proponents of the bill.

Bag-ao joined the groups of RH bill proponents who had set up camp at the main gate of the House of Representatives in protest over the alleged delay in the passage of the bill that has been vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church for its alleged “abortifacient” features.

The advocates of the bill said that they will stay at the gate of the Batasan complex until the bill is passed on second reading.

Bello said that the bill has to be passed into law in order for the country to move on.

“Use your reason and rationality. There is no going back. We have to go forward. Do not be afraid to vote. Congress should make a step for the future,” Bello said.

Bello also urged President Aquino to make a bold campaign in Congress, especially to his allies in the Liberal Party (LP) for the passage of the proposed law.

Bello said that the success of the Aquino presidency could be gauged by the passage of the bill.

“President Aquino should intervene right now. Come and do your lobby in Congress. History will judge you based on whether the RH bill should pass,” Bello said.

He said President Aquino must make a strong lobby in Congress for the approval of the RH bill to address the bloating population in the country by promoting responsible parenthood.

House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II last week had hinted that the bill will not be able to see the light day before the end of the 15th Congress.

Opponents of the bill, including the Catholic church had maintained that a big population is not the cause of poverty in the country. They maintained that inequality in the distribution of the country’s wealth is the factor.

The Church said that aside from promoting abortion, the RH bill also promotes homosexuality.

At a recent pro-life conference in Cebu City, Dr. Ligaya Anacta-Acosta, director of Human Life International (HLI) Asia and Oceania, emphasized that despite the strides being made in the West to establish “homosexual rights,” we in the Philippines should be concerned.

“Why? Because the policies of the US affect the whole world,” Anacta-Acosta said.

Acosta, herself involved in the population control movement as a Department of Health (DoH) worker for over two decades before her conversion, explained how the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle figures in population control.

“Why are they promoting homosexuality? If two males are in a union, will they produce children? If two females are in a union, will they produce children? No. So it’s also part of population control,” she pointed out.

“If they can’t make us accept sex education, RH, (they) do it with promoting homosexuality.”

After explaining extensively how homosexuality is “more developmental and environmental, according to studies,” and how previous claims that it is genetic have already been debunked, Acosta pointed out that this condition can be reversed. –Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune