Church dared: Let people decide RH fate thru plebiscite

MANILA, Philippines—With the debate turning into name-calling, a lawmaker has posed this challenge to the Church: Why not let the people decide the fate of the reproductive health (RH) bill in a plebiscite?

“They say there are only a few of us pushing this. I throw this challenge: Let’s give this to the people,” Bukidnon Rep. Jose Ma. Zubiri III, co-author of RH measure House Bill (HB) 96, told a forum at the Sulo Riviera Hotel. “If for whatever reason it doesn’t pass here, let’s submit to a plebiscite. It affects the people, let the people decide.”

But with the backing of President Benigno Aquino III and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Zubiri and other RH bill proponents were confident that lawmakers would pass the measure in the 15th Congress.

“There’s never been a time that something like this could pass than now,” Zubiri said.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales had advised parents to mold their children’s conscience lest Filipinos would end up with the kind of people in Congress who, he said, have “poorly formed conscience.”

President Aquino’s declaration of support for couples seeking to limit the number of their children through contraceptives has bolstered hopes for the approval of the measure, but alarmed the Church.

The family planning measure promotes artificial means of family planning, such as the use of contraceptives, pills and condoms, which the Church labels as anti-life.

Risk of excommunication

Zubiri said pro-RH lawmakers were willing to risk excommunication from the Church to push for the approval of the legislation.

Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, author of HB 96, said he wasn’t surprised why Church officials have not approached him and the other RH bill proponents.

“There is pressure on those they feel they can influence. Nobody meets with us, otherwise they might change their position,” he said.

Lagman also said that lawmakers, including 100 authors and co-authors of the RH bill, were targeting the approval of the measure within the 15th Congress’ first year by June 2011.

The House committee on population and family relations starts hearing HB 96 and five other RH bills on Nov. 24.

“We are starting early so we can finish on time,” he told the same forum.

“Thanks to Mr. Aquino’s steadfast support, the prospects of its approval in the 15th Congress are bright,” Lagman said.

“I’m positive that the President will remain steadfast in support of responsible parenthood. I think this is a feather in the cap of the President. This will in a way mitigate initial setbacks on the part of the administration if the President will remain to solidly support the RH bill,” he said.

Part of the reason that RH bills failed to get through in previous Congresses in more than 10 years was that these were tackled toward the end of the regular sessions, Lagman said.

Ambivalent

Lagman also admitted that during her nine-year watch, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was “ambivalent” toward the RH bill. He doubted if he could coax her to support the bill.

“I have not tried it. I don’t know. I think she’s co-author of a bill that’s opposite to us. It’s unfortunate,” he said of now Pampanga Rep. Macapagal-Arroyo. –TJ Burgonio, Philippine Daily Inquirer