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Thursday, October 09, 2003
Vidal to tap bishops for campaign against HB 4110
By Linette C. Ramos
DISAPPOINTED with the approval of the Reproductive Health Care Bill at the House committee on health, the Cebu Archdiocese will ask all bishops in the country to urge their representatives in Congress to vote against the bill.
Quoting Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who called him from Rome, Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer said that the prelate asked him to intensify their campaign in Luzon, where most of the bill’s supporters come from.
“The cardinal said that it would help if we go directly to the bishops because they will be able to have a one-on-one discussion with the congressmen and help them to be enlightened on the matter,” said Bullecer, Visayas-Mindanao director of Human Life International.
He said they did not expect House Bill (HB) 4110, or the proposed Reproductive Health Care Act, to be approved since 35 committee members had expressed opposition to the bill.
Bullecer said they will appeal to all members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to campaign against legislators who support the bill.
In a separate interview yesterday, House committee on health chairman Rep. Antonio Yapha Jr. (Cebu, 3rd District) encouraged church officials and critics of the bill to go on with their campaign while the bill has yet to be presented to the plenary.
The committee on rules will be the one to schedule the bill for deliberation on the floor.
“By all means, they should go on with their campaign against this bill before it is presented to the plenary. Their idea to go to all bishops is good but, of course, it would really depend on the congressmen,” said Yapha, one of the Cebu representatives who voted against the bill.
The committee on health will now prepare its report and submit it to the committee on appropriations. The bill has been allocated a P10-million budget.
If approved, the bill will then go to the committee on rules, which will refer it to the plenary for second reading, where the bill will be open for debate among the congressmen.
Bullecer said that with the help of CBCP, they will draft letters for the bishops and will ask them to discourage their representatives in Congress from supporting HB 4110.
“Through the bishops, we hope to get the congressmen to change their mind and vote against the bill when it reaches the plenary. We’ll ask the bishops to conduct a loyalty check among their congressmen and tell them that if they are still Catholics, they should side with the church and vote against the bill,” Bullecer told Sun.Star.
Last month, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal warned Cebu’s representatives in Congress that he will actively campaign against them in next year’s election if they support the “anti-life” bill.
The Roman Catholic Church has been campaigning against HB 4110 in the past months because they fear that it is a prelude to legalizing abortion in the country.
In the executive meeting of the committee on health last Tuesday morning, members voted 17 to 10 to approve the “substitute bill” of HB 4110.
Ten members who would have voted against it were not able to attend the meeting as they were in the national directorate meeting of the Lakas party.
Other Cebu representatives who voted against the bill are Simeon Kintanar (2nd district), Jose Gullas (1st district) and Cocofed Party-List Rep. Emerito Calderon.
Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu, 6th district) presided over the session and did not vote.
(October 9, 2003 issue)
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