Monday, March 10, 2008 Support for health bills 'dwindling' By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
POPULATION management and reproductive health bills have been filed again and renamed at the Lower House, but the measures were not revised to give in to pressure from the Catholic Church and other sectors, its advocates said.
Amid the dwindling support from fellow legislators, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu Province, 6th district) called for a more aggressive information campaign to remove doubts on the two reproductive health bills pending in Congress.
The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. (PLCPD), chaired by Soon-Ruiz, has stepped up its awareness campaign on the bills.
Kalayaan Pulido-Constantino, manager of the PLCPD Center for Policy Advocacy and Development, reiterated that neither of the two bills promotes abortion, contrary to what some church leaders and other government officials believe.
Both bills also do not seek to mandate a two-child policy in the country.
“The bills are basically the same. The minor revisions were just essential to improve it further but in no way was it subdued to calm the church and other sectors that opposed the original bills. Because when you say subdued, it means we compromised our stand. No, we did not,” Constantino told Sun.Star Cebu.
In an interview at the closing of the 3rd Population, Health and Environment (PHE) Conference held in Tagaytay City last Friday, she said the opposition to the bills never stopped even after the bills that were first filed in the 12th Congress were revised.
“It is not an abortion bill. If we pass these bills, it would even reduce the number of abortions in the country by preventing unwanted pregnancies,” Constantino said. She added that the measures would see to it that reproductive health commodities are provided and responsible parenthood is espoused.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman’s House Bill 17 or the “Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act Of 2007” and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin’s HB 812 or “The Reproductive Health Care Act” were filed again soon after the 14th Congress opened.
HB 17, co-authored by Soon-Ruiz, was originally titled the “Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act.”
Among the revisions made is a provision that would provide training for parents to be able to discuss sexuality issues with their children in an effective and responsible way.
Addressing some 400 PHE advocates during the conference, Soon-Ruiz appealed for their support of the bills.
HB 17, she said, would lay down a “comprehensive, integrated and sustainable responsible parenthood, reproductive health and population management program that will not only address the population problem but will likewise enhance the health of women.”
“While support for the bill in the Lower House reached its peak last Congress, I have to be candid to tell you that it has diminished in the face of spirited opposition from certain influential sectors. I suppose many have succumbed to the pressure and are now having second thoughts of having their names identified closely with the bills, certainly for political reasons. This, to me, is the main problem that we must address the soonest,” she said.
Soon-Ruiz urged them to help ease the pressure from critical sectors through heightened information campaigns, especially through the mass media. (LCR)
