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Friday, May 20, 2005
Solons lobby for passage of population law in Davao
TWO lawmakers supporting controversial House Bill 3773, otherwise known as the "Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act of 2005", visited Davao City Thursday to lobby support for the passage of the bill.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, spokesperson of the Philippine Legislator's Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc., said it's high time that HB 3773 be passed into law.
Remulla cited the result of the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey, which showed that the country's fertility rate is among the highest compared to other Southeast Asian nations.
The survey also showed that only half of the married women use family planning because of lack of information and proper knowledge. It was learned that in Davao City, only 59% of the married women use any method at all.
Remulla dismissed earlier notions that the bill is an abortion bill as well as coercive and has a bias for modern methods of family planning.
He said the bill aims to provide an "informed choice" to the Filipino people with regards to responsible parenting and population management.
Asked of the status of the bill right now, Remulla said it was approved by the House committee on women and is now at the committee on rules. He admitted that the bill has somehow met a snag at the committee on rules but assured that it will be passed soon since they only need one more signature before it will be passed on to the plenary for debate and votation.
He said he is confident that they will get the majority of the House to pass HB 3773 by next year. He said though that once the Senate version of the bill would be another story considering the strong opposition of the Catholic Church against the bill.
Remulla added that some bishops are even personally calling some lawmakers to say they do not support HB 3773.
"The Catholic Church is definitely a force to reckon with but we are still confident that the bill will pass," he said.
Bishop Fred Magbanua of the Council of Christian Bishops of the Philippines, however, expressed support to the bill. He said it is incumbent upon the Church and the government to improve the quality of life of the people especially the women and the children.
Magbanua said the Catholic Church also allow the natural method of family planning as well as all other modern contraceptive methods for as long as they do not destroy the fertilized egg within the womb of the woman.
"Many people do not know this but this is what is written in one of the pope's encyclical," Magbanua said.
At present, Filipino women produce an average of 3.5 births throughout their reproductive life. Remulla said they want to lower this to the ideal birth rate of 2.7.
With the annual population growth at 2.36 percent, Remulla said they estimated the country population to reach 103 million in 2015 from 84.7 million as based on the year 2000 census of the National Statistics Office. (BOT)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 20, 2005 issue)
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