Groups look forward RH bill approval

TACLOBAN CITY -- Civil society organizations (CSOs) are looking forward to the final deliberation and immediate approval of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress this year.

The Philippine NGO Council on Population, Health and Welfare Inc. (PNGOC), a national network of 95 member non-government organizations all over the country with allied organizations in Eastern Visayas, is optimistic that with President Benigno Aquino III's support the RH bill will be discussed fully on the floor and eventually passed into law.

"In previous years, deliberations were derailed due to various issues such as the filing of impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona and the delaying tactics of anti-RH legislators of interpolating same questions over and over again," Dr. Eden Divinagracia, PNGOC executive director, said.

"I am hoping that Congress gives ample time in deliberating the RH bill. It is more than 10 years since the first RH bill had been pending in Congress," Divinagracia added.

As session resumes on January 16, 2012, PNGOC together with its partner organizations such as the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network, the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development, the Forum for Family Planning and Development among others, are calling on all legislators to be present during the resumption of session, so that the RH bill can be put into the priority agenda and voted upon by congressional representatives and by the senators.

"PNGOC will continue to advocate to all its networks of NGOs, partner organizations and communities nationwide for support for a Reproductive Health Care Act, for it believes that this legislated policy will provide stability of reproductive health programs, regardless of who sits as President, Cabinet or local government official," Divinagracia said. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)