THE controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill will definitely reach being voted on in the plenary, House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte assured.
“I don’t know if it will pass the House, but definitely it will reach a point of being voted on," Belmonte told reporters.
House Minority leader and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman (first district, Albay) and Iloilo Representative Janette Garin (first district, Iloilo) re-filed separate RH bills which seek the promotion of natural and artificial ways of family planning.
The measure, which has been filed as early as the 10th Congress, only reached debates on second reading in the previous 14th Congress.
Belmonte however was quick to add that he would not know how lawmakers in the lower chamber would vote for it because "in the social setting, it's a conscience vote".
The Catholic Bishops of the Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has repeatedly expressed fears over the passage of the bill.
Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz earlier said in a statement that the continued anti-population push of the proponents of the RH measure is all driven by money and selfishness.
“I feel a little incensed when those already born do not want others to be born because they are already around, they were not aborted, and their conception was not stopped… the selfishness of it all is that they do not want others to enjoy the same privileges,” Cruz said.
President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III meanwhile has not clarified his stand on the controversial measure. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)