The House of Representatives is doing all it can to get a vote on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill that has been opposed by the Catholic Church.
According to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., he would meet with the oppositors to the bill in a bid to have them agree to put the bill into a vote as Congress resumes today.
“I am going to meet my colleagues who have expressed opposition to the measure so that we can determine the final fate of the measure,” Belmonte yesterday said.
He added the House would have to vote on the bill whatever is the outcome.
“We should decide on this matter once and for all,” the Speaker said, adding those who are opposing the bill have not yet softened on their stand despite the substitute bill that has been filed basically to appease them.
Belmonte said the House leadership had decided to come out with a compromise or substitute version of House Bill (HB) 4244 or “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for Other Purposes” to appease its critics.
“We made the bill palatable to the critics and I hope they would stop delaying the proceedings because this is a very important piece of legislation,” Belmonte said unmindful of the political “repercussions” of supporting the bill that has bothered most of the lawmakers who said they are not going to win in the next elections if they support the bill.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the RH bill, said sex education remains a subject for grade six instead of grade five pupils under the original version, but to be taught only with consent from the parents.
“This will not be mandatory and will only be taught with the consent of parents,” he added.
Lagman proposed that the sex education would not be a separate subject, but to be integrated in related subjects to be determined by the Department of Education (DepEd).
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines maintained that the RH Bill is being forced into the lives of Filipino families as it noted that the approval of the bill would allow the Philippine government to impose upon families and health workers who are being forced to implement the law under pain of penalties and fines.
The CBCP, citing a recent pro-life forum at the University of the Philippines, said the RH bill includes penalties of fines and imprisonment for those who insist on recognizing conscientious objection.
Quoting, Dr. Ligaya Acosta, regional director of Human Life International – Asia and Oceania, who was one of the speakers during the forum, the CBCP said contraceptives cause “horrible side effects.”
The CBCP noted a study maid by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which established that oral contraceptives as Class 1 carcinogens. The IARC is an agency under the World Health Organization (WHO).
The CBCP noted that the use of the phrase “reproductive health” was a well-thought-out strategy in the global effort to make abortion on demand an acceptable option in as many parts of the world as possible – and eventually a legal one in nations where it is currently illegal.

Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/6467-belmonte-to-push-vote-on-rh-bill