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Date Posted: 20:37:14 08/02/12 Thu
Author: IMRD
Subject: August 3, 2012 news

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=834149&publicationSubCategoryId=63

I'm pro-quality of life - Noy
By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated August 03, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (21)



MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday made it clear that he is pro-life, like the bishops of the Catholic Church.
“Our position is pro-life. We want an improved quality of life for our countrymen,” he told reporters.
Aquino said the prayer rallies scheduled on Saturday are apparently aimed at gathering the Catholic Church’s forces to oppose the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.
“That is their right and I’m sure they will not endeavor to do anything against the law,” he said. “We will secure this rally if it pushes through.”
Aquino urged his allies in Congress during his July 23 State of the Nation Address to pass the priority bill to give couples the choice to plan their family.
“We should end the debates and decide once and for all on what we call the Responsible Parenthood bill,” he said in Filipino. “This is better than to sweep the measure under the rug, to the detriment of the Filipino people.”
Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications for Strategic Planning and Development Office said the administration wanted from the very start “responsible parenthood.”
“Our position has not changed – that we respect the decision of those lawmakers to change their minds for whatever reasons,” he said.
“But we’re hoping that those of us who are on the administration’s side will continue to support this effort.”
Carandang said the reported withdrawal of some members of the House of Representatives, particularly those from the opposition, will hopefully not affect the chances of the bill.
“It’s an important measure that we’re not viewing in terms of partisan politics. It’s something that we feel is long overdue and needs to be done and we’re doing it,” he said.
Due to politics
At the House of Representatives, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday partisan politics was behind the withdrawal of support of several opposition lawmakers for the RH bill.
“(Former President Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo has not articulated her specific objections to the RH bill except for a claim that it is against her Catholic faith, and neither has she pointed out what particular provisions of the bill is she against,” he said.
Lagman, principal author of the bill, said withdrawal of some minority members as co-authors “is a mere partisan support for former president Arroyo’s opposition to the controversial measure.”
Lagman criticized opposition lawmakers like House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, who had withdrawn their support as they have been co-authors since the previous Congresses.
“The much-ballyhooed withdrawal is not crucial to the final outcome which the RH advocates will win,” he said.
But Suarez said Arroyo “has never and never will influence us on the RH bill.”
Arroyo earlier said she would return to the plenary on Aug. 7 to vote against the termination of debates on the RH bill.
“I mentioned to my bishop that I withdrew my support,” Suarez said.
He agrees with the contention of Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay that all the services sought to be provided for in the RH bill are already in the Magna Carta for Women, except the appropriation of P3 billion for contraceptives and abortifacients. – With Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/241749/rh-backers-dont-fear-catholic-vote-in-2013

RH backers: Don’t fear Catholic vote in 2013
By Leila B. Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:30 am | Friday, August 3rd, 2012
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Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo AP PHOTO
But is it right for the Church to welcome former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is facing criminal charges, to join its campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill?

This question was raised Thursday after representatives of women’s groups, academics and students supporting the RH bill called on lawmakers not to fear the so-called Catholic vote in the 2013 elections because majority of Filipinos supported the measure.

“What is the morality in turning your back and forgiving the corruption of the former administration to bargain for [votes against] the reproductive health bill?” Sylvia Estrada Claudio, director of the University of the Philippines’ Center for Women’s studies, said in a forum organized by pro-RH supporters.

Arroyo, who is now a Pampanga representative, has declared that she would vote against the bill, and soon after, seven lawmakers affiliated with her withdrew support for the measure ahead of a critical vote on August 7 to extricate the bill from endless debates and move action on it forward.

Arroyo is out on a P1-million bail on election sabotage charges for which she had been detained in a hospital for eight months.

Claudio urged the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) not to turn a blind eye to the “cold, hard, concrete facts” presented by academics, scientists and researchers that too many poor women were dying because of lack of access to contraceptives and proper reproductive health care.

Appalling insensitivity

A statement from academicians from UP and Ateneo de Manila University lambasted the CBCP for “acting in a morally questionable way” and showing “an appalling insensitivity to the suffering and death of Filipino women.”

Former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros slammed Arroyo for attempting to turn the August 7 event as a vote of no-confidence against the Aquino administration.

“She wants to recover her political clout,” Hontiveros said, adding that Arroyo’s entry into the fray could be a “kiss of death” for the Church initiative.

During the opening of budget deliberations in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas tackled the importance of the “demographic sweet spot.”

Responding to a question by Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, he described this as a “spot where you have a good convergence of very robust economic growth and low inflation rate.” He said the economy grew by 6.4 percent in the first quarter but with an inflation rate of 3 percent. “In the past, it’s one way or the other—either we have a very high economic growth or a very high inflation or vice versa.”

Guinigundo acknowledged that the country’s young population—set at a median age of 22.2—could be attributed to “more babies being born than people dying.”


http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/2398-noy-backed-repro-bill-has-numbers-to-ensure-senate-passage%E2%80%94-ping


Noy-backed repro bill has numbers to ensure Senate passage— Ping
• Written by Tribune
• Friday, 03 August 2012 00:00
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A known supporter of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the Senate yesterday said they have the numbers to ensure the passage in the upper chamber of the controversial measure despite strong opposition from the leaders of Catholic Church and some of his colleagues.
“Based on my conversations with my fellow sena-tors, I think this will be passed in the Senate,” Sen. Panfilo Lac-son said, in weighing the issue in the light of the reported withdrawal of support in the highly debated measure by the minority bloc in the House of Representatives.
“I know for a fact that some (senators) remain undecided, that they want to find out first for themselves, the sentiment of the majority which they will join. As of now though, I think there’s already a majority support for its passage,” said the senator, one of the proponents of the bill in the upper chamber.
What could be considered as the biggest obstacle in the Senate as far as RH bill is concerned, is the fact that two of the highest officials of the upper chamber are staunch critics of the bill, Lacson said.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III have been vocal in their opposition to the measure.
Lacson would not name names as to who would likely vote for the approval of the measure, merely

saying that baed on his assumptions and headcount, senators could provide the so-called swing vote.
These are those who have not indicated even in the past whether they are for or against the RH bill, he said.
When pressed by reporters if these are those so-called re-electionists, Lacson refused to be badgered, saying these senators can easily be pinpointed by those covering the upper chamber.
Except in voting to concur with the President’s ratification of treaties, deciding on impeachment cases and amendments in the Constitution and in overriding a presidential veto, there’s no specific number required in the passage of a bill. A majority vote would suffice.
Speaking in the weekly Kapihan sa Senado news forum, Lacson admitted that the matter of those seeking reelection in 2013 is a factor to be considered in reading the votes of his colleagues especially since the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had already threatened to campaign against those who will vote for the bill.
It’s probably one of the reasons some of them would not make any categorical statement on their position on RH bill as they may still be trying to weigh the sentiment of the public, whether it has something to do with the dictates or teachings of the Church against the measure, he explained.
“But they should bear in mind that the surveys are very clear on the public sentiment on the matter, survey upon survey shows that there are 65-75 percent supportive of the bill,” he said.
Lacson is not at all perturbed by reports on the junking of the bill by the members of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives just as when the measure is due to be voted upon by the lower chamber on Aug. 7, saying that it’s all but part of politics.
“That’s what you call politics because they’re part of the opposition, the minority congressmen. Clearly, they’re engaging in politicking. Whatever is being advocated by the President openly, naturally some who may be supportive of (RH) are now withdrawing just because the administration or the President himself endorsed it in his Sona,” he said.
As to the CBCP’s call for legislators to exercise conscience vote on the bill, Lacson said for advocates of the measure like him whom he believes represent 70 percent of Filipinos, the need to have it passed to improve the quality of life would define what is called conscience vote.
Malacañang, for its part, does not see former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who has openly stood against RH bill, as significantly capable of swinging votes of the congressmen when they finally decide on the meansure.
“You can never tell until the vote is there. But we are confident that we have support,” Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang yesterday told a press briefing.
Aquino has openly endorsed what he refers to as Responsible Parenthood Bill, a legislative proposal combing salient features of six other RH bills filed earlier at the House.
“There’s a bill that is pending that has the support of the administration and for various reasons, even before the former president was released from jail and weighed in on this issue, there were people who opposed it. And so we respect the democratic space in which the debate is being undertaken. At the same time, we hope that our friends in Congress will see the wisdom of this measure,” he added.
Carandang indicated that the administration is consistently working on the passage of legislative measures deemed by the President as necessary in putting up a society that is conducive and livable while claiming silent efforts in progress.
The CBCP, meanwhile, downplayed surveys that 70 percent of Filipinos support the RH bill.
CBCP president and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said people should not trust the old survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations to promote the RH bill.
According to Palma, there is a need to verify the survey which was used by presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda to push their agenda and go against the survey done by the CBCP which shows 140 lawmakers are against the bill. By Angie M. Rosales, Fernan J. Angeles and Pat C. Santos


http://manilastandardtoday.com/2012/08/02/arroyo-house-allies-slammed-for-opposing-rh-measure/

Arroyo, House allies slammed for opposing RH measure
By Manila Standard Today | Posted on August 02, 2012 | 10:35pm | 603 views

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A former ally of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo on Thursday criticized the former President for opposing the reproductive health bill despite having used contraception when she was a young mother.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the main proponent of House Bill 4244, said Arroyo’s rejection of the measure “is a departure from her admission that she used contraceptive pills when she was a young mother, presumably to limit the number of her children and for birth spacing,” Lagman said in a statement.
“She made this candid admission in March 2003 at a luncheon with pro-family planning legislators in Malacañang.”
Lagman made his statement even as Senator Panfilo Lacson said he was confident the Reproductive Health bill would be passed into law on Aug. 7.
He called on the Senate to finally vote on the bill after some members of the House of Representatives said they would push for a vote on the same measure on Aug. 7.
“I think it will pass,” Lacson said during a weekly forum at the Senate.
“It’s time it was brought to the floor for a vote.”
Lagman said Arroyo’s opposition to the RH bill “amounts to depriving Filipino women of the same right she herself enjoyed and the choice of availing themselves of non-abortive contraceptives.”
“If a woman of means has the right to contracept, why should she deny other women, particularly those in the marginalized sectors, from using contraceptives to meet their fertility goals and desired family size?” he said.
Lagman also criticized his former colleagues in the minority bloc for withdrawing their support for the measure.
“It is a mere partisan support for former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s opposition to the controversial measure,” Lagman said.
“Many of those who withdrew as co-authors are long-standing RH advocates like [minority leader] Representative Danilo Suarez [of Quezon] who has been a consistent and vocal co-author for three Congresses dating back to the 13th Congress.”
Lagman, however, dismissed what he called the “much-ballyhooed” withdrawal, saying it was not “crucial to the final outcome which the RH advocates will win.” Maricel Cruz With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

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