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Date Posted: 21:12:46 04/10/12 Tue
Author: i
Subject: April 11, 2012 news

http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/opinion/1041-still-on-rh-bill-reproductive-health-bill

pls read above link below

Still on RH bill Reproductive Health Bill
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Details
Published on Wednesday, 11 April 2012 00:00
By A Web design Company

‘Push Reproductive Health (RH) Bill--perfect it further, support closing of interpellations now.’
WE pay taxes so that Congress can have money for its budget. Congress approves a bill, gives it a budget, to buy bullets that the soldiers can use to protect the citizens. Congress approves a bill for money for salaries and allowances of senators and congresspersons. Congress approves a bill for orphanages and public hospitals. All government budget expenses must be passed as bills in Congress.
If Congress does not pass the RH bill, there is no budget; where will the budget come from to spend for family planning-related maternal care, needs and counseling related to the RH advocacy? Every government project needs a budget that is okayed by Congress.
Without a Congressional bill allowing a budget, there will be no help for couples living under bridges and cardboard dwellings having 7, 8 or 9 pregnancies. Family planning, condoms, contraceptives, tubal ligation, vasectomy cost money. Government has to provide these services free to those who cannot pay, to avoid unwanted pregnancies. This is what RH bill is about—budget, government money, spaced pregnancies; fewer, well-cared for, healthier children.
Ramon San Pascual, Executive Director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD), main proponents for the passage of the RH bill: “We support the statement of (House) majority leader Neptali Gonzales and we hope that the end of the debates on RH will really happen….”
Related to the proposed move, San Pascual urged lawmakers to give due attention to the length and substance of the interpellations. “After 11 years and three Congresses since it was first filed, after another year of plenary debate in current Congress with at least 15 interpellators raising all their questions on RH, it is about time to close the period of interpellation and move to the period of amendments. It is high time that we move the country forward by moving on with the RH bill.” The move to close the period of interpellations will give way to the period of amendments. Just like any decision in the House plenary, it is done through consensus.
Despite the opposition to the RH bill of the romano church bishops who presumably know nothing about women’s suffering and trauma from yearly pregnancies, lawmakers ought to support closing the period of interpellations so Congress can start with the amendments period towards further perfecting the bill.
If those who have objections and reservations on the bill are really determined to help Filipinos, especially poor women, then they can help perfecting the bill during the period of amendments where an individual lawmaker will be given the chance to propose what he thinks is best for the bill.
“We call on the lawmakers to support this move, Let us move forward, let us end the period of interpellations, and contribute towards perfecting the bill, for women’s sake, and for the sake of the country,” San Pascual.
National chairperson Elizabeth Angsioco of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP) said that if the House leadership wants to already terminate the debates on the RH bill, it can very well do so under its rules without going to a vote. The “test vote” as explained, is unnecessary.
“After all, the bill has been under deliberation for more than 12 years and everything that can be discussed has already been exhausted. Insisting on more debates is really about further delaying the vote on the RH bill.”
DSWP members face the sad realities experienced by women in poor communities: In the first month of this year alone, 50 maternal deaths were recorded by DOH in Metro Manila; 10 girls were found pregnant in only one high school in Ilocos Norte. “This could have been averted if our young people have an age-appropriate RH education which is an important provision of the RH bill.”
“We know how fast the House can work on matters it deems important, just like on the ongoing impeachment cases. We have also seen how a single text message from the office of the Speaker can magically make absent representatives appear in plenary when they want to have a quorum,” says Angsioco.
For clarifications please contact, Vigie Benosa-Llorin at mobile no. 0918-2936786.


http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120411com7.html

please read above link below.

Sand and sky (rocketing population)
SHE SAYS


Dinah S. Ventura
04/11/2012
Watching the mass of oiled and baking bodies in some of the most popular beaches in the Philippines over the Holy Week, I could not help but send a little prayer of gratitude to the heavens for I was comfortably ensconced in the cool confines of my home, watching the screen as others vied for a scrap of space on the beach.
Well, okay, there was a tiny bit of envy there for those who actually touched sand and sea this long break, but I quickly consoled myself in the fact that when the time comes for me to enjoy the same, I would not be literally rubbing elbows with strangers at all!
Many writer friends have commented on many occasions how easily our favorite beach destinations turn into mini-Metro Manilas when major holidays come. For those who prefer to see sand and sea rather than a whirl of bodies in the horizon, the best time to go, they advise, is during lean seasons.
As a successful Boracay resort owner observed, however, it seems there is no longer a “lean” season in that island (and, I suspect, in many other tourist destinations, too) because people are simply traveling more, with seat sales and hotel promo packages making travel even more accessible to more Filipinos.
And, of course, it is also because there are simply more people now than ever before.
Information from www.tradingeconomics.com, for example, reveals: “The Population in Philippines was reported at 92.23 million persons in 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2015, Philippines’ Population is expected to be 103.73 millions persons.” Just imagine! We are, indeed, just like sand particles in the entire universe.
Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) recently has also shown that as of May 1, 2010, the Philippines’ population has reached 92,337,852. The figure, according to a newspaper report, was based on the 2010 Census of Population and Housing conducted from May to June 2010.
Just think, in just a year or so, the country’s population had bulked up by 100,000. And, you guessed it, the most populated areas, home to a total of 37.47 of the total Philippine population, remain the same: Calabarzon as the most populated at over 12 percent, National Capital Region with over 11 percent and Central Luzon at over 10 percent.
This means all those grand plans to develop the super regions — and thereby decongest the populous urban areas — have all come to naught.
This means all those talks about population management have simply added to the country’s hot and humid air.
Clearly, the issue of over population is one that is often taken for granted or overlooked, not just by the people, but also the different administrations come and gone. The uncertain attitude about it could be one of the reasons this is so. In a highly religious country such as ours, health and population issues are often regarded with subjective emotion and usually take forever to get finalized and implemented. Just think of the RH Bill; while its proponents say it could be one way to help control the population boom (aside from helping women deal with both economic woes and health issues), those against it are focusing on the aspect of faith or religious belief. How do we come up with a law that would not be against beliefs and yet effectively address these modern problems?
Meanwhile, leaders who have further ambitions never truly take a definite stand as they try to please as many sectors as possible. In the end, nothing concrete is really accomplished.
But consider these other alarming facts:
“The 2010 population was higher by 15.83 million compared to the 2000 population of 76.51 million.
“The population grew at the rate of 1.9 percent annually from 2000 to 2010.
“In August 2007, the population stood at 88.57 million.”
As the NSO explains: “This means that there were two persons added per year for every 100 persons in the population.”
An editor in the wedding magazine business recently told me that the wedding industry is booming. At the back of my mind are all the couples who will, naturally plan for kids. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this progression of things, but it becomes a concern when the economy is not moving along just as fast or even way ahead.
Aside from that, everyone also has a hand in ensuring the continued health of our environment and natural resources. The future generations have a right to life just as we do, and people today should take care to preserve these resources instead of focusing solely on their own survival in these difficult times.
Everything, after all, is connected. The challenge for our current and future leaders, as well as the people today, is to make sure there remains a balance in all aspect of our life. It should not be all about politics, or all about economy, or all about justice, among other great issues of our time. They are all necessary to create a whole. As it is, what we have is are holes — in the system, or if you prefer, those little spaces we struggle to find amidst all those bodies in the sand.


http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/04/03/pawning-the-rh-bill/

please read above link below

Pawning the RH bill
Tuesday, 03 April, 2012 Written by Adelle Chua
Tweet7
First of two parts
In early June 2010, just after the election of President Benigno Aquino III and before his inauguration, I spoke with Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development, about the prospects of the reproductive health bill under the incoming administration.
At that time, San Pascual was confident that things would be different under Aquino. Under former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the bill was killed because the embattled chief executive used it as a bargaining chip to keep the Catholic church’s support amid her unpopularity and calls for her ouster.
San Pascual then felt that Aquino was a breath of fresh air, supporting couples’ right to exercise their free will about the manner in which to plan their families.
The impending speakership of just-elected Rep. Feliciano Belmonte was also, in San Pascual’s view, a boost to their cause. As mayor of Quezon City, Belmonte implemented reproductive health programs for his constituency.
But when I returned to the PLCPD office last week, San Pascual sounded anything but upbeat.
Indeed there was momentum in the beginning. The RH bill hurdled the committee-level discussions in record time. Building on Aquino’s vocal support of reproductive health (even as he preferred to call it “responsible parenthood”), lawmakers were ready with a committee report by March 2011. Voting and eventual passage seemed imminent.
In August 2011, the measure was included in the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council. Debates were begun in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill’s advocates welcomed the interpellations, hoping public awareness and a sense of urgency would prod congressional leaders to bring the bill to a vote by December. Advocates were confident they had the numbers.
But something else happened in December. The House of Representatives impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. And then the Christmas holidays came and went. When Congress resumed in January, the impeachment trial began.
Ideally, the number of lawmakers participating in the trial would not affect the quorum at the House. But the House has become, according to San Pascual, dysfunctional—lazy, distracted and afflicted with low morale. “There is just no leadership to conduct normal business.”
This side of House Speaker Belmonte came as an unpleasant surprise to San Pascual and his group, who have all worked alongside the former mayor in RH programs in his city before. The advocates knew, too, that only a push from the President can get Belmonte out of his lethargy and muster the leadership and will to put the matter, finally, to a vote.
The best way, they figured, was to seek an audience with Mr. Aquino and remind him of his commitment to reproductive health—or responsible parenthood, if he wants to call it that, although there is no difference at all.
San Pascual and some of the bill’s authors went to see the President on two occasions this year. One meeting on Valentine’s Day, when the team included Rep. Kaka Bag-ao (a member of the prosecution in the impeachment trial), was particularly disheartening. The President immediately quizzed Bag-ao on developments in the prosecution of Corona, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the team were eagerly awaiting to talk to him about the RH bill.
San Pascual was not surprised when Mr. Aquino, despite reiterating his commitment, said it would be better to finish the impeachment first because he did not want anything to get in the way of congressmen in their efforts to secure Corona’s conviction.
Apparently, Mr. Aquino just does not grasp the urgency of the bill—remember the 11 mothers dying daily of pregnancy-related complications, which could have been prevented had they been made aware of their options—if he could afford to move it back in favor of another congressional action.
And then, how can the bill be voted upon when the impeachment trial isn’t through yet, and when Congress won’t even be in session until early May? Of course, by that time, everybody will be rushing to attain the desired outcome. Things will likely stay this way until Congress adjourns—and does not meet again until the State of the Nation Address in late July.
In another occasion, San Pascual and company asked Mr. Aquino whether it was possible that the debates could be ended and the matter voted upon towards end-March. The President replied: “Masyadong malapit sa Lent. Baka ma-offend ang bishops (It’s too close to the Lenten season. The bishops might be offended).”
Certainly there is something wrong when the President cares about the bishops’ feelings more than he does about the plight of millions of poor women who must be informed of the ways they can plan their families—and take charge of their future.
These developments have caused San Pascual to now say: “I am no longer sure what is in the President’s mind.”
Then again, is anybody?
Continued next week

adellechua@gmail.com


Source of Philippine Daily News

http://www.journal.com.ph/
http://www.inquirer.net
http://www.mb.com.ph
http://www.tempo.com.ph
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/
http://www.tribune.net.ph/
http://www.bworldonline.com/
http://www.manilatimes.net
http://www.malaya.com.ph/
http://www.philstar.com
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/

Source of Philippine Daily News

http://www.journal.com.ph/
http://www.inquirer.net
http://www.mb.com.ph
http://www.tempo.com.ph
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/
http://www.tribune.net.ph/
http://www.bworldonline.com/
http://www.manilatimes.net
http://www.malaya.com.ph/
http://www.philstar.com
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/

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