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Date Posted: 01:28:07 11/05/12 Mon
Author: IMRD
Subject: Nov 5, 2012 news

http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/40917-meeting-on-rh-bill-sought

Meeting on RH bill sought
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Published : Monday, November 05, 2012 00:00
Article Views : 39
Written by : Ryan Ponce Pacpaco

SPEAKER Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. yesterday vowed to meet his colleagues opposing the passage of the highly-divisive Reproductive Health (RH) measure in a bid to put it to a vote as Congress resumes sessions starting today, stressing that the fate of the proposed law remains hanging.

“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,” said Belmonte, who is supporting the passage of the bill, in an interview.

“Hindi ko masabi ang kahihinatnan nito (RH bill), but we should decide on this matter once and for all,” Belmonte pointed out on the measure being opposed vehemently by the influential Catholic Church.

But Belmonte said he expects leaders of various political parties to take the lead in asking critics of RH measure to be reasonable in engaging the measure into intelligent debates rather than tumultuous one.

Belmonte explained that the leadership decided to come out with a compromise or substitute version of House Bill (HB) No. 4244, “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for Other Purposes” to appease its critics


http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/16820-rh-bill-backers-say-latest-version-is-a-winner

RH bill backers say latest version is a winner
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Published on Monday, 05 November 2012 00:00
Written by WENDELL VIGILIA
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MANY opponents of the reproductive health bill, including “reasonable” members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, have found the latest version of the controversial reproductive health bill acceptable, one of the measure’s authors said yesterday.
“You can’t please everybody, ganoon din ang powerful CBCP but the good thing is marami ang reasonable na kausap sa CBCP. Karamihan sa kanila ay pumayag na,” Iloilo Rep. Janet Garin told radio dzBB.
Garin, a deputy majority leader, could not say if the support of some members of the CBCP would mean getting the Catholic Church’s nod.
“It will be better to ask the Speaker (Feliciano Belmonte Jr.). Ang masasabi ko lang marami sa kanila ang tinanggap. Kaya nagkaroon ng substitute dahil sa natanong sila,” she said.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of House Bill 4244 or the RH bill, has said the substitute bill is a result of consultations among House members and a series of dialogues between its authors and critics, and is being offered to appease opponents of the measure.
He has also said proponents had to come up with the substitute bill because the first version in the plenary contained only proposed amendments while the new one already contains the changes.
Garin asked the House leadership to put its foot down and consolidate the support of pro-RH congressmen by asking them not to skip the remaining session days of the year amid the plan of the bill’s opponents to return in to the committee level.
Congress resumes session today after the Halloween break but will again go on recess from December 22 to January 20.
“That depends on the leadership ng Kongreso. Dapat kailangan andun kami palagi (sa plenary deliberations). Dapat present ang ating mga kasamahan. Kailangan may shepherding (ng RH supporters) at dapat may disiplina para matapos ito,” she said.
The anti-RH bloc led by deputy speaker Pablo Garcia of Cebu is expected to block moves to resume deliberations on the measure on the ground that the new substitute bill is not the original consolidated version that was sponsored in the plenary.
Garin, a medical doctor, said while remanding the bill to the committee level may be an option under the rules, the same allows them to replace the bill with a substitute one on a majority vote in the plenary or “amendment by substitution.”
“Kapag may nag-object sa plenary, we will have to it to a vote,” she said. “Pwede ibalik sa committee level pero by experience ay may tinatawag na amendment by substitution. Pwedeng palitan ang committee report by a majority vote.”
Garin took a swipe at RH opponents at the House, saying some of them are already being “unreasonable.”
“Lahat naman ng fear nila addressed na, bakit ‘di pa tatanggapin? Some are being unreasonable na. I am not directly pointing to somebody. Pero ‘di naman talaga pwede ang unreasonable na kausapin but we respect ang kanilang hinaing,” she said.
She said changes to the bill were already shown to Garcia but he remained adamant despite the watering down of the measure.
“Marami siyang sinabi, balik sa basics maski marami ng amendments. Murder pa din daw, abortion pa din,” Garin said.
“With due respect, kung titingnan, mas malaking kasalanan sa sambayang Pilipino na hindi aksyunan ang RH bill. We need to put it to a vote,” she added.
Garin reminded Garcia that most of the House members remain undecided not because they are against the bill like him but because they are being threatened by some Catholic Church members who are asking voters to boycott them in the next elections.
The substitute bill has limited its scope to the poorest of the poor in a move to appease those opposing the measure, especially the Catholic Church.
Lawmakers have agreed to amend the measure and focus the RH campaign on the poorest of the poor who are mostly beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s conditional cash transfer program.
Sex education will still be taught to elementary students under the bill but only with the consent of parents.
The substitute bill provides that education will be taught to sixth grade pupils instead of fifth graders as contained in the original version of the bill.

http://www.tribuneonline.org/index.php/headlines/item/6467-belmonte-to-push-vote-on-rh-bill

Belmonte to push vote on RH bill
• Written by Gerry Baldo
• Monday, 05 November 2012 00:00
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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.

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