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Lagman confident RH bill to get Congress OK


After more than a decade of pushing for a bill that will institutionalize a comprehensive and nationwide reproductive health policy, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman can now see its enactment into law. "Mahirap magbilang pero (I’ve lost count but) hopefully this is the last bill na ipa-file ko tungkol sa (that I’ll have to file on) reproductive health because this will already be enacted into law," he said in an interview with GMA7's Arnold Clavio Tuesday. Lagman re-filed House Bill 96 entitled “Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population and Development" on July 1, the first day of the 15th Congress. The first comprehensive version of the RH Bill was filed in 1999. Lagman said that during the 14th Congress, the RH bill, unlike its predecessors which languished at the committee level and sponsorship stage, reached extensive debates on second reading. However, the bill failed to pass due to the oppositors’ dilatory maneuvers, lack of quorum and faltering commitment of the House leadership, he added. Lagman expressed confidence that despite the staunch opposition of the Church, Congress will now be able to pass the bill as its advocates now have more 'allies'. (See: Bishops to Aquino: Shun 'contraceptive mentality’) Lagman noted that of the 132 co-authors of the RH bill in the 14th Congress, many ran for reelection and won. "Mas marami ang elected na advocates ng RH bill sa Kongreso ngayon at yung matinding kalaban ay wala na... Mas maraming natalo na anti-RH kesa pro-RH (More advocates of the RH bill have been elected to Congress and those vehement oppositors are now gone… More anti-RH legislators lost in the elections compared to the pro-RH)," he said. The lawmaker believed the victory of the RH bill advocates in the recent elections reflects the sympathies of the people towards the proposed measure. "At dalawang dekada nang nagsasalita ang tao, lahat ng surveys nagsasabi na (The people have been clamoring for this for two decades, almost all of the surveys show that) they are in favor of the enactment of the RH bill ," he said. Lagman further said that President Benigno Aquino III may not have been a signatory to the RH bill during his term as a Tarlac congressman and later senator, but he noted that Aquino is for responsible parenthood, which is one of the provisions in the RH bill. Only last Monday, the newly-appointed Health secretary said the Aquino administration will champion the reproductive health program. (See: DOH: We will champion reproductive health) In a text message to GMANews.TV, Lagman said his re-filed bill is "practically the same" as the previous bills, only that "it has been refined through several Congresses." He clarified that his proposed measure does not advocate abortion. "Ever since walang probisyon na pabor sa abortion, ito ngang panukala natin ay anti-abortion dahil naiiwasan yung unwanted pregnancy, ito ang ipinapa-abort kadalasan. Ang sabi ng eksperto, pag ang paggamit ng family planning ay accurate at effective, 80 percent ng abortion ay bababa. Definitely anti-abortion ito," he explained. (Ever since there was no provision favoring abortion. In fact, this bill is anti-abortion because it prevents unwanted pregnancies, which are those most commonly aborted. Experts say that an accurate and effective use of family planning methods will cut the abortion cases by 80 percent. Definitely this bill is anti-abortion.) Lagman reiterated that the central idea of the RH bill is the freedom of informed choice. He said parents, couples and women should be given the liberty or option of choosing from a menu of modern-natural and artificial family planning methods which are medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable and effective. In his explanatory note, the lawmaker said when the first RH bill—House Bill 8110 or ‘The Integrated Population and Development Act of 1999’—was filed in the 11th Congress, the Philippines had a population of roughly 75 million. Ten years later, the Philippines became the 12th most populous country in the world with a population of 94.3 million, or an increase of 19.3 million. "This would translate to an annual average increase of almost two million every year in a decade," Lagman said. He said the RH bill recognizes the linkage between population and development because the issue of population directly affects human development indicators on health, education, food security, employment, mass housing and the environment. Lagman explained that the bill is rights-based, health-oriented and development-driven, adding that “neither the State nor the Church can compel the citizens or the faithful to adopt a particular method of family planning." The principal objectives of the measure are:

  • to allow parents, particularly women, to exercise their right to freely and responsibly plan the number and spacing of their children, which means that the bill is truly rights-based because it offers women and couples all forms of legal, safe and effective family planning, both modern-natural and artificial.
  • to improve maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition and reduce maternal, infant and child mortality, which means that the bill is primarily a health measure.
  • to give women more opportunities to finish their education and get jobs by freeing them from unremitting pregnancies, which will thus enhance their social and economic status and that of their families.
  • to help reduce poverty and achieve sustainable human development.
  • to help lower the incidence of abortion by preventing unplanned, wrongly timed and unwanted pregnancies which are the ones usually terminated.
Advocates of the RH bill also emphasize that promoting reproductive health is much less expensive than government mega projects yet has more beneficiaries. The UNICEF has also asserted that “family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race."—JV, GMANews.TV
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