Bishops eye dialogue with new DOH chief on RH bill

After airing their concerns on the use of artificial contraceptives in family planning with Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Catholic bishops are ready to hold similar talks with new Health Secretary Enrique Ona. San Fernando (Pampanga) Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said the Church is "more than willing" to discuss its concerns on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, under which the use of condoms and other artificial contraceptives in family planning is allowed. "If he is open to such meeting, we will honor it. But so far there is no invitation yet," Aniceto, who chairs the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Commission on Family and Life, said in an article posted on the CBCP news site Thursday. Last Sunday, members of the CBCP told Luistro their concerns about the conduct of sex education in public schools. In anticipation of the possible meeting with the Department of Health, Aniceto said he is hoping that the new DOH chief will really promote the health of the people. “It is called Department of Health because it should promote exactly the health of the people," he said. The Church is strongly against the RH bill, which it said seeks to control the country’s growing population through contraceptives in family planning. Ona’s predecessor Esperanza Cabral crossed swords with the Church when she promoted the use of condoms and pills to avoid unwanted pregnancies and the spread of sexually-related diseases. RH Bill's success seen in 15th Congress A staunch proponent of the RH bill in the House of Representatives, who had brushes with Catholic bishops regarding the issue on artificial contraceptives, believes the measure has a good chance in the new Congress. On July 1, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman re-filed House Bill 96 titled “Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population and Development," hoping that this time the measure will succeed. [See: Lagman confident RH bill to get Congress OK] He noted that the passage of the bill is long overdue, as the population has ballooned to 94.3 million from 75 million in 1999, when the first comprehensive version of the measure was filed. Moreover, he said that during the 14th Congress, the RH bill reached second reading, unlike its earlier versions that only reached the committee level. Lagman claimed the RH bill proponents have more allies now in the House because many of the co-authors of the measure in the 14th Congress who ran for reelection last May won, despite being unfavored by the Church. According to him, the central idea of the RH bill is the freedom of informed choice, and that parents, couples and women should be given the liberty of choosing from a menu of modern-natural and artificial family planning methods which are medically safe, legal, accessible, affordable and effective. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV