House panel forms TWG to consolidate RH bills

(Updated 7:16 p.m.) The House committee on population and family relations on Wednesday afternoon created a technical working group to consolidate the six bills seeking a national reproductive health policy. Biliran Rep. Rogelio Espina, committee chairman, said the TWG is expected to present a consolidated version of the bill when the Congress session resumes on January 17. The Congress adjourned its session Tuesday evening. Debates on the question on when a human life begins dominated the third public hearing on the proposed reproductive health (RH) bill. During the hearing, Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia asked Dr. Santiago del Rosario of the Philippine Medical Society (PMS) if the organization has an official stand about the beginning of life. Del Rosario said they have yet to issue a position on the matter. Garcia then reiterated his earlier position that the Constitution states that the life of the mother and the unborn child should be protected from the moment of conception. He cited discussions of the members of the Constitutional Commission (ConCom) when they included the said provision in the Charter. House minority leader Edcel Lagman, an author of one of the RH bills, opposed Garcia, saying the inclusion of the word “fertilization" as the start of life was rejected by the ConCom members. He also reiterated that the RH bill is against abortion. Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, one of the authors of the RH bill, questioned Garcia’s discussion about the start of life because it is the subject matter of the bill filed by Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez. This bill is pending before the House committees on health and children affairs. In an interview at the sidelines of the hearing, Garin said it is improper for the committee members to disrupt the resource persons. “Deputy Speaker Garcia is consuming all the time for the resource persons, siya nang siya ang nagsasalita and this matter is actually referring to a bill that is filed in another committee na dapat doon pagusapan yun," she told reporters. “That is the real intention of those who are against the bill, delaying the decision on this bill is the only weapon against its passage," she said. “I don’t know why the Deputy Speaker is insisting on talking for a lengthy time for in fact may mga resource person tayo diyan. Lalo na kung pinipilit pa na i-define ang start of life siyempre, alam naman ng mga doctors na it is a very complicated thing kaya nga you cannot define it on a specific statement," Garin said. Garin, an obstetrician-gynecologist, said if lawmakers will focus on defining the beginninig of life, the discussions will be sidetracked. “Pwede na may buhay na but will entail the death of the mother and that life cannot actually proceed to a full term pregnancy so in effect mamatay din ang nanay, but the baby hindi rin maka-survive," she explained. She added: “That issue is being debated for a very long time by many experts. God made life so unique so that we cannot just meddle on life. Nobody can actually define the start of life.maraming bagay sa mundo ang hindi ma-explain and life is one of that. We are just human, we are not like God, we cannot pretend to be God that we know the start of life, (those who claim they know the start of life) I call them hypocrites." The lawmaker said they will look into the request of the Philippine Medical Society not to penalize medical practitioners who will refuse to give some reproductive health services to their patients/ “We will look into that. Ang sabi kasi nila may ilang doctors na nagpapaanak pero ayaw ng mag-ligate dahil sa kanilang beliefs and training. So we should respect them na lang. Actually we have no objection to that," she said. At the same time, she said she doesn’t want to be disadvantageous to the mother who will need to find another doctor to ligate her. Anti-RH advocate An anti-RH advocate, a certain Erlinda Ortiz of the Little Flower Foundation, was also present during the hearing. She sang a song entitled “Heaven Watch the Philippines" to express her opposition to the controversial bill before reading a prepared statement. Biliran Rep. Rogelio Espina, committee chairman, tried to cut Ortiz’ speech a couple of times to give other resource persons a chance to air their side. However, Ortiz requested the lawmaker to allow her to finish reading her statement. Contentious issue The RH bill has been a contentious issue in the country because it pits two powerful sectors against each other: prolife groups (such as Catholic and Muslim groups opposing the RH bill) and prochoice groups (led by non-government organizations supporting the RH bill). It is estimated that 80 percent of the country's population are baptized Catholics. According to the National Statistics Office, there were 88.57 million Filipinos as of August 2007. The projected population for 2010 is 94.01 million. The Catholic Church promotes only natural family planning and is opposed to the use of artificial birth control methods such as condoms and birth-control pills, saying these could lead to promiscuity and a rise in abortion cases. – VVP/KBK, GMANews.TV