The executive branch may ask for the prioritization of the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill when the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meets at the end of the month, a Palace official said Monday. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning head Ricky Carandang said the RH bill was among the 30 or so bills that were tackled during the Cabinet workshop earlier in the day where they discussed the proposed legislation that they will put forward in the upcoming LEDAC meeting. The Palace official said it was the social cluster consisting of, among others, the Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Health, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, which proposed the inclusion of the RH bill in the LEDAC agenda. Carandang said nobody from the Cabinet opposed the possible inclusion of the RH bill in the list of measures the executive branch will ask Congress to act upon because "the president already made his views known and there's nobody disagreeing with that." The five points of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's position are:
"I am against abortion. I am in favor of giving couples the right to choose how best to manage their families so that in the end, their welfare and that of their children are best served. The State must respect each individual's right to follow his or her conscience an religions convictions on matters and issues pertaining to the unity of the family and the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death. In a situation where couples, especially the poor and disadvantaged ones, are in no position to make an informed judgment, the state has the responsibility to so provide. In the range of options and information provided to couples, natural family planning and modern methods shall be presented as equally available." Aquino's stand on RH has earned the ire of the Catholic Church, which espouses the use of only natural birth control methods. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the executive branch, however, are trying to come into an understanding of each other's positions through ongoing dialogues. Working groups During the five-hour meeting, the Cabinet was divided into five working groups — for human development; infrastructure development; economic development; sovereignty, security and rule of law; and good governance — that were supposed to propose five priority measures. But some of the clusters put forward more than five measures, so they are hoping to still trim down the list to include only 25 bills that will be sent to Aquino for approval, Carandang said. "There were actually more than 25 proposed legislation but we're trying to cut it down to 25," said Carandang. "RH was part of that [more than 25]. Whether it makes it to the final 25 has not been determined yet." Carandang could not immediately say who will trim down the list to 25, but said Executive Secretary Paquito "Jojo" Ochoa Jr. and Vice President Jejomar Binay will likely be involved in that. Aquino, who had to attend separate meetings, was not at the Cabinet workshop on the priority bills. Others that were considered for the LEDAC meeting are bills on fiscal responsibility and rationalization of incentives that were pushed for by the Department of Finance and legislation that will follow up the Baselines Act. "The criteria for choosing the legislation would be relevance to the president's 16-point agenda. We know that that's the basis of his platform," Carandang said. "It also has to have maximum impact. We're looking at bills that will have the impact on the largest number of people. And of course doability," he said. Carandang said they did not tackle measures that would impose new taxes, since Aquino promised during the campaign that all ways to improve revenue collection will be exhausted before his government will consider imposing new taxes. The LEDAC is composed of the President as chairman, the vice president, the Senate president, the House Speaker, seven Cabinet members, three senators, three House members, and one representative each from the local government, the youth, and the private sector. Congress will resume session on January 17. — RSJ, GMANews.TV 
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