FVR to media: Give women a voice on RH

Decrying the amount of attention given to the views of Catholic bishops on reproductive health, former President Fidel V. Ramos appealed to the media to seek out the opinions of women. “It is the lives (of women) and of their babies that the passage – or non-passage – of the RH bill will affect most intimately," Ramos said at a festive gathering of RH advocates in the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Quezon City Wednesday. “The voices of women are barely heard." [See: The consolidated RH Bill in the 15th Congress] He added that “newspapers, radio and television have paid more attention to what the Catholic bishops have to say."

Ramos’ ringing endorsement of the bill at the event adds to the diverse voices creating a sense of growing isolation of the Catholic hierarchy on the issue. The Iglesia ni Kristo and a range of other non-Catholic religious groups have recently gone public with their support of the bill. Ramos is a Protestant known for having secular views as the country’s president in the 1990s, succeeding President Cory Aquino, who was heavily influenced by the conservative wing of the Catholic Church in her policy preferences on family planning. Mrs. Aquino's son, President Benigno Aquino III, has revealed more liberal views and supports the bill, now known as the Responsible Parenthood Bill, that would provide government funding for artificial contraceptives and mandate sex education in public schools. In a commencement speech at the University of the Philippines in April, Aquino said he was willing to risk excommunication by the Church’s leadership in pushing passage of the bill. It was his strongest statement yet on an issue about which he had previously been seen as overly cautious, at least from the point of view of advocates. Ramos urged Aquino to “lead the campaign for the enactment of the RH Bill" and to “certify the RH Bill as urgent!" At the same time, Ramos appealed for a more civil national conversation on the issue, saying there is “no need for bickering and name-calling – much less for threats of eternal damnation," a sharp dig at the Catholic clergy who have used the pulpit to attack supporters of the bill. Contacted by GMA News Online, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility said that there is no data supporting Ramos’ contention that media has a bias for the RH views of Catholic bishops. – Howie Severino, GMA News