Lacierda: Aquino to present RH bill as priority measure

(Updated 10:33 a.m.) President Benigno Simeon Aquino III will ask lawmakers on Tuesday to give priority to the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill and 12 other measures, a Malacañang official said. In a text message to reporters, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the RH bill will be presented to the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) during the day's meeting around 10:00 a.m. in Malacañang. "The President will include the RH bill in the LEDAC meeting today [Tuesday], among the 13 priority measures to be presented by the Executive," Lacierda said. He did not say the other measures included in the priority list. Last Friday, Aquino discussed with his Cabinet the 22 measures they are considering to present to the LEDAC. The number of bills was eventually cut to 13. During the the first LEDAC meeting this year, the RH bill was not included in the agenda. The RH bill has drawn strong opposition from the Catholic Church and other religious groups. The Catholic Church accepts only natural methods of family planning while the RH bill promotes both natural and artificial methods of contraception. PLCPD Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) lauded the President's move to include the RH bill as one of his priority measures. "We congratulate the President for listening to the call of the Filipino people, and we are glad that he also promotes RP and RH as a key component of social development," he said in a press statement. With this, the PLCPD urged Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to be responsive to the President and hasten the final enactment of the bill. "We hope that Congress debates will be fastracked and that the bill be perfected and that there will be an acceptable version to be signed by the President soon," San Pascual said. The House has started its plenary debates on the RH bill while Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has yet to conclude her three-part sponsorship speech on the matter. Responsible parenthood Aquino earlier pushed for the responsible parenthood bill which, he said, would provide the public all the information they need to have an educated decision and would not discriminate between the artificial and natural method of family planning. The President also earlier said RH bill must:

be against abortion;

educate couples about their responsibilities to their children, and

give couples different options on family planning. Created in 1992 under Republic Act 7640, the advisory council or 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. As a consultative and advisory body, the LEDAC helps the President integrate his legislative agenda with the national development plan, among others. The LEDAC is supposed to convene quarterly. — RSJ, GMA News