Sotto suspicious of those backing the RH bill

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday is suspicious of those who support the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill. "We find groups, NGOs, pharmaceutical companies or business interests behind the bill or supporting people behind the bill, nakakadagdag po sa aming pangamba," Sotto said during the second day of interpellations on Senate Bill No.2865 or The Reproductive Health Act of 2011. "Kung ang nagtutulak lang nito Sen. Santiago o Sen. Cayetno kahapon pa pasado na ito, eh hindi eh, may mga nagtutulak sa likod na nakikita namin," he added. Santiago is the principal author of SB 2865, with Cayetano as co-sponsor. Sotto said he specifically hears of groups like the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines, a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), backing the RH bill. He said his "problem" with the IPPF was that it was founded by Margaret Sanger, who supposedly founded a "scientific strategy of eliminating the poor, the weak, the useless, and the uneducated." A list of backers "Hindi natin pwede ikaila nasa website nila, eh. It makes the whole thing complex," he said. Because of this, Sotto asked Cayetano for a list of all the backers of the RH bill. Cayetano, who is also chairman of the Senate health committee, said she will ask her staff to prepare the list. "If there are further information that the majority floor leader requires on these people who have been lobbying and even providing us with information we would be happy to provide," she said on Tuesday. She assured Sotto that they were not trying to hide anything about the groups lobbying for the bill’s passage. "’Di naman ho natin tinatago ‘yun. Many times their presence are acknowledged in the Senate," she said. If in case some groups with "malicious intention" gets by her, Santiago would be able to catch them, Cayetano said. — VS, GMA News