Of all the the Presidential Candidates, none have gone the way that I had hoped when it comes to House Bill 5043, or more popularly known as The Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill), they have seen the might of the church and have cowered. They are the leaders that can do the political math, but lack the political will. They know the problem of population, but they are remiss in implementing any public policy that will diminish their vote or the support of the religous leaders.
Pragmatism is what we may call it, and calculating too, but cowardice may be the most apt term, when even these candidates cannot give a definite categorical answer to a question that has long been posed to them, “are you or are you not in favor of the RH Bill?” It’s a simple yes or no, forget the inuendos, just a straight answer after considering the positive and negative aspects of the bill.
But alas, the bill is dead, and no longer do these candidates, our politicians have to answer with a yes or no, they can just answer with an emphatic, the bill is dead and the question has become moot!
They fail to realize that the forward-thinking leader grasps that this is a problem that will linger until we finally come to a vote, a vote that will define their final stand. And their answer and their stand on the issue will always be important and relevant until we see a proactive government do something about this problem, instead of passing the buck to our “moral leaders”.
Maybe that is why the bill has lingered, stalled in the lower house of congress, because without a vote they can play both sides of the fence, circumventing the need for them to explain to the voters, and ultimately dishing out their mumbo jumbo rhetoric to the voting public.
Surely, a bill of this importance, that was given great lip service in front of cameras, that was hotly debated and discussed, surely even this bill would come to a final vote, right?
Wrong.
We have to realize that even the individuals that are have dedicated their professional lives on development economics have overwhelmingly agreed that population control is key to the development and success of any nation, most importantly, a third world nation like The Philippines.
The solution for many of these politicians is to do nothing, because of the “morality” issue. Because it is not government’s role to dictate. And yet, they acknowledge all too well that population is indeed a problem, and will still pursue a policy of doing nothing. It’s hypocrisy, and each and every candidate that opposes or has contributed to the death of this bill is indeed rife for attack when it comes to this all too important issue.
Steps must be taken in order for our nation to move towards sustainable growth, and policies such as doing nothing on population smacks of hypocrisy and ill will towards the public, when clearly they have agreed that it is a problem. The programs meant to stave off population growth has been devolved to Local Government Units, it too is being managed mainly by The Department of Health, and yet these institutions and these programs, lack support, lack funding, and lack implementation. The RH Bill is meant to strengthen, consolidate, and give teeth to current government mandates.
It is a false morality that has been a constant enemy of this RH Bill, a bill that has died in the 14th Congress. For what is moral about 1/3 of our population in poverty, and families unable to take care of their children. What is moral about the state of health and education, because of the lack of budgetary support. What is moral about saying to people, “bahala na kayo sa buhay niyo, kami sa Gobyerno, we will leave it up to you”. What is moral about kicking people when they are already down and trodden. And what is moral about keeping the light of information from the people that our leaders swore to serve. Ignorance is bliss, it may also be a death sentence to those who fail to get the proper information and support on family planning and parenthood.
Morality my good sirs? Morality would have been with these politicians had they the balls to do what was right.
My dismay with Senator Noynoy, former Defense Secretary Teodoro, or even Senator Manny Villar is something that I will not hide. No matter who we are campaigning for, it is a matter of standing up for what is right, and standing up for the ideals we want for our nation. It is about standing up for the right principles, and demanding that even our very own candidates make the tough decisions.
It’s campaign season, I know. Each and every vote counts. For the masses, it’s unfortunate that the religious sector still holds deep sway when it comes to the information dissemination that the electorate is fed. As a devout Catholic, I am not afraid to stand against my very own church, because it is ultimately not my church that will be the savior of my soul.
I may not be for abortion, but I am also not for the desecration of lives because of continuing poverty that pervades our Republic. Who are these religious leaders who think they can play politics for the sake of righteousness, not knowing that beneath their veiled attempts to gather public support for their moral crusades, modern-day pharisees they have indeed become.
A Plague on The House of Representatives, the RH Bill shot down. I will hope for a better Congress after election, maybe one with actual political will.
We, The People, we must do our own part, and while doing so, demand more from our leaders, this too is part of our political participation.
The Death of The RH Bill in the 14th Congress is not an end, but a continuing struggle to implement policies that move our nation forward, instead of being stuck in the fundamentalism of false morality still being fed into our collective psyche.
Popularity: 2% [?]
So, there is a morality vote?
“It’s campaign season…Each and every vote counts. For the masses, it’s unfortunate that the religious sector religious sector still holds deep sway when it comes to the information dissemination…”
This is the Church’s command vote flexing. In many towns and barrios, who gets to interact regularly with the people: the parish priest, barangay captain, and the local village wise man. Not much internet access like us.
Who was it that said: All politics is local…
takot sila sa mga taong nakasutana
And Padre Damaso lives…
TUMPAK!!!!!!!!! most politicians in this country dont have a balls to oppose or say anything to offend the catholic priest!they believe those idiots are the prophets that could make them win the election! MARAMI NA ANG MATATALINONG BOTANTE MGA OGAGS! SA MAYO NA KAYO SASALAIN!
And please take note that the Church, under the guise of CBCP, is specifically responsible for prolonging PGMA’s reign of terror; dousing the fires of protest just in time both in 2005 and 2007*
Funny, everyone’s been wringing their hands about apathy and the Culture of Impunity, but NO ONE’S taking note of the bishops’ culpability in all of these…
They’re getting away with national murder, know am sayin’?
* By 1.) refusing to join calls for Gloria’s resignation, and 2.) making people blame the NBN-ZTE corruption on THEMSELVES. Even EDSAs need their permission in this country.
Now, hehe, THESE are the scumbags these politicos look up to for moral guidance ?
And Andal Ampatuan Jr. is our model of good governance. Go figure.
The sad political reality is that our electorate can not threaten our representatives with their jobs. the sad truth is that all politics are local.
With regard to our presidential candidates, their positions remain the same with or without the RH bill.
Aquino is for responsible parenthood and he continues to say that it is the state’s responsibility to remind parents about their responsibilities.
Gibo according to his legion of followers online prefers to shadow box. He has been on record to say that the bill will not pass and withdrawn his support because of that. He said that the debate spiraled out of control that the real reason for the bill no longer mattered. in many ways, he is right. he is wrong for withdrawing his support.
With regard to Manny Villar. I suggest you review his position before letting your emotion cloud your judgement. Manny Villar is a conservative and that he was never been in favor of RH to begin with.
If people want to make a difference then vote for those who are in favor of RH. With respect to the house: that’s asking a lot.
There need not be a RH Bill to begin with. This is a case where private individuals and institutions can band together and make real the spirit of the law. What do i mean, in their private capacity, proponents and believers of RH can conduct on their own reproductive health education in their respective barangays. identify areas of concern and target them.
Why the frak do we need government for at a time like this? Are we just hot air? Will we allow our congress to stop us? So this is the challenge i pose to the proponents and true believers of RH: ’nuff talk. Act. on your own. nuff of this whining that the bloody bill is dead. Get organized. Act.
Let us show the Church and our so called leaders that we don’t bloody need them for this. We’ll manage our population by ourselves.
Cocoy, this goes for people who are educated & well-aware of our population problem…
how about the poor? how about those who didn’t have money to go to school?
how about for people who can’t afford to buy contraceptives?
You have to open your mind coz it is not as easy as it looks.
Roch,
my suggestion, and you can go check your gibo and rh post on this, and my response is the same here.
proponents of RH can form a non-government organization. they can gather funds. they can buy the contraceptives. they can get volunteer doctors or volunteer nurses. hey, people form NGOs like do that all the time. There are organizations for breast cancer for example.
my point is, we don’t need a law to give the poor, a reproductive health education. we don’t need a law for people like yourself or me to donate funds for contraceptives or material for the education of the poor.
that’s just my point. we can do it ourselves and not rely on government. i mean, we both agree that this is very important.
And yes, nothing is ever easy. Nothing that’s as important as RH or anything for that matter– life, marriage, love, career is ever easy.
And if you read my articles Coy, you would know that I myself believe that RH bill is not perfect. I believe that the government should impose aside from providing education on family planning & providing means for it.
Yes, I agree that we can do it without a law… but we’ve been doing that for quite some time but here we are facing a bigger problem…
since we are a democratic country and such a catholic one, we can’t just impose like that… we need to do it step by step.. that’s why I think that having RH bill is a step in the right direction.
Roch,
1. i don’t doubt that there should be a law.
2. there isn’t any imposition. it isn’t like people are oging to be forced to listen to an RH lecture. if they want one, sure. if not they don’t have to.
3. that’s the thing, there isn’t any law. yet. so why whine at something we can’t change right now? the next congress will have to take it up again. even if they do pass it, there should already be an organized private initiative that advocates for RH.
i don’t disagree with you. my disagreement is that if this means ssooo much to people, we should act without the need for government. what if the next congress doesn’t approve RH again?
my point is, why let those bastards in congress dictate to us what’s right? i’m just saying: this is important. people should do it themselves.
you don’t need to be well educated to be aware of the population problem.
if you have a population problem, it will be staring you right in the face.
I agree with this. We have to be realistic.
In this country, there are many programs mandated by law but do net get implemented because of inadequate funding. What more with one without a law behind it? “There is no legal basis”, as our legal crazy bureaucracy is won’t to respond.
Even the USAID stopped its free-condom distribution program in 2002 because of lack of support.
Why do people assume that people don’t vote for the RH bill because they’re afraid of the church? I think this is too speculative (especially for the aggressive atheists. I sometimes think the atheists could be pushing this to undermine the church). What if the candidates are really not for it? The RH bill was a package deal that has too many things one can disagree on. Most of the candidates I’ve seen answer on the issue say that they partially agree on the bill. It cannot be oversimplified with a yes or no answer because people might think that you disagree or disagree on the whole. I don’t see anything wrong with clarification especially if your constituents want to know your stances.
And If we are so afraid of the catholic church, nobody should be going around having promiscious sex or drinking and gambling. Besides I don’t agree with Population Control. Let’s improve our Gini Coefficient first to indicate proper distribution of wealth or better yet
-stop proliferation of pornography
-censor sexually stimulating images in t.v. and magazines
-shut down clubs and motels that promote premarital sex.
But of course many will disagree. They want the sex but they don’t want the consequences. They want premarital sex and not abstinence. How’s that for character and morality.
Promiscuity and pre-marital sex is not Illegal or Bad between consenting adults.
That’s why you should wear a condom, the only consequence would be how to dispose of it properly.
The Church is always a factor against the solution of soaring
population. You cannot prevent the poor from making children. Many
children. It is only their entertainment after supper of “tuyo” and
rice or rice porridge.
It is not right to bring Children into this world that you cannot provide. You cannot educate. And, you cannot give a good future.
We are not animals. Procreate and procreate. Breed and breed. We are
humans. With humane ways. Throw those church teachings out of the window.
Our politicians are afraid of the religious votes.
The Catholic Church and candidate Villar (and Edward) deny that population growth has anything to do with poverty. It is the economy, stupids, they say.
But the economy is sooooo thin, with people living on US $50 a month, because there are so many people to feed and so little money. The Church pretends that all we need is a couple more call centers and things will be fine. And people are uneducated and breed like flies and the classrooms are overcrowded and the country can’t generate enough teachers or schools; all we need is a new expressway.
The Philippines is handicapped from the getgo, with land consisting of islands that you cannot easily drive to or ship from, with such islands consisting of mountains that erode into the sea with every major storm and are difficult to farm. The poor, alas, live on the hillsides and river banks and now and then I suppose it is the economy that washes them out to sea. The agribusiness policies favor small, inefficient farms over globally competitive farms, but that cares for the poor, right?
180 degrees of backward, that thinking is.
The starving hordes dive by the thousands into the surrounding oceans; they fish the waters to deserts or bomb the corals to get to the fish, and I suppose it is the economy that makes the fish disappear. All we need is bigger boats and the fish will come back.
The rice shortage? The gas shortage? The massive gridlock that is Manila? The relentless brownouts?
Just vote for Villar. He’ll fix it by hiring everything out to his construction companies. And the church will pray for jobs.
Get a life.
Joe
This is why for an Economist, Noynoy has become a disappointment.
For a country that grows in population by 2% every year, not even a 10% GDP rise will be sustainable.
Err mr Aquino already said he was for the state reminding patents to be responsible.
“remind”? what is that? no budget allocation for contraceptives? for free tubal ligations/vasectomies for those who opt for it?
will there health units in the biggest slums offering free contraceptives for those who can’t afford it>
what is this ‘remind’?
‘remind’ is a cop out.
thenashman,
Precisely. I think the friars are bound by doctrine, and politicians by lack of courage.
Joe
Joe,
I concede that population growth has an effect on poverty because of it’s relation to per capital income. But I don’t put it on as priority (probably a popular sentiment as well). Recent statistics has shown that GDP has grown despite the large population. But it was also stated that most of the money goes to the wealthy, based on the statistics having more people entering the poverty level. The Gini coefficient will be the priority. I’m not stating that as an opinion, it’s the obvious conclusion.
@nashman,
perlas is going for the sustainable growth and not just the band-aid solutions for the short-term.
His platform on RH Bill:
sorry incomplete.
advocate for a balanced approach to the reproductive health bill, balancing the right to life and importance….(continues to previous post)
RH BILL will never work, unless employment and the making of higher income among the poor will go alongside with it. RH BILL will have no future positive result if the people remain poor. Keep the people busy with work and empower them first.
Not sure if Noynoy and Villar can empower the people. I know Villar can empower the children illegally by exploiting them or paying them to sing for him- child labor. Noynoy on the other hand, will empower the people by activating the spirits of his father and mother. Meaning, Noynoy alone has no spirit. God bless you all…
The clout of the Catholic church was broken by the Malolos government. Churches, convents and 403,713 acres of valuable lands were confiscated and used by the Philippine Revolutionary Army. There were 1172 friars at the beginning of hostilities. At the time the Americans took over, only 472 were left, the rest were killed or took refuge in China, including Bernardino Noblezada, the blood thirsty Manila Archbishop who maneuvered the execution of Jose Rizal. An exodus of the faithful and the native clergy created the Philippine Independent Church, or the Aglipayan. It’s nice to recall that there was a time when the Catholic church was a captive of the Filipino government. Only to feel sad that the RH bill would still be necessary because the Americans followed a policy different from what they applied in Cuba.
@nick
how did it die? was it defeated in some kind of vote? or is the congress closed already? what happened exactly?
With majority of survey respondents saying they are for some sort of RH bill, those candidates that state unequivocally and with conviction that they are against this bill could be seen as making a courageous stand. (We dont know for a fact that they do so out of pandering to the bishops, but it’s a reasonable assumption.)
I’m of the opinion something should be done about the population problem, but Im ambivalent about the bill as it is presented before the House. It’s ungainly and some parts of it border on fascism, with clauses to punish dissent (called ‘malicious disinformation’) and conscientious action.
I suppose my position he bill is closest to Aquino’s. And the Nov. 2, 2008 version of our host Nick when he wrote ‘The Redundancy of the RH Bill’. Link: http://filipinovoices.com/the-redundancy-of-rh-bill-5043
@Jeg, was about to actually write a 2nd post to this as to the reason of the change of heart. Even as I wrote the Redundancy of The RH Bill, a position I still hold, but with modification, the clear answer to the change is the force by which the mandate of the government can be implemented. Giving teeth to the otherwise toothless and inefficient programs that has already been handed to the LGUs and DOH.
The difference is slight, but it’s important. But, I’ll leave it to the reader now to decide why I myself have battled and debated within myself as to the proper way to proceed with The RH Bill.
@Cocoy, to demand accountability is an act that can occur while also pursuing other acts that you speak of. We agree on many aspects, but sometimes, you may forget that it is also our duty to not only demand of ourselves, but also to demand of our leaders. In both cases, we do not cease one act, just because we also pursue another.
Thank you for the insighta, it is most important to me to read each and every one, while I cannot respond to each and every comment, I do take away from each insight given. It is how, for example, while writing “the redundancy of the rh bill”, that I saw a flaw in the most fundamental aspect of the bill itself, that of the strengthening of current laws and the providing of budgetary support and a national initiative for the solution of population growth.
as @Flow so correctly observed, there may indeed be a case of cowardice.
@Roch also has provided some great insight in the fact that we will always get the same result if we pursue the same actions of before. Stagnation is the result of a policy of nothing. But any type of improvement is better than doing nothing. And the bill does provide for such an improvement.
I don’t deny that we are also responsible to take action, that’s not the point at all, the point is that we demand from our leaders even as we implement the solutions in our own daily lives, for without demanding accountability, we may as well not have a government at all.
Nick, I know how you feel. I myself see the need for some kind of action, and perhaps deep down, I may even have wanted the bill to be passed as is — bahala na — and repeal it later when it proved to be overbearing. NGOs have implemented reproductive health educational programs. The American Chamber Foundation for instance conducts seminars for young people on RH coupled with awareness of their rights. Maybe it is this that should be the thrust of a bill — equipping citizens with the information to make informed decisions about their lives.
@nick
demanding accountability is one thing. i agree, we should. all things being equal we should. but it will take what? another six months before RH could be refiled? another year before a vote could take place? and before you know it, congressional elections are up or worst, another six years.
*points at your message to @Roch* Exactly my point. Is that lip service?
***
Let me spell it out for all the Pro-RH people in clear language: be revolutionary.
The system doesn’t work, so let’s screw the system. act around the system. we don’t need laws to spread the RH message. in fact, it is being spread as we speak in health clinics across the country. Those clinics need funds and technical support. We need a serious, coordinated private initiative to back existing health systems. There should be a strong, private initiative, backed by all those people saying RH is good.
Act covert until the day when passing the law becomes pro-forma.
This is one of those instances where we don’t need a government to do the right thing.
Private initiative can.
So Act. Don’t wait for our leaders to clear their heads because, seriously? We could all be dirt in the ground before they get it. Maybe not even then. Population control *is* important.
We need to act.
Government has failed to act, to do anything. We can act. Private initiative can act. People did it during Ondoy when government was utterly useless so nobody tell me it is too hard to do.
You guys have passion for RH. Make the spirit of the law, live!
I can tell you something right now, if Aquino wins, he will have his hands full to keep up with fixing the system. I don’t think he can spend political capital on RH. If Villar wins, count that RH will remain dead.
So that’s the field of battle. It really is up to private initiative to get this done.
Hello. This was a great article, thank you.
It is disheartening that the RH bill has been shot down, but we have to keep hoping there will be other opportunities for a similar policy in the future. Just because it’s dead in Congress doesn’t mean we have to shut up about it. :)
Cheers!
Some reachings the Catholic Church will never change:
1. Plunder is okay as long as you don’t use condoms or pills.
2. Premarital sex is okay as long as the boy is under 12 years old.
3. A timely and sizable donation is the first step to salvation.
Among the unwritten duties of the nuns during the Spanish times was to stay besides the death bed of a dying rich and pressure the poor soul to sign a deed donating his property to the congregation.
thumbs up to that! thats all it is. so how can you possibly go to another religion for a change?