Reproductive Health Bill 5043 [MERGED]

[Monseratto]

Is the RH bill really moving in legislature or is everyone just posturing for political mileage? Any updates from the Lower House? Panahon pa ni GMA "to...

[ghosthunter]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/04...passage-bishop

[SIZE="4"]Debates meant to delay RH Bill's passage: bishop[/SIZE]
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 04/27/2011 11:22 AM | Updated as of 04/27/2011 11:22 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is willing to mediate between Catholic Church officials who oppose the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill and other religious and civic groups who are for passage of the bill.

But Bishop Rodrigo Tano believes debates on the RH bill have become divisive and are being used to delay the passage of the bill in Congress.

"I think there is too much bad faith, too much condemnation. Hasty generalization. We are tired of that. We are tired dilatory tactics in Congress," he told ANC's "Headstart."

Tano is the chairman of the Interfaith Partnershio for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, a coalition of 12 religious groups including the Iglesia ni Cristo.

He said the group supports the Responsible Parenthood Bill because it can help government address the country's growing population.

"We believe, on the whole, it promotes the common good. If you think an average of 11 mothers die due to complications in pregnancy, if you think 62 infants out of 100,000 die out of live births and the poor have more kids, if you realize there is relationship between population size and poverty, although that's contested but its more difficult for a family to have savings, and support their needs," he said.

"To me these are facts. These should not be a matter of ecclesiastical declarations but a matter of research and science," he said.

He said that as far as some churches are concerned, marriage is for procreation. "But if you read the literature in Catholic Church, some would rather rank the two -- children and pleasure -- on equal footing. If you say procreation is main, every sex act should allow for the pregnancy," he said.

Tano said he does not think condoms are sinful. "What is sinful is promiscuity, and immoral behavior and making use of condom as an excuse of promiscuity. The sin is promiscuity not the condom," he said.

The bishop said he is against any contraceptive method that is abortifacient.

He also disagrees that sex education should only come from the child's parents, saying that various institutions should be interdependent in the development of the child including the school, state, family and civil society.

[jansky]

jak en poy na lang kayo para matapos na

[Starex_Gold]

Oscar Cruz = Damaso

[ghosthunter]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...on-RH-bill-row

‘[SIZE="4"]Catholic Church isolated on RH bill row[/SIZE]’

By Cynthia Balana, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:17:00 04/28/2011


MANILA, Philippines—The support of non-Catholic religious groups like the Iglesia ni Cristo for the reproductive health (RH) bill has marginalized the Catholic hierarchy as the only institutional oppositor of the measure, according to analysts and key proponents of the measure.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, the Albay congressman and principal author of the RH bill, Wednesday welcomed the endorsement of the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, Inc. (IPPRP) composed of the INC, the Iglesia Filipina Independente, and Evangelical, Methodist, Adventist and Episcopal denominations.

The support of the Protestant churches and the INC for the RH bill has only further isolated the Catholic Church, said political analyst Ramon Casiple.

Not fly-by-right

“These are religious groups, religious churches. These are not fly-by-night. And the more extremist position the [Catholic] bishops take, the more they alienate the flock, which is an irony because they’re supposed to protect the flock,” he said.

The support from the non-Catholic groups came on the heels of President Benigno Aquino III’s unequivocal support for the measure now awaiting plenary action at the House of Representatives, Lagman said.

According to Casiple, because of its “strident” opposition to the RH bill, the Church may be losing its ability to influence the Aquino administration.

The RH bill was a “test case of how far the Church can bend the administration to its will,” and it appears the Church is slowly losing the battle, he said.

“The Church has been orphaned by this issue because Noynoy Aquino doesn’t have that frame of mind to follow them. They can’t blackmail him, they can’t use the argument that he’s isolated. He doesn’t need them in relation to maintaining his popularity and goodwill,” added Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Economic Reforms.

Church lobby

The Catholic Church, which has successfully lobbied against the passage of such a bill for more than 10 years now, opposes the RH bill because it allegedly allows married couples to gain easy access to condoms and other methods of contraception that can supposedly cause abortion.

But Lagman pointed out that individual Catholics themselves overwhelmingly support the bill as shown by the consistent results of surveys by independent pollsters Social Weather Stations and the Pulse Asia for almost two decades.

He said the snowballing of support of Catholics has been formalized with the nationwide organization of the Catholics for RH.

According to Casiple, Mr. Aquino is standing on solid ground since the majority of Filipinos support the passage of the legislation, as shown by poll surveys, he said.

Should the bill be approved and enacted into law, the Church would become “critical” of Mr. Aquino, and collaborate with the administration on a case-to-case basis, Casiple said.

“They won’t be close to Aquino as they were to GMA (former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo). There won’t be a Malacañang diocese,” he said.

Unless the Church changes its tack and comes out with the position that this issue is a “matter of faith,” it could further alienate some of the faithful, said Casiple.

“It’s isolating itself. We’re talking of a Church that’s determined to fight the reality of modern society, instead of adjusting,” he said.

[ghosthunter]

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/219374/n...ms-at-campuses

[SIZE="4"]Catholic youths conducting 'chastity forums' at campuses[/SIZE]
05/02/2011 | 05:47 PM


A Catholic youth movement has launched a campus tour to conduct a series of forums advocating chastity and encouraging opposition to the reproductive health (RH) bill.

The "Live Pure: movement is calling on the youth to live a chaste and pure life and make a stand against the RH bill.

“Since the start of 2011, the movement has been speaking at numerous schools in Metro Manila and the provinces," the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.

The members of Live Pure are giving their "time and energy to speak to the different Dioceses and schools for chastity education among the youth," the CBCP said.

The group has visited various schools to speak on the value of chastity and keeping themselves pure before marriage.

“It also discussed the evil effects of RH bill and rallied the youth to speak up and make their stand for life," the CBCP said.

The Catholic Church has been opposing the RH bill as it promotes the use of artificial contraceptives. The Church only accepts natural family planning methods.

Members of another group, the World Youth Alliance, also joined the forums to speak about human dignity.

Mark Phillip Morales, one of the participants, said the forums helped him realize the misconceptions he had about sexuality, dating, and courtship. - VVP, GMA News

If you can't win with today's population, try again with the next generation.

[niky]

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/219374/n...ms-at-campuses

Ironic. Considering monogamy and abstinence are part of the RH Bill's school curriculum.

So, what's the message... pro-chastity, anti-abstinence?

[jave]

Anything's possible when it comes to people with low EQ and common sense.

[Stoner]

Hm, read a statement by Carlos Celdran, and I have to agree with him on a lot of points.

RH bill has been languishing at the Congress for 16 years now. That means, for 16 years, we've been adopting the local church's stand on family planning, condoms, and such. So far, it doesn't look like it's working.

[Monseratto]

Pnoy should stop courting the Church, at nag papapogi na naman si Tito Sen, haaayyy...Hope the Bill moves more quickly.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

House resumes RH bill debate next week
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated May 12, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (8)


MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives will resume the debate on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, also known as the Responsible Parenthood (RP) bill, next week.

Minority leader Edcel Lagman, principal author and sponsor of the bill, said the bill would likely be taken up in plenary on Tuesday. He said they have conducted a “vote mapping” and are confident of getting the bill approved by the majority.

He hopes the House would vote on the bill before Congress adjourns again on June 9.

Another supporter of the bill, Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas, said the House should already decide on whether to approve or reject the measure.

“This proposal has been pending in Congress for many years. We should vote on it once and for all, and we should accept whatever is the voting result,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada opposed Sen. Vicente Sotto’s proposal for Congress to postpone consideration of the RH bill pending the investigation into Sotto’s claim that there had been misuse of public funds for maternal and child health funds because these do not reach the intended beneficiaries.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona, however, denied that funds for the government’s family health programs are misused.

“At the moment, I don’t see the so-called graft. I actually had this investigated four months ago,” he said in a chance interview yesterday.

He said the release of funds for some local government units was put on hold pending the filling of liquidation reports for their previous allocations.

“What happened was that we cannot release the funds unless there is an approval of the Commission on Audit,” Ona said.

Supporters of the bill said Sotto’s allegation is a “cheap trick” to derail passage of the measure.

“It is very sad that a distinguished policy maker such as Sen. Sotto will resort to a very loose claim of corruption in DOH to discredit the Reproductive Health bill,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation.

Supporters including former President Fidel Ramos, former health secretary Esperanza Cabral, Lagman, Ona, Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones and former lawmaker Risa Hontiveros attended the launch of the “Day of the Purple Ribbon for RH” at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas, Pasig City.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., meanwhile, had promised that he would schedule a vote on the measure soon.

The bill’s strongest critic, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), pulled out of the dialogue with Malacañang on the bill the other day because of President Aquino’s strong support for its passage into law. – With Evelyn Macairan, Sheila Crisostomo, Helen Flores