CEBU, Philippines - Kilusang Bagong Lipunan vice-presidential candidate Jose “Jay” Sonza suggested to rename the Reproductive Health Bill into Population Management Bill saying that the title is too sensitive that it had caused a controversy.
In an interview with Sonza, he said that the RH Bill is a complete. However, he said because of its “repro” label which came from the word reproductive health, Catholic Church officials interpreted it as something like abortion.
According to Sonza, church officials may be opposing the bill because of the title. “Kasi sa pang kalahatan, maayo kaayo na siya. It is a complete solution of population management,” Sonza said.
Sonza said that those who opposed it should revisit the entire bill for them to know what the problem really is. “Malawak ‘yong bill, so if there is a problem on one section of the bill, they don’t have to kill the entire bill,” he added.
He said these are things that the government should look into to let the people understand it. Sonza said the situation now is different because there is a battle between the church and the government.
Sonza said that instead of looking at the artificial family planning method component of the bill, the people should view it on a positive side as an option for population management.
He however pointed out one disadvantage of the RH Bill which is allegedly to encourage unmarried couple to enjoy the pleasure of using contraceptives.
Msgr. Esteban Binghay, Episcopal Vicar of the Archdiocese of Cebu, admitted that the purpose of the RH Bill is good but the means of how it is being done contradicts the law of God.
“Kinahanglan gyud lingkoran ug tun-an pag-ayo kini nga issue… bisan pag usbon ang ngalan sa bill kung dili ra gihapon husto ang pama-agi niini, dili ra gihapon kini maayo,” Binghay said.
Sonza on the other hand asserted that the over population in the country is not an issue but it is the under development in terms of providing food security for the 90 million Filipinos. He said that maybe in the next five years we may not have enough food to feed the people.
“It is a question on how are we going to manage the population and at the same time improve our food security. This must be the thing our government must look up to,” Sonza said. (FREEMAN NEWS)