The Supreme value of human life

CEBU, Philippines -  The vote we are taking on the Reproductive Health bill tonight is a milestone in our legislative history as a nation.

Not only will it put to the test the strength of our convictions on what constituent’s freedom of choice, it compelled us to take a hard look at the principles that guide our individuals consciences on what is good and right.

Above all, for the first time in years, we as legislators are summoned to re-examine how much we value human life as the fountain head of all rights in a Democratic society and how bravely we are willing to fight in defense of the family as the ultimate foundation of strength and stability in our country.

I do not denigrate, Mr. Speaker, the conviction that Democracy rests on the freedom of citizens to make informed choices on how their affairs as individuals and as members of a bigger society should be managed and governed. But democracy of Freedom of Choice proceeds from a deep seated, unyielding and uncompromising commitment to upholding the value and the dignity of Human life.

Anything that puts to doubts, endangers or subjects human life to the vagaries of human choice to the end that Human life- how it begins and when, and worse, who gets to live and who doesn’t, depends solely on the will of an individual alone, renders human life a slave to contingent needs and personal appetites that freedom of choice, Mr speaker, violates most grievously the sanctity of life as a gift of grace from God.

What is good and right , Mr. speaker, is not a matter of Freedom or of choice. There are enduring moral principles that determine what is good and right- and the primacy of the sanctity of Human life is the ultimate good not only for each of us as individual citizens but for the greater Filipino national society as well.

A nation and a people that dares diminish the value of human life loses its moral fiber and creates a vacuum in values that can never be filled by even the most informed of choices.

We do not seek to uphold the tenets of a particular religion in our opposition to the RH bill, for indeed, we uphold freedom of belief and of religion. We do not dare impose our religious principles upon others who do not share our religious convictions.

But we stand for the yearning that somehow, in the recesses of our individual consciences- some higher power we call God- binds us to following the light of goodness and righteousness- and that light leads us to only one truth- the supreme value of human life.

In the same vein, Mr. Speaker, once we lose our ethical moorings by anchoring the value of human life on freedom of choice alone- we also take away from the family the fountainhead of its strength as the basic pillar of society- because we rob it of its fundamental role as the nurturer of human life.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, entails the expense of billions of precious resources from our public coffers to prevent life from beginning, all for the sake of upholding freedom of choice. These precious resources, Mr. Speaker, could be far better spent / creating optimal conditions for communal health, education, and social peace, for building opportunities for a better quality of life for every man, woman and child in this country.

A better quality of life does not come from systematic efforts to prevent life from beginning and flourishing. It begins with and is achieved thru the resolve of government working honestly with Citizens to create and sustain, thru wise and judicious use of public resources and individual initiative, the requisite conditions for a better quality of life for our people in the present and in the future.  In this spirit and in all humility therefore, Mr. Speaker, I vote NO to the reproductive health bill.

I thank you Mr. Speaker and distinguished colleagues. (FREEMAN)