Government, Church start exploratory talks on Responsible Parenthood Bill

MANILA, Philippines - The government and the Catholic Church have begun exploratory talks on a Responsible Parenthood (RP) Bill to address the country’s growing population.

President Aquino said that he was glad the Church opened its doors for discussions.

“We call it RP, responsible parenthood,” Aquino said in a recent interview in Malacañang. “We’re striving for consensus.”

Aquino said the initial agreements between Church and the government would lead to further dialogues.

“And I am very glad to note that there was an agreement after the dialogue,” he said.

The agreements were:

• The public must be provided with all the pertinent information needed to make informed decision on planning their families.

• The state shall not be used as instrument to enforce or actively violate the dictates of one’s faith and conscience.

• The dialogues are a means by which important stakeholders are able to input their views into executive policies.

Aquino said the executive and the Church recognize that the legislature is a separate branch of government.

Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Abad, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Vilma Cabrera met with Archbishop of San Fernando Paciano Aniceto, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines secretary general Monsignor Juanito Figura, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle, lawyer Jo Imbong of the CBCP Legal Office, and Edna Monzon of the CBCP Office of Bioethics.

Among the lay people at the meeting were lawyer Dindo Garciano, president of the Alliance For Family Foundation of the Philippines; Dr. Angelita Aguirre of the Human Life International and Dr. Theresita Lariosa of the University of the Philippines College of Public Health.

Aquino said having an RP Bill would depend on future talks as those that were agreed upon were only the broad strokes.

“Why am I (glad)?” he said.

“There was a point in time that (some members of the Church), they did not want to talk to us (at all). Suddenly they will come with (an initial agreement).

“This is a preparatory dialogue towards holding the main with the entire CBCP or whoever they’d task.”

Aquino said it was important to discuss the matter and focus on what they could agree.

“And I’m very happy with this because it precisely states out what my views on the matter are,” he said.

Aquino said statistics show that the government would have to attend to a high population growth rate, the number of indigent families, maternal and child births, abortion or induced miscarriages.

– With Christina Mendez