Senator not giving up on RH bill debates

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Pia Cayetano is not giving up on seeing a vote on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill while the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is going on.

“Those who are vehemently objecting to the RH bill can offer every conceivable excuse to further push back plenary deliberations on this measure. But I take exception to one anti-RH senator’s statement suggesting that our lawmaking duties would have to be sidelined by the impeachment trial,” Cayetano, one of the sponsors of the RH bill said.

Cayetano was reacting to the statement of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III that the RH bill would have to be set aside to pave way for the impeachment trial.

“I disagree, because it is our job to continue our work even with the trial.  We know we can do better than that by using efficient time management,” Cayetano said.

Plenary sessions for legislative work would only be held from 9 to 12 a.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays once the impeachment trial commences on Jan. 16. Monday to Thursday from 2 p.m. onwards would be dedicated to the impeachment trial while Wednesday mornings will be for the confirmation hearings of the Commission on Appointments.

Cayetano recalled that during the aborted impeachment trial of then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the Senate agreed to adjust its schedule so it could take up legislative matters in the morning from Monday to Wednesday.

“I can’t see why we can’t adopt a similar approach for the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice,” Cayetano said.

However, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, co-author and sponsor of the bill, said that she has accepted the reality that the measure would have to wait until the impeachment trial is over.

“Naturally, we would like to fight for the (passage of the) RH bill. But if we are dealing with the relationship between the executive branch and the judicial branch, that is the more paramount consideration for our political system,” Santiago said.

“So it becomes necessary that the RH debates will have to be set aside in order for the impeachment trial to be concluded faster. We’ll just have to accept that fact,” she said.

“In my case, I believe in concentrating at one thing at a time, I cannot divide myself into a brain that works on impeachment in the morning and a brain that works on RH in the afternoon,” Santiago said.

“So I would much rather, very reluctantly, support the proposal to postpone if absolutely necessary the RH debates. We cannot do anything, we never foresaw that anything like this would come up,” she added.