RH bill still not certified as urgent

MANILA, Philippines - There is no word yet if President Aquino will certify as urgent the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte stressed that amendments to the bill being introduced both in the Senate and the House of Representatives are part of the legislative process and Malacañang is just waiting for its outcome.

“We wait to be informed by the House leadership on the positive developments with stakeholders,” Valte said.

The RH bill was finally taken up again in the Senate during Monday’s plenary session. But just when the proponents of the bill were expecting to end the period of amendments and pass the measure on second reading, their opponents introduced a long list of modifications.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara urged the President to certify the RH bill as urgent to send a strong message to Congress that he wants the measure approved as he did with the so-called sin tax bill.

“Its certification as an urgent bill will change the equation,” Angara told a news conference.

The RH bill has not moved in the House since Aug. 6, when congressmen voted to close floor debates and start the period of amendments.

Opponents of the bill have resorted to every parliamentary maneuver, including delivering perorations and questioning the quorum, preventing the House from tackling it again.

Angara said such maneuvers under the rules of the House could be expected. “It’s still early to give up hope,” he said.

Rep. Sherwin Tugna of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption said Aquino’s certification of the RH bill would send a clear and strong message to lawmakers that he wants it approved as soon as possible.

The measure has been in limbo in the House because of Aquino’s “ambivalent” support, some of the bill’s authors said.

Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco said the RH bill would have already been enacted had the President exhibited the same zeal in getting then chief justice Renato Corona removed through impeachment.-With Evelyn Macairan