‘Seize the moment, let’s pass RH bill’

MANILA, Philippines - The principal author of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the House of Representatives is appealing to its supporters in the chamber to attend sessions so they can approve the controversial measure before the Christmas break.

“May I earnestly reiterate my appeal for all of us, RH bill authors and advocates, to be present during the last 12 session days before the Christmas break and maintain a quorum up to adjournment,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said in a letter to his colleagues.

He relayed his appeal “to over a hundred co-authors and another group of several dozens of confirmed advocates and supporters who are committed to vote for the measure.”

“Together, they constitute a clear majority of the total membership of the House of Representatives of 283 representatives,” he said.

“In our 13-year crusade for the enactment of a reproductive health law, it is only now in the 15th Congress that we have reached the threshold of passing the RH bill,” he told RH supporters.

“Let us collectively seize the moment and deliver without further delay the bill which is pregnant with fulfillment for maternal and infant health, reproductive self-determination as a human right, and sustainable human development,” he said.

He said the country needs a law on reproductive health that would serve “as an anchor for the government’s pro-poor, pro-women, pro-health and pro-development agenda.”

“The House of Representatives needs your presence and support to institutionalize this enabling anchor. Let us offer our constituents a small measure of sacrifice by responding to this urgent quorum call. Let us transform our enduring patience to renewed activism for the enactment now of an RH law,” he added.

Lagman noted that despite the absence of a quorum from Monday through Wednesday last week and again on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, a majority of those who were present were RH authors and advocates.

He made his impassioned plea for attendance in the wake of the word war between Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco. Ironically, the two are both supporting the RH bill.

Cojuangco is blaming Gonzales for “dribbling” the measure, resulting in the failure of the House to approve it. The majority leader tossed the blame to the bill’s supporters, who he said were not attending sessions.

“Basketball is a sport that I never learned. If the voting only involves me and the Speaker, the RH bill would have been passed long ago. We are 287 here. We need 144 for a quorum. So I wish all those who are for it would show up,” Gonzales said.

“We have been doing our share. The most we can do is to appeal to them. They are adults. We don’t need to threaten each other here. That is not a part of the rules. What we can do is to appeal to their sense of duty and responsibility,” he said.

“RH has been included in the agenda, in the unfinished business. If they know a better parliamentary way in dealing with this, I dare them to do it, anytime,” he added.