MANILA, Philippines - The controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill is likely to be passed by both chambers of Congress after being certified as urgent by President Aquino the other night.
Aquino’s certification came barely a day after the House of Representatives approved the measure on second reading Wednesday in a long drawn out session that ended before dawn the following day.
With his certification of the bill, the President may get his wish to have it approved by lawmakers before they go on Christmas break next week.
Questions have been raised on why the President resisted certifying the RH measure when he readily did so for the sin tax bill.
The RH bill has been pending in Congress for 14 years while the sin tax bill took 16 years before finally becoming law.
“I’m quite stingy in certifying (bills) as urgent. There is a constitutional provision for emergency... when it is really clear and undebatable that there is an emergency, like a state of calamity, and a supplemental budget is needed. But in this particular case, I don’t think it’s the same emergency as addressing a storm,” he explained.
“But tonight, I was convinced that the session will be ending next week. You’d really rather have this divisive issue finished before we start the new year. So to give them the opportunity to finish, especially the Senate, I certified it, actually just tonight,” the President told Palace reporters
Aquino told Palace reporters that while he was fully supportive of the bill, he did not try to impose his will on members of Congress when he discussed the issue with them early this month.
He said that by letting them decide on their own, he was making sure their self-respect was intact since they had constituents to deal with.
The President said his certifying the bill as urgent was meant to ensure the bill’s ratification at the soonest time possible.
The President said the certification would be transmitted to Congress on Monday in time for the opening of session.
Aquino reiterated he was for responsible parenthood and for educating people on the need to plan their families.
He said the bill is also meant to provide women greater access to maternal health care.
Aquino said his decision was based on his own discernment after seeing young people give birth without knowing how they would raise their children.
He again talked about the case of a 16-year-old mother from Baseco in Manila who had to bear children at a young age. When he and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman first met the young woman, she was about to give birth to her second child. He later learned that at 18, she gave birth to her third child by a new common law partner.
“Is she capable of raising them and giving them the opportunities? If we do nothing, the three (children), in their turn, will repeat the same mistakes, will have a worse situation, will produce another multiple who will face a much harsher situation. That’s why I really feel that we have to address the problem, and not pretend we’re ostriches,” he said.
Bills certified as urgent are no longer subject to the “three-day rule,” meaning they may be approved on third and final reading immediately after hurdling second reading.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill on second reading on Monday.
Better chances
For House leaders, President Aquino’s decision to certify the RH bill as urgent has improved its chances of getting more support when the chamber puts it to a vote on third reading.
“At first, l only wanted it to be voted on, that would have been an achievement already. Now I hope the RH law will become a reality,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said.
“It totally changes the complexion of the bill. And for the doubting Thomases of the Liberal Party in the House, it sends a very clear and unmistakable message to its members as to the stand of its party leaders that we should support its passage,” Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal sponsor of the proposed RH law, said the presidential certification “will seal the final passage of the RH bill both in the House of Representatives and the Senate.”
“(It) makes indelible President Aquino’s endorsement of the bill. It assures a wider margin of victory on third reading for the progressive measure. It would also rally the contending protagonists to eventually join ranks in supporting the speedy and full implementation of an RH law,” he said.
The House approved the RH measure on second reading before dawn Thursday by a vote of 113-104 with three abstentions.
Gonzales told reporters after the vote that because of the slim margin, he expected more intense lobbying from both sides of the RH divide.
He said the more than 60 members who were absent or did not vote in the Wednesday-Thursday marathon session would be the focus of lobbying.
He said the pressure on those who have cast either a Yes or No vote would be to stay away from the third-reading vote on Monday.
Some 43 members of the ruling Liberal party voted for the bill, while 26 voted against it. Several others did not vote or were absent.
Anti-RH Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who belongs to the ruling party, did not vote, although he participated in the period of amendments.
Because of his party’s support for the measure, he said he would rather not vote.
LP members who were absent or did not vote were Edwin Olivarez of Parañaque, Edgar San Luis of Laguna, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental, Raul Daza of Northern Samar, Sergio Apostol of Leyte, Rene Relampagos of Bohol, Luis Quisumbing of Cebu, Andres Salvacion also of Leyte, Leo Ocampos of Misamis Occidental, and Rosendo Labadlabad of Zamboanga del Norte.
Evardone, who had just returned from a parliamentary conference in New York, said he has always supported the bill and would cast a Yes vote on Monday.
Olivarez is LP’s candidate for mayor in Parañaque in next year’s elections, while San Luis is its candidate for governor in Laguna.
Among LP members who voted against the RH bill were Isabel Climaco of Zamboanga City, Tomas Apacible and Nelson Collantes of Batangas, and Carlos Cari of Leyte.
Senators elated
Senators also lauded the President’s decision to certify the measure as urgent.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, principal author and co-sponsor of the RH bill, called the President a “hero” for his decision.
“I am very enthused with him. This is manifest proof of executive leadership. By one stroke, he has ended the time-wasting prevarication of the last 13 years over the RH bill,” Santiago said in a statement.
Santiago noted that the other presidents before Aquino had shirked on this duty but now under his administration, the bill would finally be taken up on third and final reading in the two chambers of Congress.
She said the certification is justified because there is a real public emergency, which is the death of poor Filipino mothers every day due to complications from childbirth and sheer ignorance of RH.
Santiago cited the latest surveys that show 13 to 15 mothers dying everyday due to childbirth complications.
Now that the certification has been issued by the President, Santiago said that nothing stands in the way of the RH bill getting approved on third and final reading in the Senate as early as Monday next week.
“The President’s certification means that as early as Monday, the Senate can already proceed to third and final reading. The same can be said of the House of Representatives,” Santiago said.
“By Tuesday, the bicameral conference committee of the two chambers can already meet. Therefore, it is possible for the two chambers to ratify the bicam report by Wednesday before going on Christmas break,” she added.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who filed his own version of the RH bill, saw the certification as a clear endorsement of the RH bill.
“It also means that we need not wait for three days after the bill is passed on second reading on Monday. In fact, we can pass it on third reading on the same day. Also, it will further reinforce the votes among the pro RH in both houses,” Lacson said.
“We are ready to vote on RH in order to provide women with access to basic services on public health,” Sen. Loren Legarda said.
She said she would vote based on her conviction and that she would respect the arguments raised by parties involved in the debates on the matter.
“I have been here since 1998. I hope and pray and I think I will be here until 2019 and we consider all sectors’ views and we respect it but in the end we have to do what we have to do and do what we believe is needed by the people,” she said.
However, not all senators were happy about the President’s move.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, a fierce critic of the RH bill, expressed his disappointment over the decision of the President.
“It’s obvious now that what I have been saying all along is true – that this is a foreign imposition for their so-called millennium development goals – one of which is to depopulate third world countries. Kawawa ang Pilipinas! (Poor Philippines),” he added.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said that the objectives of the RH bill cannot justify its certification as urgent. “The purposes of the RH bill can never be justified as urgent. There’s a constitutionality issue there,” he said. – Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy