Anti-poor,anti-Filipino bill

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago hit the nail right on the head with her proposal to abolish Congress and substitute it with a five-man legislative council of elders. She may have said it jestingly, but if a survey is conducted, I am sure majority of the people agree with her that this is indeed the best public service Congress can render to the Filipino people except perhaps that portion asking all of them to commit hara-kiri. People will be satisfied with a mass resignation.

One of the main reasons for this overwhelming sentiment is none other than the kind of legislations being proposed and deliberated by our legislators over which they waste a lot of time and people’s money. With our country on the brink of financial collapse, the "honorable" members of the Senate and House of Representatives are still wrangling over the approved budget since as it is now turning out, the surreptitious plan to restore their slashed pork barrel has been foiled. Our legislators’ obsession to retain their pork allocation has driven them to tax the people even more to solve the country’s precarious financial position. People would have grudgingly accepted this bitter pill to swallow except that, as they are being taxed to death by our Congressmen, these same officials who are supposed to represent their interest are also seriously pushing for a bill granting tax exemptions and other incentives to big time multi-national corporations. This is the kind of Congress that incites people to move for its abolition.

The bill in question is House Bill No. 16, tediously entitled "An Act Creating a Reproductive Health and Population Management Council for the Implementation of an Integrated Policy on Reproductive Health Relative to Sustainable Human Development and Population Management, and for Other Purposes".

Reading Sections 14, 15 and 18 of this Bill ineluctably leads to a conclusion that the alleged over population of our country is but a concoction and part of a larger scheme hatched by a conglomerate of multi-national pharmaceutical companies engaged in the manufacture, sale and distribution of contraceptives, as well their importers and donors. The "lobby" for the passage of this bill must really be so overwhelming for its sponsors to resist.

Section 14 would allow manufacturers of artificial contraceptives to be granted personal and corporate tax exemptions for three years while importers of the same will pay reduced tariffs. In addition, these manufacturers would be given low interest bearing loans from the government banks. It is ironic indeed that while additional tax burdens are being imposed on the people, these foreign corporations are being granted tax incentives. Instead of allocating tax incentives to industries that will lead to economic development, government is helping promote the business of few foreign conglomerates.

This conclusion is further bolstered by Section 15 of the Bill which would require all Collective Bargaining Agreements between employers and employees to include a provision for "reproductive health care services and devices". Under this section, employers would be forced to purchase from these pharmaceutical companies, condoms, Intra-uterine Devices, Birth Control Pills, sterilization and
so on to be provided free to their employees. Instead of providing maternity and paternity benefits needed to make workers better parents, the law would require their employer to buy these contraceptives designed to boost the sales of the manufacturers and importers of these drugs and contraceptives.

Section 18 of the Bill, on the other hand would give tax exemptions for all the donations given by foreign funding organizations with their own depopulation agenda thus providing another leak in our already leaky revenue collection methods.

Let’s all beware of this Bill. While its title suggests that it is for the implementation of an integrated policy on reproductive health relative to sustainable human development and population management, it will undeniably promote the business of a few big time multi-nationals which continue to propagate the myth that our country remains poor because of overpopulation so that they can sustain their business here.

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