Harapan survey: Pinoys don't support RH Bill!

It started around 2:00pm when I noticed that the texts I sent where not sent at all. I thought I was experiencing problems with my BlackBerry. It was then I realized that the service of Globe Telecom apparently went down, including Globelines and its Internet service. I later found out that the trouble was traced to a cut in Globe’s undersea lines. I still have to get the official report direct from Globe Telecom as to where this undersea cable is located as it interrupted service in many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.

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A lot of people apparently watched last Sunday evening’s ABS-CBN’s “Harapan” hosted by Karen Davila and Julius Babao about the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill. This makes me wonder, is it back to RH Bill again? I thought this was already renamed Responsible Parenthood (RP) Bill? Anyway, that show pitted those against the bill versus those who are supporting it in a live debate. They split the live audience between the antis and the pros in one of the most heated shows on live TV.

The major issues surrounding this bill were placed on the floor. The moral issue, women’s health and the most hotly debated whether this bill would legalize abortifacient drugs that kill the unborn, as well as the issue on whether the RH bill is a population control and management program. We have written extensively on these issues in many columns in the past.

Principal co-author of the RH Bill, Rep. Edcel Lagman, started the salvo citing a Social Weather Station (SWS) Survey that showed that 80% of Filipinos, (naming even places like Cebu) are supporting the RH Bill. No doubt those people supporting the RH Bill have tons of money that they use for buying such spurious surveys, which we all know can be “rigged” through the questions that the respondents of the survey would be asked. Yes, they even had former Rep. Lisa Hontiveros on a TV Ad, which just gives you an idea that someone is funding these people, that’s why you have a lot of people supporting this anti-life movement.

Amongst those in the panel who are against the RH Bill, former Sen. Jose “Joey” Lina gave the most honest answer on the question whether our large population is the cause of our poverty, which those supporting the RH Bill believe. Joey Lina pointed at the government’s mismanagement of our resources and unbridled corruption that has made our country poor.

Indeed, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that in this country, the richest and the most powerful people are the ones who have strong connections with our political and government leaders. Most of these rich people are now engaged in politics, which has become something of a family business to be handed down from generation to generation. That’s how bad corruption is in this country.

I have always said that the people who live in Metro Manila are the ones who believe that we are overpopulated. The other week we rode our big bikes to Davao via Nasipit/Butuan and you will see a sparsely populated countryside. It is a fact that many people move away from the countryside and settle in the cities. This is a worldwide phenomenon simply because there is no money to be earned in the countryside. What is ugly in supporting the RH Bill is that it kills the unborn that are supposedly protected by the Constitution.

From the arguments of Rep. Janet Garin and Lisa Hontiveros, it is clear to me that the RH Bill is a population control program, which of course was vehemently denied by co-author Rep. Edcel Lagman. It’s all drama! During the final statements, one anti-RH panelist questioned those supporting the RH Bill stating that many of them are anti-American and supported the removal of the US Bases. But now they are espousing an American policy that is totally against Filipino culture.

After the show was over, ABS-CBN reported the results of their running survey through text message, email, Twitter or Facebook, which they made so simple - either you supported “Ibasura” or “Ipasa” the RH Bill. The results were very telling 34.62% voted for “Ipasa” or wants the RH Bill passed, while a whooping 65.38% voted for “Ibasura” or don’t want the RH Bill to be passed. I really thought that the “Ipasa” would win that survey. Hence, it was quite surprising and refreshing that those who watched that nationwide TV debate resoundingly did not want the RH Bill to be passed.

This survey belies that SWS Report that said 80% of Filipinos support the RH Bill. Clearly the people watching Harapan listened and decided that the RH Bill is not good for the Filipino people, especially for families. Now, what I would like to know from Karen Davila is how many people responded to the ABS-CBN survey so we can compare it to the SWS survey. I would like to believe that there were more respondents in the ABS-CBN survey, which would therefore make it more credible than the SWS survey.

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