The fight is not yet over

With all the resources at its command and with the support of media and some members of the academe funded by foreign lobby groups, it is expected that this administration will succeed as it did, in ramming through the passage of the RH bill on second reading in the Lower House. Undeniably, the 113 votes of the members of the House of Representatives favoring the bill are mainly “command votes” obtained through P-Noy’s ruling Liberal Party and its major ally, the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Definitely, they are not “conscience votes” cast after an independent and conscientious deliberation and consideration of the bill’s real objectives, and the means employed to achieve them. Indeed there was even a move to spring another surprise by once more submitting the bill to a vote on Tuesday, one day ahead of agreed date last Wednesday. This was however foiled by the usual lack of quorum.

The unexpected thing in the showdown last Wednesday was the closeness of the voting. There were 104 members of the Lower House who did not succumbed to the pressure of the powers that be as they cast their votes against the bill apparently dictated by their conscience. Even some members of the ruling Liberal Party voted “against the bill, mindful of our future generation who will suffer its evil effects now experienced in some western and Asian countries, which adopted the same kind of bill in controlling their population. One of them is Batangas Representative Tom Apacible who voted against the bill because he is also a “father more than a legislator.”

The closeness of the voting (113 for, 104 against and 3 abstentions) shows how sharply divided our country has become because of this bill. And contrary to P-Noy’s claim, voting on this bill will not end that discord and dissension in this nation especially because the decision was reached by sheer force of numbers, and not by a rational determination of what is right and what is wrong. In fact, one of the reactions I came across wryly says that with such results, “the lies have it” which rhymes with “the ayes have it” usually announced by the presiding officer after the voting. Hence there will always be ramblings and dissensions until all the truth about this bill has come out. For instance, the truth is that this is really a bill of foreign origin that is obviously designed for some purpose other than purely for our own interest. It behooves our leaders to tell us and admit this truth and explain to us convincingly why they still push for this bill. If they continue to ignore this undeniable fact, this discord and dissension will not disappear but even escalate.

With the passage of the bill in the Lower House on second reading, we are really moving closer to the brink of moral disaster that is happening now in other countries adopting the contraceptive methods and compulsory sex education of children. Again citing Dennis Yu who has conducted an in depth study of this bill in his dissertation entitled “RH bill will destroy Filipino Family,” he said: “The widespread use of contraception in the US shows its damaging effects on the family. With a high number of pre-marital sex, there is also a high cohabitation rate. And as cohabitation rate increases, consequently marriages decrease. But not only that: of the few who get married, many end up getting divorced, with marital infidelity (adultery) being one of the causes. It is the woman who usually suffers and more and more children are born out of wedlock.” Yu’s findings are not sweeping statements. They are backed up by figures and statistics cited as footnotes in his paper which cannot be reproduced here for lack of space.

There are indeed many abnormalities in our country now under the present administration. Our Congress with the prodding of Malacanang recently passed the Sin Tax bill. This is a bill that discourages and would ultimately eliminate the bad habits of alcoholic drinking and smoking tobacco products that are dangerous to life and health by imposing higher taxes on them. At almost the same breath, Malacanang and Congress are pushing hard for the passage of the RH bill that would subsidize the use of contraceptives like condoms and pills so that our people especially the poor can engage in the more vicious and dangerous vice of “safe and satisfying sex.” There is really something abnormal here which we never even imagined would happen when we voted this administration into power. So if this RH bill will eventually be approved, this abnormal situation will become part of our life.

At this stage however the fight is far from over. The bill has just been approved on second reading. Only a total of 220 members of the House of Representatives participated in the voting. Since there are 285 members, 65 could still express their stand on this bill. Hopefully a big number of them will see the light and participate on third reading to kill the bill. Besides the Senate has not yet voted on its own version of the bill on second reading. As the wiser and more sober body, it is hoped that they will use reason and sobriety in casting their votes.

But if our Congress will nevertheless pass this bill, the fight will just move to the Supreme Court, the third branch of government which will look into the constitutionality of the bill as it endangers the life of the unborn from conception, destroys the family and deprives parents of their primary right and duty in the education of their children. 

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