Rep. Garcia says he can prove US lobby claims

AFTER claiming that some United States firms are lobbying for the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress, Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu 2nd district) said he could prove his claims.

He cited the National Security Study Memorandum-200 as his basis.

Garcia said that under that study, it was the interest- strategic and economic factors that the population growth of certain countries in the world was controlled.

It included the Philippines as one of the 13 countries with which their population growth must be controlled.

Garcia said that this was a top-secret document but was declassified in 1989 and published in 1990.

“Aid or any assistance to these countries are subject to a condition that they will institute some population control measures,” he said.

He also named Nigeria, Brazil, India and Bangladesh included in the 13 countries.

Garcia noted that these 13 countries belonged to the less developed ones.

He named USAID (United States Agency for International Development), World Bank and United Nations Population Fund Activities as some of the firms who have been implementing these measures.

“I have the records. I was waiting for them to ask me questions,” he said.

“I preferred to have their questions because actually there are countries and foreign institutions interested in the population control of other countries,” he added.

Garcia earlier accused his colleagues of being bankrolled by a US lobby and cited the P20-million lobby fund for the passage of the RH bill.

He named Minority Leader Edcel Lagman’s committee on population and development as the main vehicle of the US lobby.

Lagman, however, said that Garcia’s allegation was an old yarn and that it was an allegation with no proof.  Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus