Lack of will, not time, is killing RH bill—Lagman

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER/JOAN BONDOC

It’s not lack of time but lack of political will that is blocking the passage of the much-needed reproductive health bill, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said Wednesday.

Lagman, a principal author of the RH bill, said House leaders should be truthful and declare  the real reason the House was  giving up on the RH bill after  endless debates on the floor for the last one and a half years.

“‘If there is a will, there is a way’ is a truism in lawmaking. The lack of time should not be made the scapegoat for lack of political will in failing to enact the long-pending reproductive health bill,” said Lagman.

He was reacting to a statement made by Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, which mentioned looming budget deliberations and  preparations for the 2013 elections as reasons why the RH bill would not likely be passed this year. Gonzales was earlier quoted as saying the bill had little or no chance of passing under the present Congress.

Palace clueless

Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda also claimed Wednesday he was not aware of what was going on with regard to the RH bill and would leave the fate of the bill to the House.

“It’s a priority bill that we submitted. Unfortunately, it is a very contentious topic. That’s why debates have been ongoing in the House,” Lacierda told reporters Wednesday.

Countered Lagman: “There is sufficient time from late July to the end of  August to vote on the RH bill, before the General Appropriations Bill is set for plenary consideration in September. Time is not a problem for the House of Representatives. It has always found time to fast track the approval of measures which the leadership wants enacted  in a couple of weeks.”

“If the Senate has the time to vote on its counterpart RH bill, why should the House find time elusive and running out on an allied measure which has been principally nurtured in the House?” he added.

Debated inside and out

Lagman cited the  lightning-quick approval of the cancellation of elections in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)  and passage of the  Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) Governance Act last year. “Unlike the ARMM and GOCC bills, which had inordinately short legislative gestation, the current RH bill and its precursors have been debated   inside and outside Congress for almost one and a half decades,” said Lagman.

He also cited recent statements by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. claiming there was time to push for Charter change as long as this was done through a constituent assembly  and the amendments limited to economic provisions.

“If there is time for Cha-Cha, which is unpopular, why should there be no time for RH when numerous and repeated surveys have documented that Filipinos want the RH bill enacted into law soonest,” said Lagman.

“The House leadership must take the bull by its horns and schedule the resumption of debates, amendments and voting within an expeditious time frame,” said Lagman. With Norman Bordadora