‘Fighting’ Sotto breaks down during RH debate

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. console Majority Floor Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III after he became emotional while delivering his Turno en Contra on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill during session, Monday, August 13, 2012. Sotto was in tears as he told the story of his first-born son who died five months after birth. PHOTO BY JOSEPH VIDAL

MANILA, Philippines—From fighting words to a tearful confession.

After a lengthy attack on the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill, Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto on Monday dissolved into tears, explaining that his stand against the measure was both “professional and personal.”

The senator, who has been receiving a steady stream of brickbats in social networking sites for his position against the RH bill, broke down when he recalled the death of his five-month-old son who, he claimed, was conceived even while his wife was taking birth control pills.

Monday was his son’s 37th death anniversary, Sotto said of Vincent Paul who was born on March 13, 1975, with a weak heart that required him to undergo daily blood transfusions.

His voice breaking, Sotto recalled that after their firstborn Romina was born in 1973, a doctor friend suggested that his wife Helen take contraceptives so she could resume her show-biz career.

“A few months after Romina was born, Helen got pregnant again even while taking pills,” Sotto recounted.  Born with a weak heart, his son never left the hospital where he subsequently died five months later, the senator said.

Sotto also recounted how his fellow senators, Lito Lapid and RH bill principal sponsor Pia Cayetano, had mourned the early deaths of their own children.  Lapid’s son, Sotto said, was a blue baby who died when he was nine. Cayetano’s son, Gabriel Sebastian, also suffered congenital problems and lived for only nine months.

“My fellow senators have their sad stories, but I still think they are blessed because they were able to hold and embrace their children. I could only watch my son through the glass. I never got to hold him,” Sotto sobbed.

He said that a doctor later told him and Helen that their son had suffered complications because of the pills his wife had taken.

Sotto said he had initially questioned why God took his son so soon.

“But now I realize it happened because I have a job to do—to warn people about the dangers of contraceptives.  That is my mission now,” he said.

Sotto said people always thought that he and his wife Helen had only four children: Romina, Diorela, Gian and Ciara.

“Actually we have six. Helen and I consider Sharon (Cuneta) our firstborn since we eloped in 1969.  That’s why I call (Sen. Francis) Kiko (Pangilinan) my son-in-law,” he said.

Sharon Cuneta is actually Helen Sotto’s niece, being the daughter of the latter’s sister, Elaine.

After the emotional scene at the Senate, Cayetano opted to defer her response to Sotto’s speech.