House respects SC ruling ‘delaying’ start of RH law

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Tuesday said that the House of Representatives of the 15^th Congress would respect the status quo ante order for the Reproductive Health Law but pointed out that “there are no loopholes” in its passage.

“Perhaps some provisions are being challenged,” he said.

The order was just a “temporary delay” in its implementation and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said that he was confident that the constitutionality of the new law will be sustained.

Lagman, the principal author of the RH measure in the House of Representatives, said that the 120-day status quo ante order against the law’s implementation would “enable the high court to fully assess the merits and demerits of the pending petitions challenging the constitutionality of the RH law.”

The order came several days after the new law’s implementing rules and regulations [IRR] came out.

The RH law was set for implementation on Easter Sunday.

But Lagman was optimistic that the new law will “triumph in the high court” just like it did in the legislative and executive departments.

He maintained that the RH law was constitutional as it does not infringe on the rights to life, health and religious freedom.

The Albay lawmaker also defended the law’s provision on providing reproductive health education to students of public elementary and high schools, saying that it was in compliance with the duty of the state to “support the role of parents in the development of their children’s moral character.”
The high tribunal has set the oral arguments on June 18.