The Supreme Court building in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court dismissed the bid of Akbayan Partylist Chairperson Risa Hontiveros to lift the status quo ante and allow the implementation of the Reproductive Health Law.
Voting 10-4, the high tribunal instead set the case for debate on June 8 as it maintained the 120-day status quo ante order it issued last month, Atty. Theodore Te, information chief of the Supreme Court, said in a text message.
Hontiveros, in a 42 page motion for reconsideration, said there was no reason to suspend the implementation of Republic Act 10354.
“The petitioners questioning the constitutionality of the law failed to show adequately that the provisions of RA 10354 violate the Constitution,” said Hontiveros.
At least six petitions have been filed with the high court saying that the new law violates the Constitution, which upholds the ideal of an unconditional respect for life and aspires for the establishment of policies that create opportunities to harness the economic potential of every Filipino.
They said that RA 10354 or the Act Providing for a National Policy on Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health “mocks the nation’s Filipino culture—noble and lofty in its values and holdings on life, motherhood and family life—now the fragile lifeblood of a treasured cultured that today stands solitary but proud in contrast to other nation.”
But Hontiveros argued that the law would help the government stop maternal deaths and misconceptions about reproductive health.
A the status quo ante order is issued to preserve the last actual peaceable and uncontested status before the litigation or filing of a petition.