Sotto: Bishops’ prayers needed to help senators

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III. FILE PHOTO

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said prayers from the bishops were needed to help senators opposed to the RH bill advance their cause.

Sotto, who is one of the antis, met Tuesday with some members of the permanent council of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to “update each other” on the ongoing debates on the bill.

After the hourlong meeting at the CBCP office in Intramuros, Manila, Sotto told reporters that prayers were more potent than a roundtable discussion.

“Nothing beats prayers,” he said when asked what the bishops could do to help him and the other antis at this point.

He also said he was unsure how a meeting between the bishops and his colleagues would be of help in the plenary debates:  “[S]ome bishops might not be interested to talk to the senators, and some of the senators might also not be interested to discuss with [the bishops].”

Like Senator Manuelito “Lito” Lapid, some other senators have yet to decide whether Senate Bill No. 2865 should be passed or not. But Sotto admitted last week that those for and against it were even so far.

At least five senators, including Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Pia Cayetano and Panfilo Lacson, are in favor of the RH bill.

Those against it include Sotto, and Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Juan Ponce Enrile and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.

Sotto dismissed speculation that the delay in voting on the bill was an attempt to slow down its passage.

“There are no dilatory tactics in the Senate because a bill such as this that divides the country should be discussed well,” he said.

Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, the outgoing CBCP president, was mum on what transpired during the bishops’ meeting with Sotto. He simply told reporters that the Church hierarchy would continue to oppose the RH bill: “There are nonnegotiable aspects … They have the doctrine of the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium to follow.”

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma is to succeed Odchimar on December 1.

At the House of Representatives, the number of lawmakers scheduled to question the RH bill has dropped from 38 to 25 but Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II doubts that the voting can be held before next month’s break.

Gonzales said the House could not yield to the demand of the RH advocates to rush the plenary debates because the antis lined up to interpellate the bill’s authors led by Minority Leader Edcel Lagman were determined to “squeeze out” every minute of their allotted time.

The RH advocates had hoped that Congress would speed up deliberations on the bill after the swift approval of the 2012 budget. But Gonzales said the House leadership could only request, and not demand, that those scheduled to interpellate limit their questioning to one hour. Reports from Jocelyn R. Uy and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.