Lapid gets his knees together, if not his act

Senator Lito Lapid , senator from Pampanga participates in the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill for the first time Tuesday, October 4, 2011. PRIB Photo by JOSEPH VIDAL

Even men used to facing the cameras get nervous. Just ask “Leon Guerrero,” a.k.a. Senator Manuelito “Lito” Lapid.

The former action star on Tuesday finally got into the Senate debate on the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill but not before he overcame an attack of nerves.

Insiders said Lapid had been scheduled to question the bill’s supporters on Monday and was already prepping up in the chamber’s exclusive lounge but somehow he did not proceed to the session hall.

“I was really nervous,” Lapid said Tuesday in an ambush interview in Filipino, explaining his absence on the floor the other day. “I can’t explain it myself.  I have been so used to acting so I cannot see a reason for my nervousness.”

He also expressed apprehension that if he were to join the RH debate, it “would be like debating the Bible’s contents with a priest.”

Seeking to help him, fellow machos in the chamber advised Lapid to keep his knees together when standing at the podium.

Pia’s assurance

“Senators (Gregorio) Honasan and Ping (Lacson) gave me encouraging words, telling me to stand this way,” Lapid said, bringing his knees close together.

He also got an assurance from Senator Pia Cayetano, who was to defend the bill in the absence of its main sponsor, Senator Miriam Santiago, that she would give him a lot of leeway.

“She promised to be patient if I get some words wrong.  But you know some people, they would rather point out the things I said wrong, instead of what I said correctly,” he said.

Comic and bittersweet

On Tuesday, in a much awaited event, the Pampanga lawmaker apparently got his knees together.

Taking his turn at the podium, the man who portrayed the cowboy hero Leon Guerrero on film gave a performance that was both comic and  bittersweet.

“How do you want the debates to go, in English or Filipino,” RH bill cosponsor Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked in jest, setting off laughter.

Lapid hesitated when Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada suggested he take the center podium so that people on both the left and right galleries could see him better.

“I prefer to stay here on the side, so I can hear the whispers of my prompters,” Lapid said.

Into the fray

Then he got fully into the fray, asking Cayetano the history of the national population policy.

Cayetano said the Philippines was a signatory to the 1967 UN declaration on population and that later, then President Ferdinand Marcos set up the Commission on Population based on the Constitution that recognized the State’s responsibility to “maintain populations conducive to national welfare.”

It was then, Cayetano pointed out,  that artificial contraceptives, such as the pill, the intrauterine device and condoms were officially introduced in the country.

Two playboys

When Lapid volunteered the information that he was married at 21 to a girl who was 19, Estrada butted in and, apparently asking who the girl was, said: “Sino po ‘yun (Who was the person)?”

“Who are you asking about? Are we referring to… your father?” Lapid jokingly asked, alluding to former President Joseph Estrada who—like Lapid—is known for his playboy image.

Then pressing on, Lapid asked Estrada: “How many children are you in the family?”

“We are three,” Estrada replied, then added:  “I’m not sure how many more there are.”

The exchange brought thunderous laughter in the gallery.

Pink pills

Turning serious, Lapid said that after having two children, he and his wife decided to use birth control pills.

“That’s how I learned about the ‘banig’ (sleeping mat), which was how people referred to the pink contraceptive pills then,” Lapid said.

“However, my wife still got pregnant despite using  pills.  And the third one was born with a heart ailment. He was a blue baby,” Lapid told a suddenly hushed audience.

He went on: “They said that when he survives to reach 14 years old, things would be all right. But when he was 9, he had a heart attack.  I could not believe it.  Was it because of the pills? I asked my wife and she said ‘yes.’  I told her that I will stand up in the Senate and use her as an example.”

Birth defects

Lapid then asked whether birth defects, such as harelips, were caused by pills.

“The old folks believe that when a mother takes a bad fall during pregnancy, her child will have a harelip.  But then, I began seeing other children with a harelip. Did that mean too many mothers were taking a bad fall?” he asked.

“And why are there more triplets? More fourth-lets [quadruplets]? Why are there (conjoined) twins? Are these because of pills,” he went on.

Cayetano said there were no known studies linking the use of contraceptive pills to birth defects. She noted that in her case, her third child was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, but this was due to a chromosome defect.

Baseless myths

“Are you sure you did not have a fall when you were carrying him?” Lapid asked.

“I remember when I had an ultrasound taken, the technician asked me the same question,” Cayetano recalled. “But bad falls and all those stories are baseless myths, like the warning not to bathe.”

Cayetano said a cleft palate is caused by a mother’s lack of nutrition during pregnancy. “And it usually occurs in poor countries. That’s why the RH bill provides for prenatal care.”

The exchange between Lapid and Cayetano ended when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile waded in with his own questions.

Originally posted: 12:14 am | Wednesday, October 5th, 2011