Compromise bill on reproductive health seen

THE REPRODUCTIVE health (RH) bill may yet become Part III of a history of animosity between the Catholic Church and the government that senators predict would end in a compromise.

The two sides had clashed before over a bill proposing religious education in public schools in 1938, and a bill proposing compulsory reading of Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” in all levels in 1956, Sen. Joker Arroyo said.

“This is as controversial as the compulsory reading of the ‘Noli’ and ‘Fili,’ and the compulsory religious instruction,” Arroyo told reporters.

In a radio interview on Sunday, he said: “It could [shake] the administration, especially since the President has taken a stand. His stand in effect is the same as the stand of President Quezon.”

Then President Manuel L. Quezon vetoed the bill on compulsory religious instruction after it was passed by the legislature, citing the separation of the Church and State. This enraged the Church, Arroyo said.

The Church also opposed the compulsory reading of Rizal’s two novels because of passages critical of the Church. It later relented when lawmakers agreed to modify the versions for elementary and high school students, he said.

Compromise bill

But after all the fierce wrangling in the media and debate in Congress, Arroyo predicted that a “compromise bill” on reproductive health would emerge in the House of Representatives and Senate.

“Of course, it’s still being hotly debated. But when it reaches the period of amendments, there will be a compromise as had happened in the ‘Noli’ and ‘Fili’ issue,” he said. “It’s very hard to take a position of anti or pro. But I can see that there will be a compromise here.”

The House has begun plenary debates on its version of the RH bill, while the Senate has yet to tackle it on the floor.

Sen. Ralph Recto, who wants to do away with delicate provisions such as teenagers’ access to condom without parental consent, said he was open to a “compromise bill.”

“There must be a way forward,” said Recto, who joined Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Pia Cayetano, Panfilo Lacson and Edgardo Angara in backing the bill.

Recto said in an interview he agreed in principle with the measure’s objective to improve women’s reproductive health, and prevent deaths arising from pregnancy.

Substitute bill

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who has declared his opposition to the bill along with Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, also broached the idea of a “substitute bill.”

“We can amend the measure. We can produce a substitute bill,” Enrile said on radio.

Arroyo said he expected the Mr. Aquino’s partymates in the Senate—Recto, Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan and Teofisto Guingona III—would vote for the RH bill.

Drilon, however, said he had not made up his mind.

“I’ll be listening to the debates. I have not made up my mind. I will study it very well. I don’t know what will come to the Senate,” he said in an interview. “It’s a major bill. How the Senate will vote is difficult to predict at this point.”

Pangilinan earlier said: “I will support the bill that will ensure that married couples are given the information they need to make an informed decision about parenthood and that they be empowered to achieve it with the needed government support. I am against any form of abortion.”

House debates

In the House, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales III predicted that the lengthy plenary debates would taper off after the key prolife proponents have questioned the RH bill’s author, Minority Leader Edcel Lagman.

“Once the key players, Pablo Garcia, Roilo Golez, Anthony Golez and Raul Daza, have completed their interpellation, there’s basically not many questions left to ask,” he said in an interview. “All corners will be covered.”

Even so, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. would soon sit down with the sponsor of the measure, and the 38 interpellators to “come out with the rules of engagement” in the floor debates, Gonzales said.

Since only three of the 38 lawmakers have so far completed their interpellation of Lagman, the debate won’t be finished when Congress adjourns sine die on June 8. This will resume when Congress opens its second regular session in late July, he said.

“Hopefully before the year ends, we will be able to vote on it,” he said.