Gullas against RH bill; Osmeña in favor

Rep. Eduardo Gullas of Cebu’s 1st district yesterday opposed the passage of the  Reproductive Health (RH) bill, saying lawmakers should tackle bigger  priorities.

“Why spend billions of pesos for contraceptives? The budget intended to stop conception should be used instead to improve education in the country,” Gullas said in a press conference.

Gullas said there were serious problems in the educational system that need to be looked into.

“Appropriate the budget for education. We don’t even have enough textbooks and teachers’ (job) items,” he said.

Sec. 10 of the RH bill categorizes “family planning supplies” as “essential medicines” and provides that these items, which include condoms and other contraceptives, shall be part of the regular purchase of supplies of all national and local hospitals and other government health units.

Gullas said he would vote against the RH bill which the Catholic Church vehemently opposes.

“I have always been against the bill. I’m pro-life. It’s too late to change my stand,” Gullas said.

He declined to comment on proposals to legalize divorce in the country.

He said he has yet to read a copy of the bill.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said he wants the bill decided in a national plebiscite to end the “divisiveness” caused in the House.

“I was proposing to the other congressmen that we do a Pontius Pilate solution.  The issue (RH Bill) is so hard to decide on because people are starting to get emotional. There is now shouting in Congress so we might as well let the people decide,” he said.

Osmeña said that he personally supports the RH bill but he does not intend to cast his vote in its favor when voting is called in Congress.

He said he gave in to the request of former north district representative Raul de Mar, a papal awardee of the Catholic Church, who asked him to abstain from voting.

“I don’t know why he (Del Mar) is so emotional about it.  I will not vote because I don’t  want to ruin the 20 years of alliance that we have established,” said Osmeña.

Osmeña said he suggested to congressmen to resort to a referendum to to settle the debate over the RH bill.

“The issue has captured the national audience.  Since it has raised consciousness on the issue to a higher level, we might as well let the people decide,” he said.

“Whichever side will win, half of the population will still hate you  so maayo pa, wash your hands na lang,” he said.

Catholic bishops continues to lobby against the RH bill, whose provisions include public access to government-funded supplies of condoms and contraceptives and sex education in schools from grade 5 to high school.

Bishops across the country have rejected, “with one solid voice,” the RH bill ’s attempt to put in place a national policy “that challenges and denies cherished ideas and aspirations of a people that are pro-life, pro-child, and pro-family.”

Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu, frowned on the proposal to put the RH bill to a referendum.

He said the voice of the majority won’t determine what is right.

“It was proven in the time of Pontius Pilate (governor of Judea). Most of the people chose to free Barabbas (a rebel) over Jesus,” Dakay said.

He was recalling the Bible’s account of the Jewish Passover, when as a custom, Pilate would release one prisoner chosen by the crowd.

“A good end does not justify a bad means,” Dakay said.

He said a referendum won’t guarantee the right answer.

Dakay said a plebiscite of sorts took place when Filipinos decided to stage “people power”  uprisings that ousted two presidents, but that the country hasn’t changed much since then. Reporters Ador Vincent Mayol and Doris Bongcac