House finally reaches quorum

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives reached a quorum Monday after six sessions of being plagued by the lack of enough legislators at the plenary.

Apparently Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.’s reminders were heeded by fellow lawmakers, 204 of whom showed up at the plenary by 5:49 p.m.

He earlier said that they would send reminders via text that they needed to attend session and work on key legislative measures, especially contentious legislations like House Bill 4244 otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill for which proposed amendments have yet to be tackled.

Last week, pro-RH Bill lawmakers called on fellow House members to attend session and allow the proposed bill to be put to a vote.

Among those urging for the measure to be put to a vote were Pangasinan Representative Kimi Cojuangco, Diwa Partylist Representative Emmeline Aglipay and Bagong Henerasyon Partylist Representative Bernadette Herrera-Dy.

Aglipay lambasted lawmakers’ failure to enact HB 4244 despite efforts of the proponents of the bill to compromise and come up with suitable amendments.

Cojuangco said they were even prepared to wage war against critics of the RH Bill should they continue to delay deliberations on it.

The new version of the RH Bill, copies of which were circulated back in the middle of October, states that the measure will only promote family planning methods which “will not prevent the implantation of the fertilized ovum” and those approved only by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The measure’s target beneficiaries will be the poorest couples who have no access to family planning methods as determined by the National Household Targeting System. It added that the State will continue its “openness to life, provided that parents can bring forth to the world only those children that they can raise in a truly humane way.”