RH law is no quick fix, says Lagman

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net

Once the reproductive health (RH) bill is enacted into law, don’t expect immediate results.

Proponents of the measure made this statement in assuring the public that it will be good for the country in the long run.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said a massive information drive should be the first step to take once the RH law is in place to teach people what they need to learn and the resources available to them.

Lagman said it would take some time before the full impact of the dissemination of RH information and family planning services would be felt.

“That’s why we proposed that the mandatory comprehensive review should be five years following the effectivity of the law, because that’s the only time we could really see the beneficent effects of the bill. You won’t feel it immediately because much of the work will have to be a massive national information campaign,” Lagman told newsmen.

Five-year review

Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said there was an earlier proposal to conduct the review after three years, but proponents insisted it must be done only after five years, when the intent of the law would have been fully realized.

But Lagman said the country would eventually realize the positive effects of the RH law.

It would help the Philippines “approximate” its millennium development goals commitment, particularly reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health and providing universal access to family planning, he said.

The country would also be on its way to eliminating extreme poverty and hunger, he added.

The RH bill’s main proponent in the House of Representatives also said there was no turning back for the measure, and that it is “irreversible.”

No infirmity

Even if the fight is brought all the way to the Supreme Court, he said it will be victorious until the end because its proponents worked to ensure that it would have no constitutional infirmity.

“I think you cannot beat a good idea, you cannot vanquish relentless advocates, and you cannot possibly defeat a measure which will be promotive of the welfare of the Filipino people, particularly our women and children,” he said.

Lagman said he was “elated” that both houses of Congress have ratified the measure after 14 years. He described it as the House “baby,” with the Senate version just a replica of the House version.

Lagman said the President’s certification had a “very tremendous positive effect” on the measure’s approval on third and final reading.

But he also said the present House leadership should be credited for its commitment to getting the bill voted upon. It was very unlike the previous House leadership that was “either negative, ambivalent or even deceptive,” he said.

But he also said the bill, on its own, was “truly meritorious” and would not have gotten support if it were otherwise.

Meanwhile, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said he was pleased that the House managed to avoid bloodshed in the course of heated debates on the RH bill.

No blood spilled

“Despite the sometimes acrimonious debates on the floor of the opposing views, I am happy to note that there is no blood on the floor. In other words, any differences that have existed can be realized. We can come to terms with each other,” Belmonte told lawmakers before Congress adjourned for the year.

The RH bill seeks to distribute contraceptives and make other family planning methods available for free, giving priority to the poor. It bans contraceptives that prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum, as some consider this abortion.

It also provides for age-appropriate mandatory reproductive health and sexuality education in public schools.

It says the state shall promote openness to life, but parents must only bring forth children whom they can raise in a “truly humane” way.

It defines reproductive health as “the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. This implies that people are able to have a responsible, safe, consensual and satisfying sex life, that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so.”