Cabinet Secretaries declare Support for RH in budget hearings
“The verdict is clear, Congress should pass the RH Bill.”
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello expressed the urgency of passing the Reproductive Health Bill, as attested to by the SWS Survey showing that an outstanding 73% of the population expect the government to provide all legal information available on family planning and 68% of the population agree that the government should fund all means of family planning.
According to Bello, the survey has cleared the “muddled-up” issues behind the reproductive health bill.
“The survey says Filipino people believe that the government should ensure their access to family planning,” Bello said. “At this point it must be the people’s will that we in Congress and in government must obey.”
Support for RH at the budget hearings
Upon questioning from Bello, key members of the Cabinet have also expressed their support for the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health bill during the budget hearings of select government agencies.
“RH is a crucial development policy, and it was important to ensure that the initial deliberations of the budget reflected that,” Bello explained.
Accodring to Bello, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, and Health Secretary Enrique Ona had each come out with strong declarations for the passage of the bill.
Justice Secretary De Lima had said that she, as a human rights advocate, mother, and woman, believed that the reproductive health bill is “long overdue.”
Health Secretary Ona, who has long since declared his support for the institutitonalization of reproductive health rights, reiterated his position: “Reproductive Health should have been passed years ago.”
Population and development
Bello also explained that the passage of the RH bill is crucial to “temper the still rapidly-growing population of Filipinos,” a concern that is shared by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Paje.
“Population growth must be tamed,” Paje was quoted to have said.
“Our population is nearing the hundred-millionth mark, we continue to grow at over 2% per year, and 26.5% of Filipinos are poor. If we are unable to manage the population, government-reform programs and economic policies will translate to very meager benefits for the ordinary Filipino,” Bello continued. “Let us learn from our Southeast-Asian neighbors who are reaping the development benefits of population management.”
The Akbayan legislator thus urged colleagues in Congress to pass the reproductive health bill.
“Without doubt, the Filipino people stand to win reproductive health rights and reap the benefits of development with the Reproductive Health Bill, and they know it. We in Congress owe it to the people to pass the RH Bill,” Bello concluded.
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