Cayetano says RH bill far from being redundant

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Pia Cayetano said the reproductive health (RH) bill is far from being redundant and is, in fact, seen to provide a clear-cut and cohesive national policy on RH and responsible parenthood.

Cayetano said the arguments of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III that the RH bill is merely repeating the provisions in a number of existing laws is thus not sufficient ground to kill the measure.

She said the laws cited by Sotto, among them Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women, are general laws while the RH bill would be a specific law that would enhance certain rights enshrined in these existing laws.

“The Magna Carta speaks of many rights of women, and only one of which pertains to reproductive health. There are laws that address many issues in RH, but none of these laws are specific to RH the way (the RH bill) is intended to be,” she said.

Cayetano said similar provisions from existing laws were cited in the RH bill “to emphasize that this is the objective, without any room for misconstruction or other interpretation.”

She also brushed aside Sotto’s contention that LGUs were already given the responsibility to implement their own RH services under the Local Government Code.

“The necessity of this bill is made obvious by the different policies being implemented and the non-existence of RH policies in many LGUs,” Cayetano said.

She cited several cases wherein the LGUs have failed or successfully banned the sale and use of contraceptives in their respective areas.

She cited the widely reported case of Barangay Ayala-Alabang, where she is a resident, in which an ordinance was proposed to restrict the use of contraceptives within its jurisdiction. The ordinance was overruled by the Muntinlupa City Council, which Cayetano said effectively prevented RH services to be made available to their constituents.

She also noted the contrasting policies on RH in different LGUs such as the City of Manila, which has a local ordinance that bans contraceptives, and Tagum City in Davao del Norte, which has been successfully implementing a local RH policy to complement the city’s socio-economic development programs.

Cayetano, however, gave assurance that she is open to amendments from RH bill critics like Sotto, if only to improve the bill.

“There is urgency to pass the bill, especially since the previous president (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) refused to support reproductive health programs in the course of her nine-year rule, while the current President, who is supportive of the RH bill, could very well use the measure to implement RH policies as he deems necessary to support his national development objectives in the next five years of his administration,” she said.