Miriam slams lawmakers' unclear positions on RH bill

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago lamented yesterday that the ambiguous positions of most senators and congressmen regarding the Reproductive Health (RH) bill had a lot to do with their political aspirations.

“In the first place, they (lawmakers) don’t want to attract the ire of those who are taking the stand opposite to what they are taking. In the second place, they are re-electionists, they do not want to let their positions be known,” Santiago said.

“Because if they are pro-RH, then they must lose this so-called Catholic vote although I doubt if there is such a vote, but if they are anti-RH then they would lose the vote of the Iglesia ni Kristo, all the other Protestant churches and even the Muslim vote. Because all churches, except the Catholic church, are in favor of the RH bill,” she added.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the RH bill is meant to exterminate or limit procreation.

After the first few rounds of debates revolved around one of the most vocal critics of the RH bill, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Enrile took up the cudgels for the critics of the bill and gave his thoughts about what he believed the bill is intended to be.

In asking why a bill that would bring about the sustained and deliberate reduction of the size of Filipino families through birth control should be passed, Enrile made an analogy to euthanasia, eugenics, the efforts of Adolph Hitler to eliminate Jews and the mass killings in Cambodia and Iraq.

Enrile said that the objective of the bill carries the same idea as the crimes covered by the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was recently ratified by the country after securing its concurrence from the Senate.

The ICC would have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Enrile said he considers the RH bill as “objectively intended to exterminate procreation or limit procreation.”