Cayetano tells RH bill critics to stop using character assassination

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Pia Cayetano called on the critics of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill to stop using character assassination as a tactic in attacking the measure and instead stick to the issues.

Cayetano, the principal sponsor of the RH bill in the Senate, took exception to the efforts made by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III to attack the objectives of the measure by unfairly portraying some organizations that are supporting the bill as pro-abortion.

In his interpellation on the RH bill, Sotto raised concerns about allegedly sinister motives behind the measure, specifically to boost the business of contraceptive manufacturers and to pave the way for allowing abortion in the country.

Sotto has repeatedly criticized one of the supporters of the bill, the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP), for its supposed efforts to provide abortion services in the country.

Sotto pointed out that FPOP is affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), which advocates abortion as a method of family planning.

The senator said the group even received $617,000 from the IPPF for an unknown purpose.

But according to Cayetano, it was unfair to say that the FPOP supports abortion just because its parent organization – the IPPF – advocates it.

 “What I understand from the local organization (FPOP) is that they have many common objectives with these (international) organizations, including access to contraceptives (and) access to family planning,” she said.

The FPOP has reiterated that it only provides “abortion-related services,” particularly family planning and abortion counseling.

“All I can rely upon is the fact that the implementing agency (of the RH Bill), which would be the Department of Health, is duty-bound, under the Constitution, and any Filipino organization who works within the jurisdiction of the Philippines, cannot implement any programs on abortion,” Cayetano said.

“I need to be very clear on the fact that this does not in any way change the intention of the bill, which is to support the Constitution and in no way tolerate or allow abortion to come in through the back door or behind the scene,” she added.

The Senate debates on the RH bill are expected to resume tomorrow.

Sen. Joker Arroyo said that he expects the voting on the bill to be very close and that most, if not all senators, would vote objectively in spite of the strong lobby against the bill by the influential Catholic Church.