House tackles RH bill, finally

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives finally tackled the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill again last night after it succeeded in mustering a quorum.

Shortly after the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Jesus Crispin Remulla, declared the presence of a quorum, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II called the bill for amendments for the first time since Aug. 6, when the chamber voted to close floor debates on it.

Two anti-RH members, Reps. Victorino Socrates of Palawan and Pablo Garcia of Cebu, tried to delay the introduction of amendments, but Remulla sidestepped their interventions.

Socrates interrupted Gonzales by claiming a House rule was violated but could not cite the specific rule when the presiding officer asked him to. He was forced to sit down.

In Garcia’s case, he objected to a motion presented by Gonzales for a compromise version of the RH bill to be substituted with the original.

The Cebu congressman said the amendment by substitution needed the unanimous consent of the House.

Remulla said there is nothing in the House rules that requires such consent.

Gonzales said the amendment by substitution, which Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the bill’s principal author, accepted, is a “major victory” for RH advocates.

“The substitute bill is the compromise version. We will now move it forward by taking small steps one at a time,” he said.

After Lagman accepted the substitution, pro-RH Rep. Rodante Marcoleta of the party-list group Alagad moved for adjournment, which Remulla accepted.

The House thus adjourned even after obtaining a quorum of 174 members.

Gonzales said House leaders agreed to the motion to adjourn “so as not to prolong the debates further.”

“Why encourage arguments when you’ve already won?” he asked.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has described the compromise version as a “definite step forward” as it “addresses a lot of objections to the original bill.”

He said one of the changes introduced in the compromise version is a provision ensuring that the process of fertilization and conception would not be impeded or aborted.

“Once fertilization occurred, nothing should obstruct the progress of the fertilized egg from then on,” he said.

He said he hoped his chamber could vote on the new measure on second and third and final reading before Congress goes on its Christmas break in mid-December.

Lagman said he would expect few more amendments in the coming days.

“I will not accept those that are not consistent with the compromise bill,” he said.

Anti-RH members have vowed to mangle the bill by introducing changes line by line, paragraph by paragraph and section by section.