Pacquiao, other celebrity House members voted ‘no’ on RH

MANILA, Philippines - Boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and other celebrity House members voted against the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Pacquiao said his close friend Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez of party-list group You Against Corruption and Poverty “was still trying to convince me to change my mind” upon his arrival at the House.

He said his knockout loss to Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez last weekend made him decide to stick to his opposition to the RH measure contained in House Bill 4244.

“In the dying seconds of Round 6, for more than two minutes, I was lying unconscious, motionless. Some thought I was already dead. What happened in Vegas strengthened my belief in the sanctity of life. Manny Pacquiao is pro-life and votes ‘no’ to the bill,” he said.

“Thank you for supporting and praying for me during my fight in Las Vegas,” he told his colleagues, who gave him a round of applause and a standing ovation.

Pacquiao showed up after the roll call, which showed the presence of 217 members.

Former actress Lucy Torres Gomez said the rejection by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal sponsor of HB 4244, of Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez’s suggestion that the bill clearly define the beginning of life was the “core of my objection to the bill.”

“Life is a gift. Human beings are assets, not liabilities,” she said. Gomez, representative of Leyte’s fourth district, is married to actor Richard Gomez. They have a daughter.

Former actress Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado Revilla said her personal experience with contraceptive pills made her vote against RH bill.

“I took pills after our first child. But despite them, I had seven more pregnancies, and one of our children died. The pills didn’t work,” she said. She is married to actor-senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

An emotional Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said he was voting against the bill to fulfill a promise he made to his late father and mother.

The youngest of 12 children, he said he would not have been born had his parents used contraceptives.

He said he visited their grave before going to the House to attend its session and cast his vote.

Like Gonzales, Antipolo City Rep. Roberto Puno, the 12th of 13 siblings, also said he might not have been born if his parents practiced family planning.

Like his mother, detained former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy, is against the RH measure.

“I am a Catholic, and I have to follow the teachings of my church,” the younger Arroyo said. His mother would have voted against the bill if she were not under hospital arrest for plunder at the Veterans Medical Memorial Center.

Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez cast a negative vote, saying the RH bill is redundant since there are enough laws, including the Magna Carta for Women, which could address its objectives. “It’s a matter of implementation,” he said.

Others who voted against the proposed RH legislation were former first lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos and her nephew, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez.  

‘Empty victory’

Rep. Rodriguez called the RH measure’s hurdling second reading “an empty victory.”

“The fight is not over until the third and final-reading stage,” he said, adding that the implementation of the measure would “destroy the moral and religious foundation” of the country.

“This bill is not about reproductive health. This is about killing the unborn. This bill does not protect life. It prevents and ends life,” he said.

Church leaders who watched the proceedings were Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Bishops Teorodo Bacani, Broderick Pabillo, Jesse Mercado, and Honesto Reyes. They told reporters after the session was adjourned that those who voted for the bill should be prepared for its “bad consequences.”

Rodriguez also accused Malacañang of exerting pressure on lawmakers to make them vote on the measure. “They promised that it would be a conscience vote, but it was not a conscience vote,” he said. – With Evelyn Macairan, Danny Dangcalan, Celso Amo