‘RH Law not watered down version’

MANILA, Philippines - Contrary to critics’ claim, Republic Act No. 10354, the Reproductive Health (RH) Law, is not a watered down version, according to one of the bill’s authors.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday the authors made sure that bill would be delivered and approved without congenital defects.

“Only cosmetic and redundant amendments proposed by critics of the bill, which did not destroy its essence, were accepted and killer amendments were rejected outright and voted down,” he said.

The bill approved in the House of Representatives was a compromise version that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II drafted after consultations with some Catholic bishops and pro-RH and anti-RH blocs in the House.

Lagman said during the period for proposing amendments to the bill, at least one provision that anti-RH members wanted repeatedly to delete was the idea of a bishop who attended the consultations.

Lagman consistently rejected proposals to delete such provision, but in deference to the bishop-proponent, he did not name the prelate.

Lagman said among the salient provisions of the RH bill that have been carried in the law is the mandate for the state to promote universal access to reproductive health services and family planning, including voluntary contraception, with priority to acceptors from poor and marginalized sectors.

“The hallmark of the RH law is freedom of informed choice, which shall not be subject to any form of coercion,” he said.

“Massive nationwide information campaign on reproductive health and rights is assured.”

Lagman said implementation of the law will be the joint responsibility of the national government and local governments.

“Mandatory age and development-appropriate reproductive health education is assured for adolescents enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, with the curriculum prepared by the Department of Education adoptable by private schools,” he said.

President Aquino signed the RH law on Dec. 21 without fanfare.