Most Metro residents reject Reproductive Health bill - survey

MANILA, Philippines - Ninety-two percent of Metro Manila residents reject the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill pending in the House of Representatives, according to a survey conducted last month.

Former environment secretary Lito Atienza cited results of the Filipino Family Survey conducted by HB & A International-ARO Research Group among 500 respondents from Dec. 2 to 9, 2009.

Sixteen cities and one municipality in Metro Manila were covered in the survey on RH bill, which is also being opposed by the Catholic Church and other religious and pro-life groups.

Atienza said Filipinos “overwhelmingly” do not like the bill authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, denying the lawmaker’s earlier statement that most Filipinos favored his proposed measure to allegedly address the country’s ballooning population.

“He fooled us all in saying that Filipinos like the RH bill very much,” Atienza, Pro-Life Philippines president, said.

Dr. Joselito Sandejas, Alliance of Family Life Organizations chairman, said 90 percent of those surveyed also do not favor the salient points of the RH bill, which include teaching children aged 10 to 11 to learn sex techniques with vivid pictures from male and female teachers who would explain only the biological and technical aspects of sex.

He added that 94 percent also reject the idea of Congress passing a bill that would make available to young children and teens artificial birth control methods even without parental consent, giving them access to condoms, IUDs, birth control pills and other abortifacients.

“And the worse part is, doctors and health workers could be jailed if they refuse them,” Sandejas said.

Respondents likewise oppose a proposal that would allow one’s spouse to undergo vasectomy or tubal ligation without prior consent as required by law and 91 percent believe that the government should not allocate extra funds to buy birth control pills and condoms to the detriment of other essential medicines.

The survey group HB&A International Research, led by Sandejas as chairman and Tony Abaya as managing director, was established in 1997. It is affiliated with Louis Harris & Associates for technology transfer, while Asia Research Organization (ARO), established in the 1950s is the Philippine affiliate of Gallup International.         – Sandy Araneta