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Master plans for Metro Manila: What to ask and what to look for - Part 1
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers should take their cue from various sectors, including Christian groups, and government officials, including President Benigno Aquino III, and finally pass the reproductive health bill.
The Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, an organization of women working in grassroots communities, said the snowballing support for the bill has given the measure a stronger fighting chance of passage in the 15th Congress.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, the Iglesia ni Cristo, and the Department of Labor and Employment are among those who have recently expressed support for the measure, which the Catholic church continues to strongly oppose.
Elizabeth Angsioco, DSWP chair, welcomed the growing support for the bill in the face of "constant below-the-belt-attacks from some Catholic bishops, priests and lay leaders."
“The Catholic hierarchy knows that the RH bill's passage is imminent. This may be the reason for the seemingly desperate acts by some bishops and priests against the bill," she said. "However, these acts only weaken their position and boomerang on them. More and more people see them as uncaring and purely dogmatic.”
“Our group is certain that the bill we have been fighting for, for more than a decade and a half, will finally be passed by this Congress,” Angsioco said.
The bill is up for debate in plenary when session resume on May 9.
Angsioco said she hopes lawmakers opposed to the measure or who have yet to make their minds about it take a second look at the bill and see its merits.
She also said hoped Aquino's allies in the House of Representatives heed his position on the issue.
