The Reproductive Health (RH) bill goes into a vote on Tuesday and passing the bill will likely bring more headaches for Noynoy from the Catholic Church.
The pressure on Noynoy is two-fold, from the Church, which is against all forms of contraceptives and international institutions, including multilateral lenders which are pushing a legislated population control policy for the country.
Several cheap loan programs are tied to the enactment of the RH bill to be released and these will greatly reduce the burden on government in funding programs that would assist Filipinos in planning their families.
The other day, the Church, in a show of force, gathered followers at the Edsa Shrine against the bill and judging from its leaders’ tone, the bishops will not likely allow any compromise on its position.
One wonders however, how a rally — or even a prayer rally held by the Catholic Church leaders can be a pressure point on politicians, or for that matter, Noynoy, who is hardly known as a devout Catholic.
Of course, the Church can always claim that when it storms heaven to kill the RH bill, that bill will be killed.
But if such is the argument, then it must be asked why other Catholic countries have even approved of divorce and other artificial birth control programs to curb the population?
While the Church’s clout among Filipinos has been greatly diminished, in a year close to an election what the Church says matters to those who are after every vote that they can get.
Still, it has been proven too many times in the past that there is no such thing as a Catholic vote and the threat of excommunication from the Catholic Church no longer holds any fear for many Filipinos, unlike eons ago.
Noynoy and his House allies appear to have already committed themselves to passing the bill. During his visit last year to the United States, Noynoy made an explicit commitment that the RH bill will be enacted and stated it to be among the reform measures his administration is determined to pursue.
Whatever America commands, Noynoy will obey. And it is no secret that the US government has been pushing a population control program.
The likely scenario then would have the RH bill pass the House but it will have a hard time hurdling the Senate since the upper chamber is nearly split in the middle over the issue.
The issue has the potential of causing a deep split in society since both sides of the contending forces on the RH bill debate, the so-called pro-life and pro-choice groups, are unbending in their respective positions.
Thus far, there is a great failure on the part of Noynoy to mediate on the issue which should be his function as the nation’s supposed leader.
What is coming out from the Palace are the same ambiguous lines that try to evade the issue head on and is dependent on who it is addressing.
It relabeled the bill as the Responsible Parenthood (RP) Act to placate the pro-life groups and the Church but when it is in front of those pushing the enactment of the bill, all Noynoy does is to reverse gear and indicate that the original RH measure is definitely going to be enacted.
Thus the absence of guidance from the leadership only serves to heighten the already heated conflict on the RH bill issue, and it seems that the temperature will only heat up further as time passes, particularly when the bill indeed pulls through in Congress.
The policy it seems is to allow the pro-life groups and the Church to hold all the rallies they want but Noynoy will pursue his birth control policy anyway.
It’s a lousy position that encourages more division than providing a solution agreeable to all.