The emotional sparks flying from the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill will not be enough to cause a shakeup in the Senate leadership, a known proponent of the birth control measure said yesterday.
As tirades against key Senate  leaders heightened in various social networking sites following their show of support to the church-led rally against the bill over the weekend, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III remain steadfast in their respective position to thumb down the measure.
“My position in the RH Bill is personal to me. I’m not convincing anybody to join me. It’s a matter of faith, conscience and above all, it involves my notion of what is in the highest interest of the country. So, that’s it. But I will not impose this on my colleagues here. I have not talked to any one of them. We are going to handle the problem without any obstacle or barrier. Let each one of us decide his position on this issue,” Enrile said.
“We are not using our position to block anything or be a barrier to the passage of any measure here. Like any member of this Chamber, we want to exhaust all the issues possible in order to come up with the correct position, correct decision,” he added.
Enrile’s comments were in response to the statement of Sotto over the weekend saying that he will not think twice in resigning his post as majority leader if only to prove to critics that he’s not using his position to block the approval of RH bill in the Senate.
“There’s no need for anybody to withdraw from his position. Of course, we are replaceable. Anytime I can be replaced as Senate President also but as far as I’m concerned, I want him to continue as majority floor leader,” he said.
“Well, he’s my majority leader. I have enough confidence in him to be objective about it but each one of us, we have individual perception and notion of what is good for the country so we respect each other’s position. There’s no need for him to resign,” Enrile said.
Sotto, for his part, appeared poised to prove his critics wrong, even vowing to expose those alleged moneyed lobby groups when he takes his turn on the floor to discuss his issues in opposing the bill.
The majority leader bared plans of delivering a four-part speech to lengthily discuss what the measure is all about.
“They have presented all kinds of information and now it’s our turn to be heard and I’ll start by Wednesday. Hopefully, I can finish this is two session days unless there are other issues that the members of the Senate would like to take up, we can go to the period of amendments,” he said.
“We are going to expose those who are really behind this, the people behind this, the organization behind this and the money they are spending for it and hopefully the people will understand it. What we are against is declaring contraceptives as essential medicine,” he said.
He added that the bill contained a camoufladged consent to abortion by including post-abortion implication, and then sex education up to grade 5.
In the budget hearing held yesterday Sotto related that even the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) agreed that the ideal population growth rate for the country is 2.1 percent to have a sustainable development, and the actual rate is only 1.9 percent,” he explained.
Sotto remain unperturbed by the criticisms hurled at him, merely responding to them by saying that “when you are doing something right, expect to be attacked; when you are doing something right for God, expect to be attacked viciously and that’s why I’ve already anticipated what they’re saying (against me).”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, one of the authors of the Senate version of the bill, remained optimistic on the measure being approved eventually in the upper chamber.  
Lacson said that had there been 12 or more senators who attended the anti-RH rally over the weekend, then there’s no point to further debate on the issue or even amend some of its provisions as the bill will likely be “dead in the water, definitely.”
While they’re of opposing views on the bill, Lacson said disagreements in the passage of the bill would not suffice to cause for a reorganization in the Senate or prompt him to withdraw support from the current leaders of the upper chamber.
Following yesterday’s briefing by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on the 2013 national expenditure program (NEP) at the upper chamber, Sen. Franklin Drilon disputed claims on purported allocation of some P13 billion in the proposed P2-trillion 2013 national budget for the acquisition of condoms and other forms of contraceptives.  
Drilon, chairman of the Senate finance committee, told reporters that he has not seen the itemized budget proposal of the Department of Health (DOH) where the so-called condom funds will be tucked in.
“But I do not think there is P13 billion there. I doubt it very much. That (P13-billion condom fund) is being talked around… I would like to look at the DOH budget in more detail,” he said.
Drilon refused to state his position on RH bill stating that the DoH is yet to make a formal presentation of its 2013 budget before his committee, thus, he could not say at this time if he would vote for or against the proposed P13 billion condom-contraceptives fund in the P2-trillion appropriations bill to be submitted to the Senate after its House approval.
A briefer provided by the office of Budget Secretary Butch Abad to the Senate listed multi-billion-peso fundings for various government-subsidized universal health care programs under the DOH, including: P2.5 billion for “Family Health and Responsible Parenting;” P2.8 billion for “Doctors to the Barrios Program;” P1.9 billion for “Expanded Program on Immunization;” P1 billion for TB (tuberculosis0 Control; P1 billion for “National Pharmaceutical Policy Development” in 1,377 local government units: P570 million for “elimination of diseases;” and, P321 million for “other infectious diseases” including treatment of 6,056 HIV infected patients.
In the same proceedings, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) director general Arsenio Balicasan said that the rapid population growth clearly constrains the country’s ability to move to a higher long-term economic growth.
“The intention of the bill is really to provide opportunities also for the poor people to manage their own family size and to be able to provide their children with better education through health and education investment,” Balicasan said.