Belmonte: RH bill not as easy to approve as Corona impeach case
The controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill is not as easy to approve as the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said Wednesday amid accusations that Corona’s impeachment was railroaded.
“I can see that we haven’t progressed as much as we could, considering that we managed to elevate [the RH bill] from the committee to floor fairly early… Mas nahihirapan ako, to tell you frankly,” he said at a press briefing.
He said this difficulty stems from the fact that opinions on the RH bill, formally known as House Bill 4244, are not drawn across party lines.
“People give me separate statements on who are pro, who are anti and so forth. We will not actually know until we put it to a vote because ang daming hindi nagsasalita,” he said.
HB 4244, which endorses both natural and artificial modes of family planning, has been pending second reading at the House of Representatives for almost nine months now. It is being opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which promotes only natural family planning.
No reason for delay
Groups supporting the passage of the RH bill have called on the House leadership to act swiftly on the measure, similar to what it did to the impeachment complaint against Corona, which was approved last Monday in a matter of hours.
Elizabeth Ansiongco, head of the pro-RH group Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, for instance, said that the House cannot have “any acceptable justification” to delay a vote on the measure since Corona’s impeachment showed that “time is not a problem” for the chamber.
“Congress should realize that bills directly dealing with people's lives are as, if not more critical than political issues,” she said in a statement.
A total of 188 lawmakers agreed to impeach Corona—the first time in history that the chamber moved to oust the chief magistrate.
More firm
Although he did not give a definite time frame on the passage of the RH bill, Belmonte vowed to be “more firm” about deliberations on HB 4244 in the coming session.
He said he plans to formally endorse proposals from House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, one of the authors of the RH bill, to expedite interpellations on the measure.
“Sinasabi niya, limit the interpellation of a particular person to what is allowed by the rules and to have a gentleman’s agreement na the same question that have already been asked once or twice already, huwag nang ulit-ulitin,” he said.
He said he also plans to instruct House leaders presiding plenary sessions to be more strict in implementing rules on interpellations.
Belmonte earlier said President Benigno Aquino III is already pressing the House leadership to already put to a vote the RH bill, one of the current administration’s priority measures. — KBK, GMA News
“I can see that we haven’t progressed as much as we could, considering that we managed to elevate [the RH bill] from the committee to floor fairly early… Mas nahihirapan ako, to tell you frankly,” he said at a press briefing.
He said this difficulty stems from the fact that opinions on the RH bill, formally known as House Bill 4244, are not drawn across party lines.
“People give me separate statements on who are pro, who are anti and so forth. We will not actually know until we put it to a vote because ang daming hindi nagsasalita,” he said.
HB 4244, which endorses both natural and artificial modes of family planning, has been pending second reading at the House of Representatives for almost nine months now. It is being opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which promotes only natural family planning.
No reason for delay
Groups supporting the passage of the RH bill have called on the House leadership to act swiftly on the measure, similar to what it did to the impeachment complaint against Corona, which was approved last Monday in a matter of hours.
Elizabeth Ansiongco, head of the pro-RH group Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, for instance, said that the House cannot have “any acceptable justification” to delay a vote on the measure since Corona’s impeachment showed that “time is not a problem” for the chamber.
“Congress should realize that bills directly dealing with people's lives are as, if not more critical than political issues,” she said in a statement.
A total of 188 lawmakers agreed to impeach Corona—the first time in history that the chamber moved to oust the chief magistrate.
More firm
Although he did not give a definite time frame on the passage of the RH bill, Belmonte vowed to be “more firm” about deliberations on HB 4244 in the coming session.
He said he plans to formally endorse proposals from House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, one of the authors of the RH bill, to expedite interpellations on the measure.
“Sinasabi niya, limit the interpellation of a particular person to what is allowed by the rules and to have a gentleman’s agreement na the same question that have already been asked once or twice already, huwag nang ulit-ulitin,” he said.
He said he also plans to instruct House leaders presiding plenary sessions to be more strict in implementing rules on interpellations.
Belmonte earlier said President Benigno Aquino III is already pressing the House leadership to already put to a vote the RH bill, one of the current administration’s priority measures. — KBK, GMA News
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