House approves bill on religious freedom on 2nd reading

A bill regulating a person’s right to the free exercise of religious freedom if it results in violence was approved on second reading at The House of Representatives on Wednesday.

House Bill 6492, approved on second reading via voice vote, also prohibits acts that curtail or violate the rights of a person to religious freedom such as compelling a person—by means of force, threat, intimidation or undue influence—to commit an act which is in violation of one's religious belief or conscience; and defaming, harassing, humiliating or offending a person by reason of one's religious belief or the practice of such belief.

The bill also notes that the right to freedom of religion of a group or individual "can be denied, regulated, burdened, or curtailed" only if it can be demonstrated that it results in violence or inflicts "direct or indirect physical or material harm or danger on other people, or infringe[s] on their own freedom of religion or conscience," and if it is necessary "to protect public safety, public order, health, property and good morals."

Such violations are punishable with a fine ranging from P100,000 to P2 million pesos and six to 10 years' jail time for both individual and juridical entity violators.

House Bill 6492’s principal author, Benny Abante of Manila, also accepted the amendment pitched by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, which provides that real properties of any church or organization which are used for religious and/or commercial and propriety purposes will be taxed accordingly with respect to non-religious purposes for which they generate income.

“This bill will enforce the right of the people to religious freedom guaranteed under Article 3, Section 5 of the Philippine Constitution and encourage every Filipino to pursue spiritual growth by affording them the freedom to conduct their lives in accordance with their faith or religious belief without the fear of persecution, threat, or punishment,” the committee report on the measure read.

“This is also to promote a free market of religious ideas in the country where no religion is suppressed or quelled over the other,” the committee report added.

Likewise, House Bill 6492 mandates the protection of every person's right to choose a religion or religious group, the right to exercise or express religious belief, practices, acts or activities, the right to act in accordance with conscience, the right to propagate religious beliefs, the right to disseminate religious publications, the right to religious worship and ceremonies, the right to organizational independence and the right against discrimination in employment.

The bill also treats atheism as a form of religion for the purpose of entitling those who do not believe in a deity to the protection of freedom of religion and conscience.

House Bill 6492 also promotes the right to freedom against discrimination in educational institutions, the right of companies or businesses to be founded on religious belief, and the right of parents or legal guardians to rear children. — BM, GMA Integrated News