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Date Posted: 22:28:03 12/11/12 Tue
Author: IMRD
Subject: Dec. 12, 2012 news

http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/business/160-news-flash/19814-its-time-to-count-rh-numbers
Business World | Local Business
It’s time to count RH numbers
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Published on Tuesday, 11 December 2012 23:00
Written by PETER J. G. TABINGO
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OPPOSING sides on the reproductive health bill vowed to bring in numbers when the measure is put to the vote at the House this afternoon, with both predicting victory while admitting the results will be close.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, one of the more vocal opponents of House Bill No. 4244, said by his count, 148 lawmakers who will vote down the measure against 120 colleagues who are expected to vote in its favor.
“We are sure of our numbers and we are sure of winning, at least 148 lawmakers already committed to oppose the passage of the bill based on last Monday’s meeting with the Catholic bishops,” Rodriguez said.
Both camps agreed to submit the measure to a vote even if there are pending issues during the period of amendments.
Rodriguez disclosed that even the bishops, upon consultations with anti-RH and pro-RH groups, agreed that there should be a resolution to the issue. The measure has been pending in Congress for the last 14 years.
Akbayan Rep. Arlene Bag-ao, a proponent of the RH bill, presented a different figure. She said a poll of their colleagues showed at least 128 in support and 105 against the proposed legislation.
With the House having 287 members, the 54 who are listed “undecided” could still swing the vote either way.
House assistant majority leader Sherwin Tugna (PL-Citizens Battle against Corruption) and deputy speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III (Quezon), said Rodriguez’ estimate is unlikely.
“That’s a mere psywar. If the anti-RH lawmakers have enough support, they should have sought immediate voting to kill the proposal without any delay,” Tugna said.
Tañada pointed to the voting pattern during last week’s session, wherein attempts to water down the provisions of the bill were decisively thrown out.
But minority leader Danilo Suarez (Quezon) said proponents should not discount the influence of the bishops who are expected to show up in force at today’s session to observe proceedings.
Suarez said the Church is sure to weigh heavily particularly among House members who have not yet made up their minds.
Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles called on his colleagues at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to join him at the House.
“I do hope they will come… I am not saying na bishops are angels pero napapa-alalahanan sila (lawmakers) na please take the side of the truth and of the good. By the mere presence ng bishops, malaking bagay na, malaking impact,” said Arguelles.
He said he sent word to at least 62 fellow bishops inviting them to go to the Batasan but has received commitments from only two -- Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes and Kidapawan Bishop Romulo dela Cruz.
The 60 did not reply, he said.
“Nakikita mo na ang pinaglalaban mo ay totoo tungkol sa Diyos (but) you feel isolated… parang I tell myself that I deserve my enemies but I don’t deserve my friends,” said Arguelles.
Asked whether this can also be taken to mean that the bishops are not united in the fight versus the RH bill, he answered in the negative.
“Talagang nagkakaisa kami diyan. Ang hirap lang, baka hindi kami nagkakaisa sa method,” he said.
CBCP president Archbishop Jose Palma asked lawmakers to stand by the truth and not behind their political parties.
In a message addressed to House members, he said Pope Benedict XVI appealed to legislators on how to handle measures concerning basic human rights.
“These involve such things as the right to life, the right of married couples to found a family according to their religious beliefs and moral convictions, and to be the primary educators of their children. Here, as elsewhere, the truth must be the basis of the law rather than the result of legislation,” said Palma.
A prayer vigil called by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, started at 6:30 p.m. yesterday.
The vigil at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City is for the voting on the RH bill today. Tagle will say Mass at noon today.
Twenty-three health care professional organizations expressed support for the measure.
In a press conference at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila, the groups made up of some 100,000 physicians and nurses, and 167,000 midwives said they are with the Aquino administration in its desire to have the RH bill passed.
“As health care providers, we simply cannot be reduced to being for or against the bill because our obligation has and will always be about saving lives, and the longer we stay quiet, the more lives are lose,” said the groups in a manifesto.
Among the signatories are the Philippine Medical Association, former health secretaries Alberto Romualdez and Esperanza Cabral, the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, Philippine Society of Newborn Medicine, Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina Inc., National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine, Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, UP School of Health Sciences, Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association, UP Manila College of Nursing, Ortoll Reproductive Primary Health Care Center, UP Manila, Philippine Society of Hypertension, Philippine General Hospital, National Institute of Health, Philippine Family Planning Consortium, Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, and the Asia Pacific Center for Evidence Based Medicine. – With Gerard Naval


http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2012/12/12/885002/doh-12-medical-professional-groups-sign-manifesto-supporting-rh
DOH, 12 medical professional groups sign manifesto supporting RH
By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 12, 2012 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) and 12 groups of medical professionals yesterday signed a manifesto supporting the Reproductive Health (RH) bill even as the Catholic Church and other groups called for a show of force at the House of Representatives today as congressmen vote on the controversial measure.
The DOH and the groups of doctors, nurses and midwives said they could no longer turn a blind eye on 4,000 mothers and 40,000 newborns who die annually.
These mothers suffer from pregnancy and childbirth complications while newborns die from prematurity, sepsis and asphyxia brought about by unplanned pregnancies, they said.
Initiated by the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), the manifesto showed the 12 organizations are particularly backing seven “life-giving provisions” of the RH bill.
“We can no longer turn a blind eye because we are part of the life-saving solution. As health care providers, we simply cannot be reduced to being for or against the bill because our obligation has and will always be about saving lives and the longer we stay quiet, the more lives are lost,” PMA vice president Leo Olarte said.
Pro-life groups, or those opposed to the RH bill led by the Catholic Church, will gather today in Quezon City and Makati City to express their stand against the bill.
“Let their voices be heard and let their presence be felt,” Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said. “If you (bishops) do not do anything now, we will lose by default.”
Arguelles said he sent text messages to 62 bishops to join them during the RH voting today in the House.
“We are united against the RH bill... but we have different ways of showing our opposition. That is expected because we are not a national church,” Arguelles said.
The manifesto signed by medical professionals, on the other hand, calls for the protection of the provisions that the state should protect the individual’s freedom to decide which family planning methods they want to use, whether natural or artificial, among others.
They said the bill should retain explicit statements against any form of abortion; that the state should protect the couple’s rights to decide on their ideal family size; that the state should recognize and respect religious rights and convictions of both patients and caregivers; that RH education should include value formation and must be age-appropriate; that the guidelines on the use of specific contraceptives, including warnings on safety, should be left to the discretion of the Food and Drug Administration; and that the state should improve RH services.
Adelaida Legurpa, chapter president of the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines (IMAP) for Midsayap, Cotabato, stressed the need for the RH bill.
She said the need is greatly felt by midwives like them who work in poor and far-flung areas.
“In the communities that we serve, you’ll see mothers giving birth almost every year. Most of them do not undergo prenatal check-up. They just conceive and give birth,” Legurpa said.
Legurpa said these mothers are not aware that they need to observe birth spacing by at least two years.
Otherwise, their uterine wall would get thin, thus endangering their lives and that having a big unplanned family would deprive the children of a better opportunity for education and health, she said.
While there are mothers who knew they need to plan the size of their family, they could not do so for lack of knowledge on how to do it, Legurpa pointed out.
“There are those who want to use contraceptives but they don’t have the money for it. It is also a woman’s issue because there are men who don’t want to help in limiting their children,” she added.
Legurpa said the “cultural belief” against contraceptives is also preventing many couples from exercising family planning.
“We really need an RH bill because unless it is by force or legislated, there are people who will not act to educate couples,” she added.
Edsel Salvana, HIV sub-committee chair of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PISMID), said the passage of the RH bill could help curb the soaring cases of HIV infections in the country through values education.
“Age appropriate education to protect them against HIV and other sexual transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy... We won’t teach them how to use condom but we will teach them how to value the family and their health,” he said.
While children are taught how to cross the street so they can be safe, Salvana added they could also be taught that HIV could kill “as surely as a car or truck.”
The manifesto signing was led by PMA, IMAP, PISMID, former health secretaries Alberto Romulo and Esperanza Cabral, Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), Philippine Society of Newborn Medicine (PSNbM), Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina, Inc. (KMI), Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine (PSGIM), UP School of Health Sciences, Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association, University of the Philippines-Manila College of Nursing, Ortoll Reproductive Primary Health Care Center, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine Society of Hypertension, Child Protection Unit, Philippine General Hospital, UP-National Institute of Health, Philippine Family Planning Consortium, Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, and Asia Pacific Center for Evidence Based Medicine.
Health experts said they would now join forces with RH bill advocates in pushing Congress to approve the reproductive health proposal, saying that both have the goal of improving health.
‘Stand by the truth’
Meanwhile, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Jose Palma called on lawmakers to stand by the truth and not by their political parties in deciding on how to vote for the RH bill.
“These involve such things as the right to life, the right of married couples to found a family according to their religious beliefs and moral convictions, and to be the primary educators of their children. Here, as elsewhere, the truth must be the basis of the law rather than the result of legislation,” Palma said.
Palma signed a letter of appeal from the CBCP and circulated the copies to House members. – With Helen Flores, Christina Mendez, Jess Diaz, Iris Gonzales



http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=House-to-settle-fate-of-Reproductive-Health-Bill&id=62798

House to settle fate of Reproductive Health Bill

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CONGRESSMEN FROM opposing sides have claimed they have the number as the House of Representatives is poised to vote on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
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"The anti-RH are leading," claimed Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd district), in a chance interview.

He said 148 congressmen are against the bill, while only 125 are for it.

The swing vote, however, is up for grabs as Mr. Rodriguez said 287 lawmakers remain neutral.

"The [Catholic] bishops are talking with the neutral," he added.

An advocate of the RH bill, on the other hand, said they have the vote to pass the priority measure.

"I think we have the numbers," Deputy Speaker Lorenzo R. Tañada III (Quezon, 4th district) told reporters yesterday.

He declined to cite specific numbers, however. "This is a chess game," said the lawmaker.

Mr. Tañada did not disclose the strategy to counter the move of bishops lobbying among the undecided, but noted there should be equal respect.

"We welcome the cardinals like we always do. We respect their move to look for the neutral people, and they should also respect how we sway neutral people," he said.

Some lawmakers, however, could not predict the voting turnout.

"Numbers are changing every now and then," said Deputy Speaker Janette L. Garin (1st district, Iloilo), a supporter of the bill, via text yesterday.

For his part, Rep. Teodoro "Teddy" Brawner Baguilat, Jr. (Ifugao) echoed his colleague but added that the pro-RH bill ranks are swelling.

"The reality is that numbers change every day, every week," he said. "But the trend is we are getting more neutrals to side with us."

He noted that the pro-RH bill group may not win by a landslide vote but it will succeed "by a comfortable margin."

An opponent of the bill, Rep. Roilo S. Golez (2nd district, Parañaque), said: "Nobody can tell."

Regardless of today’s results, Mr. Tañada said pro-RH bill legislators will welcome the turnout.

"We will accept," he said.

House Bill No. 4244, also called Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011, calls for the use of natural and artificial contraceptive methods. It aims to provide free RH services and artificial contraceptives to indigent families under the conditional cash transfer program.

The bill also requires the inclusion of health and sex in basic education or from Grade 6 to senior high school based on a curriculum to be crafted by the Education, Social Welfare and Health departments. -- Monica Joy O. Cantilero

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/322657/23-medical-groups-urge-congress-to-pass-rh-bill

23 medical groups urge Congress to pass RH bill
By Philip C. Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
2:38 am | Wednesday, December 12th, 2012
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and 22 other health groups on Tuesday urged Congress to approve the reproductive health (RH) bill.
In a press conference at the Philippine General Hospital, the 23 health care professional organizations, representing 100,000 doctors and nurses, and 167,000 midwives, expressed their support for the RH bill.
“We can no longer turn a blind eye [to the controversy] because we are part of the life-saving solution,” the PMA said in a statement.
“As health care providers we simply cannot be reduced to being for or against the bill because our obligation has and will always be about saving lives, and the longer we stay quiet, the more lives are lost,” it added.
Life-giving provisions
The group presented a manifesto calling for the protection of seven “life-giving” provisions in the RH bill.
These include the provision saying that the “state protect the individual’s freedom to decide what family planning method s/he wants to use (whether natural or artificial), that the bill should have explicit statements against induced abortion, and that the state should protect a couple’s right to decide on their ideal family size.
“The state should recognize and respect religious rights and convictions of both patients and caregivers [and] RH education should include value formation, and [should] be age-appropriate,” the manifesto said.
It said that the provision for reproductive health services should be improved while guidelines on the use of specific contraceptives, including warnings on safety, should be left to the discretion of the Food and Drug Administration.
“This will allow recommendations to evolve as scientific knowledge advances,” it added.
Besides the PMA, the other groups that signed the manifesto included former Health Secretaries Alberto Romualdez and Esperanza Cabral, former PMA president Santiago del Rosario, Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, Philippine Society of Newborn Medicine, Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, Kalusugan ng Mag-Ina Inc. and National Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Other signatories were the Department of Health, Philippine College of Physicians, Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine, Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, UP School of Health Sciences (Palo, Leyte), Philippine Ambulatory Pediatric Association, UP Manila College of Nursing, Ortoll Reproductive Primary Health Care Center, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine Society of Hypertension, Child Protection Unit, Philippine General Hospital, National Institute of Health, Philippine Family Planning Consortium, Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital and Asia Pacific Center for Evidence-Based Medicine.

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