My exclusive
By Raïssa Robles
Congressman Edcel Lagman is one of the few lawmakers who have chosen to stand by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo no matter what.
However, on the issue of passing a landmark Reproductive Health Law, Lagman told me in no uncertain terms that he will continue to fight for this even if he were to end up on the same side as President Benigno Aquino III – and on the opposite side of the fence as Mrs Arroyo.
Lagman is the House minority floor leader – the head of the remnants of the once powerful majority party that was led by Mrs Arroyo when she was the Philippine president.
I posed Lagman the following question – Some on the social networking site Twitter have expressed apprehension that you might change your stance on the RH Bill because President Aquino, who is also pro-RH like you, has just arrested one of your close political allies, Mrs Arroyo. Could you comment on this?
Lagman replied:
Why should I (change my stance)? This controversy (on Arroyo’s arrest) is irrelevant to my advocacy for the RH.
Please emphasize. This present raging controversy (over Arroyo’s arrest) is irrelevant to my advocacy. It does not concern reproductive health. I will continue my advocacy irrespective of what happens to this controversy (concerning Arroyo).
And Lagman added,
I’m happy you’re going to use this (comment on RH and Arroyo) in the interview.
Lagman has consistently been pro-RH. During Arroyo’s nine-year term, however, it was her stance against the passage of an RH Law that prevailed on the House to table the measure.
A 2006 US Embassy cable leaked by the whistle-blower Wikileaks tied Arroyo’s stance against RH to the need to keep the Catholic clergy on her side amid a restive military and mounting pressure for her to resign. This was following revelations that she had phoned an election official to ensure she had a one million vote margin over presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential elections.
Then Ambassador Kristie Kenney had written what Arroyo’s political adviser Gabriel Claudio told US diplomat Joseph Novak:
¶5. (C) Claudio added that President Arroyo had also taken care not to cross the Church on two key issues: mining and population policy.
¶6. (C) With respect to population policy, Claudio said there was “little chance” that Malacanang would ever endorse HB 3773, a proposed bill in the House that its proponents say would set a comprehensive national policy on responsible parenthood and population management (ref A). Claudio noted that the president had not taken any position on the bill’s merits per se. That said, she knew that the bill was “controversial” and had “upset many in the Catholic Church whom the President did not want to offend.” She had no plans to block the bill, however, which already had a sizable number of co-signors in the House.
You can read more about this in my earlier story by clicking the following link – RH bill was killed by Pres. Gloria Arroyo in exchange for Church political support
Arroyo was not personally against contraceptives. In fact when she was President, she once said in a forum that she had for a time used birth control pills.
As a sitting congressman, though, she has kept mum on the issue. Her two congressman-sons, Diosdado Jr. and Juan Miguel, have been quoted as saying they are against an RH Law.
As for Arroyo’s ally Lagman, he is now on his third and final term as congressman and is likely to want to cap his nine-year stay there with the passage of such a a historic measure.
I did not ask Lagman what post he was likely to run for in the 2013 elections – senator maybe? Or Quezon City mayor? He cannot run for Congress since the Constitution requires him to sit out one three-year term before he can do that.
Those for and against the RH law have roughly 15 months to ensure or block its passage before Congress goes on recess for the 2013 elections.
Expect anything to happen.
If senators succeed in approving their own version of the RH Law, it will be harder for Congress to pass the measure because the two approved versions will still have to be reconciled by a “Conference Committee” consisting of both pro and anti-RH lawmakers from the two congressional chambers. Many congressional measures have died in this manner.
In the Conference Committee – which some call the third chamber of Congress – the measure might be further watered down just to obtain a consensus.
Even a watered down version is vehemently opposed to by the Catholic Church because its mere passage signals a decline in its power to influence Philippine politics.
_______________________________
Related Stories
RH bill was killed by Pres. Gloria Arroyo in exchange for Church political support
Father Bernas gives Catholics wiggle room to support controversial RH bill
Fr. Bernas suggests condoms are OK
Jesuit priest-lawyer Bernas strikes again on side of the Reproductive Health bill
Will Father Bernas be cowed by higher authority & fall silent on the RH bill?
Strange bunch of Church champions to stop gov’t from distributing condoms
Senator Vicente Sotto reinvents himself as the anti-RH champion
Msgr. Rosales leaned on Cory Aquino to make GMA resign, then left Cory
Cleofe says
Would it be possible to list the names of all the congressmen and senators who are against the RH bill?
I ask this question so I can campaign against them. These anti-RH anti-poor legislators should be voted OUT of office immediately.
Baltazar says
Raissa’s blog “Rizal’s novels would be banned today if Catholic Church succeeded in 1956” in the Imagination section has totally refreshed my mind that the Church’s ( I mean here the Catholic church) puppeteering acts is as old as the time of Rizal. It is even clearer than the sun rays that the Arroyos and the church forged an evil alliance to protect each other’s interests. Pardon me for the offensive description but the turn out of the events just painted the real picture. Its a good thing then that PNoy has the balls (unlike her Mom who literally doesn’t have balls) to stand for the RH Bill and stay at the opposite side of the rope agains the Catholic Church in this tug of war. Being identified as an Arroyo ally, this bill might give Congressman Lagman a make or a break if he is targetting a national post come the next elections.
Rallie F. Cruz says
In addition to what Baltazar says, I want to post once again (since the church position they say is based on what the Bible stands for) what is written in the Book that seems to be ignored if not given a thorough understanding.
Part of Genesis 1:27-28
….”Be fruitful and increase in numbers; fill the earth and “subdue” it.
I have to put mark over subdue it to emphasize that the word is meant to control by not overpopulating the earth. We should not strain the environment in our effort to sustain our numbers. We have to control and balance our number with the environment’s capability to sustain us with the available resources of water, food, shelter and other needs to allow us to live a prosperous and joyous life. By overpopulating the earth, we will be forced to keep our field yielding what it an give. Our field however also need to take time to rest so it would yield more and better crops.
In the book of Ecclesiastes 6:3
“A Man may have a hundred children and live many years. Yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive a proper burial, I say that a still born child child is better off than he.”
I am not advocating abortion by killing life that has already formed in the womb but I find practicality while observing what is written in the Holy Book that preventing a life that may be born in miseries with his parents can be a wise choice.
Tolitz says
you are verily right about that … the RCaths flocks dressed in Pharisee’s gowns (not the devotees) are really medieval and adulterous bunch …
how many fetal skeletons were found in Sta. Isabel tunnel??? & in Italy …
Charles P. Chiniquy was never been wrong after all …
Tolitz says
Verily, you are correct …
See the RC priests & bishops, they are almost all, against this RH bill … hypocrites !!!
they are the ones whom Charles Chiniquy abhorred then … hypocrites they are, look how many embryos were gestated from their illicit, immoral, deceptive sexual activities with girls … (sorry boys, you have no ovaries …)
OFF sana sila sa hook if they are NOT against RH bill … (mana pa, bill ng RH(RedHorse) beer …)
TomJones says
Population control…. I am in favor. Those favoring the RH bill say that resource management is the real issue… but it goes deeper. I can’ t believe how shallow these minds can be. Not all farm lands are arable, not all land in this country is accessible to work related resources. Where are we going to get all the food to support the extra mouths? we have very limited fresh water supply.. Add more people into a limited land area and we will poison this country with garbage and toxins from China.. They think its soo easy to implement changes… it takes two to three generations before cultural mentality can change. Lets face it. This country cannot handle 100+ million people. Food Resources are already being imported…
If the tub is full and the house is being flooded.. you don’t just open the door and let the water out….. you close the tap first…. The RH bill doesn’t seek to eliminate Filipinos from the land. It seeks to enable resources to be more within the reach of all Filipinos.
If using condoms and pills is against your morals, then don’t use them. The protestants, other christian groups and Muslims have no objections to them. If you are a devout catholic with a defined belief in these methods then by all means DON”T USE THEM. But give those who DO NOT share your views a chance.
If you are someone who is against the RH bill and reading these comments, then chances are you are an educated individual, who will marry an a more appropriate age, have no more than 3 children and have good enough income to pay for an internet and likewise have the capacity to pay for education for your children. Please think of all those individuals who are living below the poverty line, have 12 children, and can’t afford to send them to school because all monetary resources are dedicated to food purchases.. anyway, this post has a lot of errors. Im rambling a bit and don’t really have the time to think gramatically straight.
raissa says
If you want to make a difference, you have 15 months to act. Don’t hesitate to write to lawmakers directly.
Pickers in Markham says
This bill is toothless. The health system is largely private not gov’t funded.
Allan Advincula says
If the senate/congress are going to propose a bill that is against your morals, your beliefs, your upbringing and you honestly believe that it will not work, that it is not for the good of the people, wouldn’t you also, with all your power, try to prevent such a bill from getting passed?
Yes the mere passage of the bill does indicate their decline in political influence but I do not believe that their opposition to the bill is just a mere loyalty/influence check. They just wholeheartedly believe in what they are teaching and they believe in the line that says “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. They believe that the bill is evil and that they are good men and that if they do nothing then evil will triumph.
Rochie says
i am catholic but i prefer that my church not involve itself in political issues and in the work of the legislative bodies. after all, catholicism has reached the point of failure. our people, majority of whom are catholics, have already elected a protestant president, a president who is a widely perceived womanizer and a gambler, a woman president whose rise to power is being questioned persistently. let’s add the growing number of fetuses found just anywhere, couples living together without the benefit of marriage and the rising crime rate. aren’t these proof of the failure of the church to perform their main function- to enrich our spiritual life? many of our religious leaders are no different from our political leaders. for them, the only constant is their own agenda. hence, they sometimes look the other way when the situation is too hot to handle.
RE680 says
“Even a watered down version is vehemently opposed to by the Catholic Church because its mere passage signals a decline in its power to influence Philippine politics.”
That’s exactly THE bottomline why the Catholic Church is rabidly opposing the bill! It’s never about LIFE & morality but about holding on to power! It’s viciously immoral that this church enabled GMA’s excesses – plunder, electoral sabotage, Ampatuan massacres, midnight appointments, etc., in exchange for population policy & ensure their power over Pinoys! Thanks for unmasking these modern day Pharisees Raissa!