Bishop lauds lawmakers who voted vs. RH bill

DESPITE losing in numbers, a Catholic bishop on Monday commended the 104 lawmakers who voted against the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill during the second reading of the measure at the House of Representatives last week.

Legazpi Bishop Joel Baylon said that the 104 lawmakers who voted against the highly disputed bill “voted according to the dictate of their faith.”

“Amidst the pressures and the offers, the possible benefits in saying yes to the measure, they voted according to their conscience and it is a statement on behalf of their faith,” Baylon said.

The prelate called the anti- RH lawmakers “witnesses in this Year of Faith.”

The Catholic Church has been opposing the passage of the bill for purportedly allowing abortion by supporting the use of artificial contraception. The church is in favor of natural birth control methods only.

But while debates on the necessity of a national law on reproductive health went on in Congress, a regional counterpart of the measure was enacted in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

On Monday, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman signed the region’s version of the bill, Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) Bill No. 5, into law as Muslim Mindanao Act 232.

Rep. Irene Tillah of Sulu province, principal author of the bill, said that the measure has been passed after a series of extensive consultation conducted by the RLA with experts on reproductive science in Muslim law.

The ARMM’s legislative assembly passed its measure on Thursday. JHOANNA PAOLA BALLARAN AND

JULMUNIR JANNARAL