SEN. Pia Cayetano is tired of all the bickering and delays in the Senate, over the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
Outspoken Sen. Miriam Santiago is getting as equally impatient, saying that the Senate “cannot be held hostage by the fact that one senator is not ready with his interpellation (she was referring to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who told Cayetano on Tuesday that he wasn’t ready to introduce his amendments yet to the measure).”
“Decisions are not made by a single person, not even the Senate president, but always by majority of senators present. So if we avail of the remedy to make a motion to end the period of amendments and it is carried by a majority of those present then that would be the end of the amendment period,” the feisty senator further said.
Santiago called Enrile’s action a delaying tactic, saying that “it is discourteous to the sponsor because in effect you are impeding her progress in pushing the bill through in giving such an indefinite, open-ended answer.”
Cayetano gave Senators Enrile, Tito Sotto and Ralph Recto until next week to introduce their proposed amendments to the measure. If delays continue, she plans to move for a vote to close the period of amendments, Rappler.com reported.
Recto was supposed to introduce his amendments during the week but asked for an extension until November 19, since he was still dealing with debates on the sin tax bill.
If the three senators are not ready by then, Cayetano will opt for a majority vote to close the period of amendments, as stated in the Senate rules.
“The records will bear me out that Senators JPE and Sotto have taken the floor the most times on the issue. Sen Enrile for 9 times, Sotto for 10 times. So I think that’s enough time. It’s my right to move forward,” Cayetano explained.
Stressing that the RH Bill would affect voter decision in the 2013 mid-term elections, Cayetano elaborated on the outcome of surveys made regarding the RH Bill and disagreed with the argument that politicians are dilly-dallying on their decision out of fear that they would lose Catholic votes.
“Let us not vote for people who are sitting on the fence. If you look at many issues nowadays, people expect to now where you stand,” Cayetano said.
The bill has been met with absenteeism in the House of Representatives.
House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said that “there is a need to call the members to a caucus and for the Speaker to tell them that on this day we will move [on the RH bill]…Win or lose, that’s it.”
If a quorum is reached on the set date, the House should then proceed to take on the proposed amendments or the substitute bill. Should there be no quorum, Gonzales said that it indicates that there is not enough support for the measure.
Meanwhile, the biggest business organizations in the country have given their full support to the RH Bill and “are willing to put their money where their mouths are,” says Inquirer.net.
During the Summit on Family Planning in the Business Sector, representatives from various business groups signed a “manifesto of support,” which called for national modern family planning program. The groups also vowed to “mobilize investments for family planning and other reproductive health services” and “implement family planning programs for the poor as part of their corporate social responsibility.”
The declaration “advocated the enactment of national reproductive health and population management policy and programs” and “allocation of funds for the implementation of this vital policy.” It also called for “accelerating the reduction of the unmet needs for family planning and in ensuring the promotion of informed choice, universal coverage and delivery of quality (family planning) information and services,” Inquirer.net further reported.
Yet, through all these, Malacañang remains a silent observer.
“We are watching with keen interest, and we look forward to being updated in the independent process of the legislation in the RH (bill),” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, calling the new version of the bill introduced by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman (who is the main proponent of the measure) a “positive development.”
With all that’s been said and done, would the RH Bill finally see the light of day? Or would it die a slow, agonizing death, in the hands of apathetic and indecisive legislators?
Regardless of the outcome, the voting public should already have a clearer picture of whom to choose as their future leaders in the coming elections.
(AJPress)
