I engaged my dad in a debate yesterday regarding the RH Bill and
I was so frustrated with him cutting me in mid-sentences so after I had my last say, I tapped the table separating us three times and loudly said, “Hay Nako!” at each tap.
He said that my arguments are good and valid but I was not
composed and if it were a competition I would lose to form over content.
It started with my question about liberalism and it led to a
debate on the RH Bill.
At the time that I was a member of the debate society, I never
encountered any motion regarding the RH Bill so I never really researched on
the issue until, I became an Intern at the World Youth Alliance, Asia Pacific.
I wrote a paper regarding my stance months ago and it is still my stance.
(February 19, 2012)
What is the RH Bill?
The House Bill No.
4244 or the Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population
Development Act of 2011 has been renamed seven times in the last 13 years that
is has continuously being pushed for and ever being debated upon.
To many, the bill is pro-poor as is it aims to create
programs for them such as health care. But what is mainly being opposed in the
bill is the provision on the program on modern family planning where
contraceptives are introduced. Another controversial provision of the Bill is
the sex education which elementary students from grade 5 to 4th year
high school will be receiving.
The main point that the RH Bill is seeking to drive through
is the connection of overpopulation to poverty. The Philippines with a
population of more than 100 Billion is said to be overpopulated and many have
linked this fact to the poverty in our country with which the RH Bill seeks to resolve.
What is my stand on
the proposed Bill?
Common
sense. That is what everybody is saying when wanting to point out why the RH
Bill is good for our country. “Common sense” say the authors of the Bill saying
that a household should rightfully be given an informed choice especially if
they know that they cannot anymore support an addition to a family of eight. They say that access to contraceptives should
be given to the poor as they are the ones who bear more than they can support –
this is the battle cry of the bill.
On the issue of morality, the church is being attacked due to their opposition to the Bill with people even saying that the Church loves the poor because they are the primary financers of the Church and up to now still teaches, “grow and multiply”. It is even being substantiated by people saying that the poorest countries are those that are predominantly Catholic.
Rebutting people who are pro RH Bill who are saying that there is a link between overpopulation and poverty, I say that in the Philippines, we are not overpopulated but there is an overcrowding especially in the NCR region. The tendency of the people in provinces is to migrate to Manila in the hopes of better opportunities for them but because jobs are limited here, they end up not having jobs at all resulting to the rise of depressed areas. The government therefore should be creating a way for more job opportunities not only in the Manila area but in the provinces as well by allowing for investors may they be local or foreign to invest in the Philippines for the creation of jobs. If there are more job opportunities in the many regions of the Philippines, poverty will be eradicated.
In connection to people having job opportunities and poverty being eradicated, households now will be able to send their children to school as they have the money to support them and therefore an increase in the literacy rate of the Philippines. More people being educated means more people being given the chance to a brighter future. Because people are now educated they will become more informed and will plan, based on their education, the guidance from their parents and their religious beliefs how they will create a family of their own. Because people are empowered, not only will their actions be justified by their stand but they will indirectly contribute to growth of the economy without the implementation of the RH Bill.
On
the issue on morality, I agree that the government and the church are separate
institutions and the separation of the church and the state shall be inviolable
with respect to the other religions practiced in the Philippines. The church
may be stating their opposition to the Bill and it may matter to Catholics and
it may not matter to non-Catholics but precisely the fact that we are coming
from different religious backgrounds, an imposition such as the RH Bill should
not be made into law because the government has no right to tell a person, a
family or a sector of how they should run their families.
Beyond the faulty reasoning of those pro RH Bill, what are the values that they are promoting? Their disregard for the value of human life is the implication. Human life is important not because human life is equal to an economic entity but because humans are free, thinking beings with human dignity that should be respected and given due rights based on a clear understanding of human dignity.
The
wrong values that the RH Bill promotes may hypothetically solve the problem of
overpopulation but it may not necessarily eradicate poverty. It may teach
people to bear a number which they can support but the degradation of the value
of life will be evident as human beings are seen as a liability and not as a
blessing. Education and empowerment of people should already be enough for the
development and progress of a country and is set on targeting the core problem
of our society and not just imposing a temporary solution that is bound to fail
to a deep-seated problem.
