RH Bill

Free Condoms, Less Corruption?

A Reaction Paper by: Leo Vincent A. Villanueva

I started reading the House Bill No. 5034 which states “An act providing for a national policy on reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development, and for other purpose.” Its content was good; it made me think that it should be implemented. The bill focuses primarily on the welfare of the people, especially the poor ones. More importantly, population, being one of the many cases to cause poverty, will be controlled.

The RH bill assures the availability and access to a full range of methods, techniques, supplies and services that contribute to reproductive, sexual health and well being. With these, our number will become manageable and eventually, our country will finally taste progress. We can prevent abortion and post abortion complications will be managed. We can also prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and more importantly, the education and counseling on sexuality and sexual reproductive health will be disseminated by the different government units.

The program encourages the use of artificial birth control methods such as contraceptives. Free condoms will be given to those who want it, but then again, we should consider how difficult it would be to track how many people would use them. In some studies, it is said that providing people with free contraceptives or making contraceptives freely available hardly slowed down population growth.

With the average Filipino, especially those in the rural parts who have limited access to education or even sex education, how sure is the government that their efforts, not to mention the millions of money spent for those free condoms and other programs are worthwhile? Do giving away free condoms truly solve the root cause of poverty in our country, corruption?

The RH bill is definitely one of the hottest issues now in our country. The reproductive health bill or any proposed legislation that irritates the Catholic Church is a sure to create controversy and a lot of media noise. The Catholic Church is concerned that the bill could be a precursor to eventual legislation of abortion and other practices contrary to Christian morality.

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, leading the Church and other organizations, stands tough against the reproductive health bill and even organized a signature campaign against it.

“If you want to really put an abrupt halt to population growth, give people higher quality education and make them productive (I’m not averse to conscripting labor). Good education and a job with some upward mobility is a better contraceptive than whatever you can get over the counter from health clinics”.  

There are many speculations regarding the bill, some say that the government actually has some hidden agendas behind it.

Vince Cinches, chairman of the Central Visayas Fisher folks Development center, said the country’s problem was not in the number of its population. “The Philippines is very rich in resources but these are monopolized by the few elites and foreign corporations,” he said. He also said that the bill does not address to the root cause of poverty.”

Another problem is that the use of contraception and other programs of the RH bill are just voluntary, this may eventually become a big problem because we do not know for sure if people are engaging in to the programs of the RH bill. Perhaps some people will use the free condoms, and perhaps some won’t. And it is the number of those who will not use contraceptives that will say whether the RH bill will be effective in reducing our population or not.

In my view, I think that in order for the RH bill to be truly effective, the people have to be somewhat obligated to use the contraceptives that the government buys for the public. Otherwise, the government will just end up piling all the contraceptives and the companies that produces them will be laughing all the way to the bank.

The government should be more strict with their measures to control the population. That is why I fully agree with these measures posted by a journalist;

·        Institute a system whereby the state will fully subsidize the education and health needs of only the first two children born to a couple who are at least 21 years old.

·        For couples who have more than 2 children or cannot provide for the children they already have, their children will be taken from them and taken care of by the state. Such couples will be forced to undergo tubal ligation (for the women) and vasectomy (for the men)

·        All men and women 15 years old and above who are not in school or are working should be conscripted to labor in government factories (they will be given wages, housing, food, etcetera). I don’t care if they manually produce paper clips or hand craft staple wire or dig holes which others may fill, anything to keep them so busy and bone tired that the last thing they would probably want to do is to have sex.

The actions above may be more drastic and basically throw out certain rights; however it is undeniably proper and more functional in limiting the population growth of the country.

The disagreement of Philippine society over the Reproductive Health bill has been a source of discouragement and discontent among the Filipinos. It is unfortunate that the debate has focused only on whether the Bill should be passed or rejected in its present form. Either option would not be good for Filipinos. The Church sees in the proposed bill serious defects that can lead to violations of human rights and freedom of conscience. It would not be acceptable to pass in its present form.

Total rejection of the bill however, will not change the state of high rates of teenage pregnancy, infant mortality and abortions. I say that a third option is needed. They should have amended all objectionable provisions and retain the provisions that actually improve the lives of the Filipinos.

Bill or no Bill, both parties who agree and disagree with the bill should make a contribution to the protection of the dignity of Filipinos and an improvement of their quality of life. It is a moral obligation that each and every one of us must be responsible for our actions. For all the fathers, be aware of how many you CAN feed. For the mothers, be aware of how many you CAN raise, and for the sons and daughters…just be SAFE.