The Philippine Online Chronicles

President Noynoy Aquino was notoriously vague on his stand on the Reproductive Health bill during the election campaign. On principle he was not against artificial family planning but did he or did he not support public funding on family planning commodities such as condoms and pills? Was he purposely being vague so as not to antagonize the church? Did he replace former Health Secretary Cabral, a staunch RH advocate, with La Sallite Brother Armin Luistro to please the bishops? Well, now we wonder no more.

On World Population Day Monday, Health Secretary Enrique Ona announced the Aquino government will indeed be providing contraceptives in all health clinics. Sec. Ona said the administration would not favor one method of family planning over the other, insisting that Filipinos should be provided all the possible choices. This view is in keeping with the spirit of the Reproductive Health bill which leaves the choice to families. It is assumed that couples would make the choice in harmony with their beliefs. This signals an end to the former government’s policy of promoting only natural family planning. Since 2001 the Arroyo administration banned acquisition of artificial family planning commodities, a deviation from the more pro-active stances taken by ex-presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada.

The difference in policy positions of past governments only underlines how reproductive health is largely relegated to the whims and personal preferences of politicians who come and go. It has become a source of bargaining leverage by the church vis-à-vis the state. A national policy on reproductive health, embodied in national legislation, would put an end to caprices of various political actors.

Many feared that P.Noy would tow the bishops’ line as his mother, the deeply devout Corazon Aquino, once did. Of the presidential candidates, P.Noy disproportionately received criticism from the anti-RH crowd, which may have explained the ambiguity of his policy preference when asked about RH during the campaign.

But now that the cat is out of the bag the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has, predictably, fired back. Yesterday they issued a statement calling on the President not to promote a "contraceptive mentality." The statement comes after the CBCP's 101st Plenary Assembly over the weekend. Some 90 archbishops, bishops and cardinals attended.

The Reproductive Health bill has been languishing in legislature since the 11th Congress, a testament to the ability of the church to mount a single-minded campaign against a policy it does not favor, indeed, a policy it considers a sin. In successive congresses it was only in 2008 when RH became a household issue, perhaps because it was the year in which the bill actually graduated from the committee-level and reached the plenary for debate. In this year’s national elections RH also became an electoral issue, another first.

Various polls conducted reveal an overwhelming number of Filipinos support the Reproductive Health bill and they approve of politicians who support family planning. Now that the debate has reached the general public, the church’s advantage of privileged access to public officials has been offset. Now more than ever the difference between the People’s preferences and the church’s preferences over family planning has become pronounced. Which voice will the state heed?

Now that the executive’s stand on RH has been revealed, the fate of the bill is now up to the House of Representatives. Rep. Edcel Lagman has re-filed the bill a few weeks ago. Will pro-RH legislators have the numbers? Will the church again be issuing ultimatums? Time will tell.