|
ONE reason the congressmen should stop wasting time on House Bill
5043, titled “An Act Providing For National Policy On Reproductive
Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development and For
Other Purposes,” is that the Supreme Court, I dare predict, will
rule against it when challenged there.
There are many deeper constitutional issues than
this one that I will now mention. Section 26 (1) of Article VI
Legislative Department of our Constitution provides that “every
bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which
shall be expressed in the title thereof.” As HB 5043’s titles
states, it has four subjects Reproductive Health, Responsible
Parenthood, Population Development and Other Purposes. Former
senator Kit Tatad also mentions that the bill’s failure “to
reflect its penal nature in its title” is a constitutional
violation.
Another reason to be against the bill is given
by Lawyer Romulo Makalintal. In addition to being an active and
famous attorney, he is also a Lector-Commentator at the Last Supper
of Our Lord Parish in Las Pinas City. He wrote us to explain that
the bill is inconsistent with the law that abolished the death
penalty.
Writes he, addressing readers and
congressmen who take their being Christian Filipinos seriously:
“When Leo Echegaray was convicted for the
crime of raping his ten-year old daughter in April 1994 and meted
out the supreme penalty of death under R. A. 7659, commonly known as
the Death Penalty Law, most of our lawmakers realized that death
penalty is not in accordance with God’s plan for men and society.
Thus, on June 24, 2006, Congress passed R.A. 9346 which prohibits
the imposition of Death Penalty in the Philippines even on heinous
crimes.
“Surprisingly, however, some of these
legislators are now pushing for the passage of what is now popularly
called the “Reproductive Health (RH) Bill” which would allow the
use of family planning or birth control methods through the use of
contraceptives some of which, based on some medical tests, could
cause abortion. As reported, a provision of the said bill talks
about “post abortion complications” which proves beyond doubt
that it promotes abortion for, otherwise, the said provision would
not have been included in the said bill.
“If such contraceptives or birth control
methods introduced in the bill could cause abortion or could kill
the unborn child, then how could these legislators easily forget
their position against the imposition of death penalty even to
criminals who committed heinous crimes? In other words, why spare
the life of and allow these criminals to enjoy the gift of life, but
deny the same right to the innocent and sinless unborn child or
prevent the seed of life that God gave to mankind to grow and
multiply? For sure, it is not for us to interfere with the recipe of
the Lord.
“If we opposed the death penalty because
of our spiritual belief that only God could take the life of anyone,
then with more reason that an unborn child should not be penalized
by putting its life in danger or be an innocent victim of abortion.
If we believe that God has His own plans for allowing these
criminals to exist, then, for sure, God has also His own divine
plans why He allows a child to be born, even to the extent of the
Philippines being allegedly ‘overpopulated’ which is the main
reason for the RH bill.
“After all, what have we done as a nation and
as a people for the past so many years to solve this
‘overpopulation” issue.” Have we run out of God-given talents
and competence to solve this problem that we should now sacrifice
the lives of innocent unborn children because of our own failure or
ineptness in addressing this problem?
“If we recognize ‘animal’s rights’
to the extent of having our pets or animals ‘blessed’ during the
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, should not the unborn child be
entitled to a higher degree of care and protection from all of us
who have already received and tasted this gift of life?
“Ours being a Christian nation and a
Christian people, I would submit that the best test to resolve this
controversial issue is ask ourselves: ‘What Would Jesus Do’
under the circumstances? Being the sole Master of Life, would Jesus
allow the use of contraceptives or such birth control methods as a
means to solve the alleged problem of ‘overpopulation’ in our
country?”
rqb@manilatimes.net
/ rq_bas@yahoo.com
|
