OPINION: 5043 TURNAROUND BY THE TEODOROS
MANILA, FEBRUARY 5, 2010 (MALAYA) Dahli Aspillera (‘Multimillionaire socialite Rep. Nikki wants impoverished mothers of seven to stay barefoot and pregnant–so Gibo gets the votes of the Roman Catholic bishops.’ }THE Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. sent in their Manifesto, here excerpted:
We, supporters of the Reproductive Health Bill, are appalled with the sudden withdrawal of support of Rep. Nikki Prieto-Teodoro and Lakas-Kampi-CMD and presidential aspirant Gibo Teodoro for HB 5043.
We can only surmise one simple and plain reason: to increase Gibo’s popularity and enhance his "winnability" in the coming elections expecting support from the Roman Catholic hierarchy for his presidential candidacy.
Dismayed over the confusing convoluted statements by the Teodoros, we answer some of the issues Mrs. Teodoro raised.
She said she would rather spend the country’s meager resources in directly feeding the poor, clothing the naked, giving shelter to the poor and educating them. In a country where: 1) 50 percent of families consider themselves poor, 2) 2.9 million families experienced hunger and did not have enough to eat in the last 3 months, 3) 4.5M Filipinos are homeless, 4) 40 percent of the youths are out of school?
How can Gibo, as president of a government with resources totally drained by corruption, support a ballooning population--92.2 million this year?
Nikki’s claim: HB 5043 is "defanged and toothless."
Passage of the RH bill will in fact help address these needs. The reproductive health bill is pro-poor legislation. It will bring a balanced approach on population and development issues. The bill will help couples to plan the family size that they want. The bill will address unmet need on family planning, thus ensuring quality education and health for their children. HB 5043 will avoid illegal abortion.
Experiences of other East Asian countries have shown that development is helped by reproductive health and family planning policies.
Improving maternal health is the main component of HB 5043. Eleven mothers die of childbirth and pregnancy complications everyday. With modern technology, nearly all maternal deaths can be preventable.
However, the problem lies in too many poor women getting pregnant every 10 months; unavailability of emergency obstetric care, pre and post natal care and skilled birth attendants during actual deliveries.
HB 5043 establishes a reproductive health program that includes accessible and affordable maternal health care services. Specifically, it mandates local governments and public health facilities to employ adequate number of midwives or other skilled attendants. It also ensures the establishment and operation of hospitals with quality emergency obstetric care, and regular review of maternal deaths.
It is our impoverished children who suffer the most; that children’s innocence is broken because they have to struggle to meet their basic needs. Indeed, our children are the ones suffering due to lack of political will and integrity of our lawmakers and government leaders.
We are dismayed that the Teodoros’ latest pronouncement on reproductive health runs contrary to their claim as defender of the rights of children. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends to the Philippines to adopt HB 5043 to ensure access to reproductive health counseling and provide all adolescents with accurate and objective information to prevent teenage pregnancies.
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Everyday thousands of Filipinas seek back-street illegal abortionists. Many die from complications. No Roman Catholic program works to address, much less eliminate this scourge.
Rhythm/calendar/sexual abstinence does not work. The RC husband comes home drunk, drugged, frustrated, tired, horny. The wife pulls out her calendar to show her husband it is not a good day for sex. She gets cussed, slapped around, and gets raped just the same. This is how she got her seven children, now all undernourished and out of school. Nikki may never have been subjected to such experience, and is completely unaware of such situations.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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