MANILA, Philippines - House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday no one would be jailed for opposing the controversial Reproductive Health Bill in good faith. Lagman, a staunch advocate of the RH Bill, said that after withdrawing their threat to excommunicate RH advocates, including President Aquino, some bishops are reportedly threatening to risk being jailed in a renewed offensive against the measure.
“Bishops and lay leaders see phantom jailers when there are none,” Lagman said in a statement. “No one will be jailed for opposing the RH Bill in good faith and promoting Catholic dogma as an antidote to contraceptives and modern family planning.”
“Instructive debates and constructive criticisms are material to legislation,” he said.
He said the central agenda of the RH Bill is freedom of informed choice and “there will neither be reward nor compulsion for being an acceptor of family planning.”
He said option is the rule on whether or not couples and women would adopt a particular family planning method of their choice.
“The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has unfortunately reiterated its objection to a group or collective dialogue with legislators supporting the RH Bill, and has renewed its bias for parochial one-on-one talks between bishop and legislator apparently to maintain ascendancy or influence over individual members of Congress on a selective basis,” Lagman said.
Paolo Romero, Philippine Star
