MANILA, Philippines – The Reproductive Health (RH) bill, in various forms, has languished in Congress for 17 years, but the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) finds it unfair that the government is now “railroading” it.

In a stinging statement Monday evening, August 13, the CBCP denounced the House of Representatives’ decision last week to end debates on the RH bill. It was the first statement it delivered – uncharacteristically right after the opening song – at a Mass with anti-RH bill legislators in St Peter’s Parish, Quezon City.

The CBCP said the voting should have been done on August 7, as initially scheduled, “with every side ready and prepared to defend its cause.” The voting happened in the afternoon of August 6, hours after President Benigno Aquino III met with legislators about the bill.

“People were caught off-guard by the suddenness of the execution, especially those who oppose the bill on faith or principle. We are dismayed by the display of naked power. We lament the unilateral disregard of prior agreement and the pursuit of selfish goals,” said the CBCP in a statement signed by its president, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

“The Catholic Church, and those who are similarly minded, ask for nothing more than fairness. After all, we have as much right to expose the dangers and ills of the bill, as those who promote it,” the CBCP said.

In an interview with Rappler after the Mass, Palma said he would have wanted to attend the voting on August 7. The difference of one day, he explained, would have allowed legislators to prepare “even just the final commentary.”

“It’s unfair, as I said. You schedule it on the 7th, then all of a sudden, on the 6th, you make that decision. People were not there; they did not expect that,” Palma said.

One of the legislators at the Mass, Zambales Rep Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay, backed CBCP’s claim that Congress is rushing the bill. She deflected critics’ argument that anyway, the bill has languished in Congress for almost two decades.

Speaking to Rappler, Magsaysay said different legislators have entered and left Congress since the RH bill was first filed.

“They’re all entitled to understand the bill, and they’re also entitled to their own opinions. You cannot say that this measure has been there for so long, because we have different legislators every Congress,” Magsaysay said in a mix of English and Filipino.

‘Defenders of life’

In its statement, the CBCP also hailed the so called “defenders of life” among legislators. “We commend the bravery and dedication of legislators who continue to resist the bill even at the risk of retribution from the powers that be. To them go our blessing and the gratitude of the faithful,” the Catholic bishops said.

Raising their hands, bishops and priests later blessed the anti-RH bill solons, who stood in front of the altar after being called one by one.

Meanwhile, Palma delivered a homily that tackled the role of the Catholic Church in the RH bill issue. He addressed calls, even from priests, to keep the Catholic Church away from RH bill debates. “I would like to ask: Why not?”

“I ask because I could not imagine a Filipino without his or her religiosity. Take away Santo Niño, take away Jesus Nazareno, take away Divine Mercy, take away Holy Rosary, take away Our Mother of Perpetual Help, take away Our Lady of Manaoag or Our Lady of Peñafrancia, and what’s left of us?” Palma said.

The CBCP president said the government should respect the beliefs of Catholics, who comprise a majority in the Philippines. “We are not imposing. We are only asking them to respect us. We even respect the culture of the Muslims. Why could you not respect our culture?”

Statistics, however, show that majority of Filipinos, including Catholics, want the RH bill. The Palace recently reminded the CBCP of this, citing a Social Weather Stations survey that shows 70% of Filipinos favor the Responsible Parenthood bill, a variation of the controversial measure.

Other Catholics, including several professors from the Ateneo de Manila University, claim Catholics can support the RH bill in good conscience. (Watch more in the video below.)

“Why don’t they listen?” said sociologist Mary Racelis, who is among the pro-RH bill Ateneo professors, in another interview with Rappler. “We’re saying, we’re the laity, we are the Church, why are we not included in some of these discussions? It’s only you who seem to assume that you are the Church.”

Jesuit constitutionalist Fr Joaquin Bernas also takes an alternative view. While he says he adheres to Catholic teaching on contraception, he notes that not all Filipinos subscribe to Catholic beliefs. “(I) am very much aware of the fact that we live in a pluralist society where various religious groups have differing beliefs about the morality of artificial contraception, which is very much at the center of the controversy,” Bernas said in a recent column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“Public money is neither Catholic, nor Protestant, nor Muslim or what have you and may be appropriated by Congress for the public good without violating the Constitution,” Bernas said. – Rappler.com