Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
25 January 2012
0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137
The enactment of a reproductive health law has more far-reaching benefits to the country than the current impeachment proceedings.
This was underscored recently by Rep. Edcel C. Lagman of Albay, principal author and sponsor of the RH bill, during the annual forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association in the Philippines (FOCAP) wherein he discussed the parallelisms and contrasts between the impeachment process and the reproductive health advocacy.
Both impeachment and RH receive extensive media coverage and social networking commentaries and have polarized the country like no other controversies.
The impeachment agenda, even presuming its nobility of purpose, has a limited impact on the lives of people, particularly on the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged who care less about high profile transgressions and more about the eradication of petty graft like those committed by kotong cops, market collectors and small-time bureaucrats who bedevil their daily existence.
On the other hand, the RH advocacy will save and uplift the lives of a multitude of women and children as maternal health is improved and infant mortality decreased, consistent with the Millennium Development Goals.
It is in this context that the President must employ the same, if not more, zeal and determination in having the RH bill enacted as he did and is doing to have the impeachment prosper.
He has the vast arsenal of power to convince his allies in Congress to fast track the enactment of a long-delayed legislation for the good of the greater number.
The President has prioritized the RH bill before the LEDAC and the Congress. But “prioritization” is not enough. Perforce, he must assure its immediate enactment by marshalling the resources and forces of his office.
While the impeachment of the Chief Justice is viewed by many as an insidious assault on the independence of the judiciary as a democratic institution, the passage of the RH bill will enhance human institutions, alleviate poverty and make sustainable human development achievable.
The impeachment process against the Chief Justice may result to a collateral damage to legislation and governance.
It appears that legislation, including the enactment of the RH bill, may be put in the back burner as congressional attention and energies are concentrated on the impeachment process.
Likewise, the implementation of national policies may be further stalled or temporized as the Aquino administration is consumed by an inordinate obsession to remove and replace the Chief Justice.
In contrast, the enactment of the RH bill optimizes governance as the government will be liberated from spreading too thinly limited resources to a ballooning population which may already have hit the 100 million mark.
The enactment of a comprehensive RH law, with adequate funding and willful implementation, will assure that important human development factors like quality education, adequate health care, full employment, stable food security, responsive mass housing and a robust environment will not remain impossible dreams.
Let the impeachment proceedings continue and end as warranted, but we must enact the RH bill without further delay because it will have more positive far-reaching and long range benefits to the Filipino nation.