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CEBU CITY, Philippines - As far as Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is concerned, the signature campaign against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is proceeding along just fine.
“The Church respects the freedom of everybody. If they do not like (to sign) then no one will force them. We are not like those people making laws who include penalties for the people,” the prelate told reporters.
Vidal launched an archdiocese-wide signature campaign against House Bill 5403 or “An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development” in a mass held at the Archdiocese of Cebu last month.
The controversial provision of the bill penalizes those who knowingly withhold information or are found to impede the dissemination of information.
The proposed measure likewise penalizes those who refuse to perform voluntary ligation and vasectomy and decline to provide RH services to abused minors.
The penalties as provided by the bill ranges from paying fines between P10,000 to P50,000 and imprisonment from one month to six months or both.
Catholic Church leaders insist that the bill is anti-family, anti-life and promotes abortion.
Dr. Rene Bullecer, Human Life International country director, earlier commented that the campaign is going too slow and that the project should have been given to the lay leaders instead of parish priests.
He said the laity are directly affected if the bill is passed into law and that church-mandated organizations would have done a better job in collecting the signatures of the parishioners.
“If they are interested (in the anti-RH campaign), then they will find ways on their own,” he said. However, Vidal said that every parish in Cebu can conduct the campaign in the manner that it sees fit for them.
Vidal also reacted to a statement issued by Representative Nerissa Soon-Ruiz of Cebu's 6th District in a TV interview where she said that the effect of the signature campaign varied with the stand of the legislator on the issue.
She previously said deliberation on the controversial bill, in the end, would be a conscience vote for each legislator.
“Let her bear the brunt of all of these. If she is a woman of authority and responsibility she should understand the people's decision. Let us see what will be the effect of that,” Vidal said.
Earlier, party-list groups that came out in support of the RH bill like Akbayan called on Catholic church groups to refrain from name-calling, saying they were not “murderers and abortionists.”
Instead, proponents of the RH bill called for a healthy debate and dialogue in Congress, saying that contrary to the Catholic Church's claim, the RH bill is pro-life.
