Written by Jomar Canlas Senior Reporter
THE Supreme Court has ordered the government to answer the petitions questioning the constitutionality and legality of the controversial reproductive health (RH) law.
The court en banc has also decided not to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the new law until after it has received the comments of Malacañang, through the Office of the Solicitor General.
The petition against the law, filed by lay couple James and Lovely Imbong, is considered the most controversial case pending before the High Court. The case was assigned to Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza after a raffle.
The 15-man tribunal ordered Malacañang to comment within 10 days on the Imbong couple’s petition questioning the constitutionality of the law. Malacañang’s comments would be the bases for any decision of the high court, whether it should issue an injunction order or not against the implementation of the law.
Despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church, the House of Representatives passed the reproductive health bill on December 20. President Benigno Aquino 3rd quietly signed it into law—Republic Act 10354, or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012—on December 21. The law, which seeks to improve public access to reproductive health services, including natural and artificial family planning options, will take effect on January 17.
In their 25-page petition filed on January 2, the Imbongs said that the law violates the Constitution, which upholds the ideal of an unconditional respect for life, among others. They named as respondents Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar†Roxas 2nd, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Health Secretary Enrique Ona.
“[This case] will present the illegality of the Act as it mocks the nation’s Filipino culture—noble and lofty in its values and holdings on life, motherhood and family life—now the fragile lifeblood of a treasured culture that today stands solitary but proud in contrast to other nations,†the couple said.
They argued that some provisions of the new law reveal its intentions to bring reproductive health care services within easy reach of the poor.
“By doing so, the poor become the primary targets of the State’s planned-parenthood policy—a subtle way of telling the poor that the State will subsidize their right to have access to modern methods of family planning simply because they are poor,†the petitioners said.
Jo Imbong, mother of James Imbong, the legal counsel of the Catholic Church, had described the petition as “the first salvo†against the law.
“We are paving the way for other similar suits from many faith-based groups,†she said
Imbong revealed that big prayer rallies against the new law were also being planned across the country in the weeks to come.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had expressed support for the petition of the Imbongs. In a pastoral letter, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who is also the vice president of the CBCP, said that the reproductive health law “will lead to greater crimes against women.â€
“The poor are being promised a better life through the RH bill. It will not be so. The poor can rise from their misery through more accessible education, better hospitals and lesser government corruption. Money for contraceptives can be better used for education and authentic health care,†Villegas said.
“The youth are being made to believe that sex before marriage is acceptable provided you know how to avoid pregnancy. Is this moral? Those who corrupt the minds of children will invoke divine wrath on themselves,†the bishop warned.
He said that the free and wide dissemination of contraceptives would destroy family life and lead to more violence against women.
Source:
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