RH Bill: War, Substitute and then Peace

Blood stains are scattered. I can hear cries of help, despair and anger.  In case you did not notice the war that happened in our own soil the past year, the battle lines were drawn between the supporters and opponents of one of the most divisive proposed bill in the country’s history.  It's the RH bill.  Truth is it had been going on for years. It just got more intense with more active players on both sides.  Now, another chapter of this saga seemed to be on its twilight as the year ends and congressional break looms. The battle seemed to end now, but the war is still far from over.

Kaboom!

The past few weeks, people were already talking about changes, alternatives, revisions, compromised versions and substitutions to the bill. But as of now, what’s being tackled on the halls of congress is the same version that we have discussed on this blog post. No changes yet. Maybe on the next congress.

Now that we already mentioned the “alternatives” and “substitutes”, I have a list here which we can suggest to our lawmakers especially to the RH Bill proponents. This could be a good revision they can use for a bill that is supposed to address maternal health issues, population and poverty.  

1.   A provision ensuring the whole of the Philippine archipelago will be provided with electricity. - At this age where most kids and even mature people think that Internet is a basic right, a lot of Filipinos indifferent provinces and towns in the country have yet to experience electricity at home.  Aside from the known benefit of having electricity at home to human lives, with the power sources, lots of other activities can be done. Sleeping time will not be that early. People will be busy. More productive. And most probably, less reproductive. We all know some of the consequences of early darkness and silence in homes, right?

2.   A law that will help create jobs and encourage more investors in the country -   When I was young, it was a common knowledge which I always heard from my elders that those people who are idle, jobless, or those who we call “tambays” obviously have nothing much to do. They always end up full of energy. And they somehow need to exert those. Some on their vices. Some on non-productive things. And some, on “reproductive” stuffs. If we give them jobs, then they’ll get tired. The energy and urge to reproduce will be lessened. And then it will improve their lives.

3.   A law controlling the entry of illegal aliens - This is not yet an obvious threat but if we look around especially in Manila, foreigners are slowly occupying our lands. There's no need to go to the West Philippine Sea to see this happening. There's an exaggeration of course. But if it’s true that we are already overpopulated as what the proponents of the RH bill are telling us, then why don’t they start with the illegal non-Filipino people entering our lands? Stop the illegals as we even have the legal “retirement program” already being offered by DFA to foreigners who want to live here. And don't be fooled by the "retirement" word there as this is available even to those under retirement age. This is the reason why we already have around 100,000 documented South Koreans in the country. We're talking about families and not just individuals. Families that grow and occupy lands. So are we really overpopulated?  Well, the government’s action seemed to tell the opposite.

Get ready for ALIEN INVASION!

4.  A law that will empower different government agencies - These are the agencies who are tasked to handle the list of existing laws that we already have which were made to take care of our people’s reproductive health care, women and children’s rights, family planning, AIDS/HIV prevention,  and other laws that they only repeated on this bill. If you want to see what these specific laws are, I mentioned them in this blog post.

5.  A law that will improve the quality of education especially for the public system -  They should start turning away from the spoon-feeding ways.  There should be more researches and more social interaction.  More learning outside the classrooms. By doing these, the students will learn and remember the lessons more. This will make them busier.  This will make them more exposed of the true needs and problems of the society. They will be more aware of the consequences if they will not prioritize their studies. And if they will get married early. Or if they will get pregnant at a young age. I find this a more effective way than any “sex education” that they propose because these targets a total learning in life.

By focusing on the real problems, adjusting our aim to the real target is not that complicated. Issues should be addressed from their roots, not on the surface. Solutions must be for the long-term and not the band-aid type. As both sides agree that our resources are limited, then we must be wise to use them properly. No time and money should be wasted. We must know our priorities. We can't afford to pass a bill where the proponents themselves cannot agree what it is aiming for (i.e. population control, alleviating poverty, maternal health care). We must strive to be sharpshooters.

Now that the end of this RH chapter is nearing and Christmas season is coming, I hope that the division this issue created among Filipinos subsides. Well, not all of us believes in Christmas. But in the country's history, it never created any major rift among our people. Not in my knowledge. If it had one, at least there's none at the present. It just shows that differences of belief should not be a problem as long as there's tolerance and respect.  So as early as now, I wish you a very merry Christmas and a peaceful prosperous New Year. And happy holidays to the others.