Is It Worth The Money? (RH Bill And Population Control)

So the RH Bill gets an ok from both the House or Representatives and the Senate for its third and final reading.  Perhaps there is reason to celebrate.  The recent events showed that as a nation we are able to finally loosen the grip that the Roman Catholic Church had on us.  That we as a nation aspire a real separation of the church and state.  Moreover, this probably is a true first step to combat a perceived roadblock to our nation's fight against poverty, over-population.  After all this bill is all about population control no matter how they sugar coat it.

I put a stress on the word "perceived" when I describe over population as this remains to be a grey area for me in this whole RH Bill debate.  A blogging friend, Paul Farol offered an interesting take on over population in his blog, Pinoy-Buzz.com.

Over populated or not, will the 13 billion peso (or even 14B) funding be worth it?  How much more dent will shoving of free condoms and other contraceptives put on an already declining population growth rate?  While we're at it, how much will it contribute to poverty alleviation?   Will it stop people from the countryside from flocking key cities of the country to end up as squatters?  Just like the proponents of the bill, I dont know.

When it becomes a law, the next thing that we need to worry about is how the state intends to implement it.  Moreover, we also have to take in consideration how the Filipinos will respond to it.  The government's Conditional Cash Transfer Program is a big waste of money as there are families who would rather opt out of the program just so they can gamble.  Heck, the government cant even stop jaywalking even after the installation of countless foot bridges all over the metro.  People would rather risk their lives for convenience sake.  Having said all that, I doubt that the RH Bill will be worth it.

Now if in the following years we'll get a series of new taxes, I know who to blame!

Why The Anti RH Bill Politicians Failed

Credit goes to ProfessorMohawk.Blogspot.Com

The Reproductive Health Bill has passed second reading after it gets a slim majority 113 to 104.  I am personally against passing of the bill and I really hope that it does not see the light of day.  However, I have reasons to believe why the bill will be made into a law in no time.

The proceedings that happened yesterday showcased how the anti-RH Bill politicians failed to elevate the discussion from being just a mere crusade for Christianity.  They demonstrated how ill informed they are and how their religious belief govern the way they make laws.  We saw how Rep. Apacible offered his vote to the Lade of the Immaculate Conception and the Lady of Gaudalupe.  Rep. Garcia on the other hand reasoned that if the RH Bill is passed, the country will be the next Sodom and Gomorah.  The likes of Rep. Bagasina managed to connect the recent catastrophe brought about by Typhoon Pablo to the bill.  And who would forget Rep. Syjuco who explained his vote by reciting the Apostle's Creed.

There are more than one way to justify your opposition to the RH Bill and I think the best way is to forget the religious route.  We can definitely argue that with a population growth rate that is steadily decreasing without government intervention, we do not need to use taxpayers money to buy condoms and contraceptives.  Why would we spend on something that could only grant us negligible results?  There are a bunch of arguments against reproductive health that they can use to elevate the discussion and they have failed to use them.

I oppose the bill because I think we don't need it.  It will be a useless welfare program that is based on false promises of economic growth.  It is redundant because we have existing laws that are there to solve a problem it proposes to solve so why would a new law be any better?  The religious arguments agains RH Bill are just plain backward and misinformed!

I am just plain disappointed at how our representatives have handled this fight that has divided the nation, politically and even spiritually.