MANILA, November 20, 2008—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is helping lawmakers in crafting an alternate version of the controversial Reproductive Health bill.

CBCP Episcopal Commission on Family and Life executive Secretary Fr Melvin Castro said one sure salient feature of the bill is the non-promotion of contraceptives in family planning.

“Instead of the RH bill we are instead proposing another bill that would really address the poverty of our people and promote authentic human development,” he said.

But Castro clarified the role of the Church is just to provide inputs that would help “pro-family legislators” in drafting the bill.

He said they just want to help lawmakers and provide them with necessary information to make the bill “morally acceptable.”

“It should not be labeled as a Catholic Church bill,” said Castro.

Family Media Advocacy spokesperson Atty. Jo Imbong said the initiative is a common effort of some lawmakers and pro-life groups “so that all the dimensions of human development is considered.”

“The bill is being worked by the Bishops’-Legislators’ Caucus (BLC) and several associations of families... because families should be consulted in matters that affect them,” she said.

BLC executive director Fenny Tatad, for her part, said the suggestion for the Church to come into the picture of crafting the bill came from the lawmakers themselves.

She said the toil is now underway and they are hoping to finish the bill as soon as possible. “It is now under major refinement,” Tatad said.

The RH bill, which seeks to control the country’s growing population, was approved by the House Committee on Health last month.

The church has always wielded clout on issues like the promotion and use of condoms or the legislation of divorce. Politicians then tend to be wary of going against Church teachings for fear of losing votes.

The Church sees the use of condoms as promoting adultery and Catholic leaders maintain that sex is meant both for intimacy and procreation, and thus the use of condoms—even for HIV/AIDS prevention—frustrates the purposes of the sexual act hence it becomes immoral. (Roy Lagarde)