13th Congress Adjourns: Anti-Family Bills are Successfully Blocked;

New Pro-Family Bills Introduced
Status Report, Feb. 21, 2007

3 Anti-Family Bills successfully blocked at Plenary, 1 Bill slips through House
Pro-life and pro-family Congressmen of the 13th Congress sustained the effective opposition against the three major anti-family House Bills (HB) in Plenary all throughout the three Regular Sessions of the 13th Congress from 2004-2007, including the Special Session convened on Feb. 19-20, 2007. Congress is now on recess and will convene only on June 4-8 after the May congressional elections.

One Bill slipped through with unanimous approval (160-0-0) at Third Reading. This was HB 5012 or “Women and Gender Education in the Workplace.” Records show that the approval on Third Reading was on August 7, 2006 and the Bill was transmitted to the Senate on August 14, 2006. There was no counterpart Bill in the Senate. The Bill requires employers to give workers free annual seminars on “women and gender education” to include “women’s rights” and specific laws affecting women. We are concerned about the relevance of these seminars to the needs of Filipino women, that these seminars will include talks on so-called reproductive rights and that the proposed law imposes an added financial burden on companies which already have to provide similar training under the Department of Labor. The Bill was approved on Second Reading on June 8, 2006 after one Committee Hearing on April 20, 2005 (at which no pro-life and pro-family organization was invited). To read more on our objections, please see: http://alfi.org.ph/article/articleview/259/1/84 or http://alfi.org.ph/article/view/259 and http://alfi.org.ph/article/articleview/260/1/67

In the last nine remaining Session Days of 2007, pro-life and pro-family groups remained vigilant in ensuring that none of the Bills we opposed in Plenary would pass. The anti-family Bills that advanced to Plenary were HB 3773 (“Responsible Parenthood and Population Management”), HB 5285 (“Magna Carta for Women”), HB 634 (“Anti-Discrimination”), and HB 5012 (“Women and Gender Education in the Workplace”).

We are grateful that attempts to shorten the interpellation period and fast-track the voting on these Bills were successfully blocked by our allies, notably the attempts to pass HB 5285 and HB 634.

At the Senate, although the Reproductive Health, Population Control and Homosexual Rights (“Anti-Discrimination”) Bills were granted Committee hearings in June and August 2006, there was no other progress made.

Special SessionThe two-day Special Session called by President Gloria Macapal Arroyo resulted in 21 Bills ratified and approved by the House of Representatives, including the ‘anti-terrorism’ Bill known as the “Human Security Act of 2007.” The House will be celebrating its Centennial with a program on June 7, 2007. We hope that may provide sufficient distraction from considering the progress of any other anti-family Bills.


Pro-Family Bills Show Initial Progress

1. HB 5607
On July 6, 2006, the Committee on Revision of Laws approved House Bill 5607: the “Mandatory Marriage Counselling Act” requiring marrying couples to undergo counseling prior to the issuance of a marriage license. The Bill’s author is Cong. Rozzano Rufino Biazon. The Bill was not taken up at Plenary.

2. HB 4643
We were looking forward to December 6, 2006. This was to be the first Technical Working Group meeting at the Committee on Health for House Bill (HB) 4643, The Anti Abortive Drugs and Devices Act. However, the Committee called off the meeting due to the previous night’s late adjournment for discussions on charter change.

This pro-family Bill authored by Cong. Rene Velarde (Buhay Party-List) was successfully introduced at a Committee hearing on September 20, 2006. Among the most effective pro-family physicians present at that hearing was Dr. Angie Aguirre of Human Life International. She was able to explain the definition of pregnancy and the adverse effects of contraceptives. It was also clear from the meeting that women’s group Likhaan advocates so-called therapeutic abortion, which seemed to surprise even the Committee members.

3. HB 5028
Two Committee hearings were held on HB 5028, The Rights of Conscience Act. However, the formation of a Technical Working Group did not succeed because of opposition against the Bill.

At the first public hearing on May 23, 2006, at which ALFI was present, author Cong. Hermilando Mandanas successfully introduced the Bill and obtained Committee approval for it. At the Committee meeting on June 6, Congressmen-authors of HB 3773 who were not present in May refused to sign the Committee Report, claiming they wanted more discussion on the Bill. At the third hearing on Sept. 26, 2006, women’s groups and PLCPD objected strongly against the Bill, in contrast to the support expressed by the Phil. Medical Association, the Phil. Nurses’ association and pro-family groups including ALFI, Pro-Life and the CBCP-ECFL.

There were several other pro-family Bills that were introduced but did not become scheduled for Committee hearings, among them HB 5327, The Pregnancy Care Centers Act authored by Cong. Eduardo Zialcita.


Don’t forget to Vote Wisely!