The RH Bill is looming upon us, and unfortunately, there's no stopping the president.
Yesterday, before heading to work, I left two sentences as my status in Facebook:
"I'm all for educating people about reproductive health, but I don't like to have a bill dedicated to it...for now. Feed the poor, then let's talk."
As expected, this status got mixed reviews. Since my higher ups took away my Internet privileges at work, I wasn't able to immediately respond to those who commented on my status.
Up to now, I'm still amazed by the number of people, majority of whom are legislators, continuously supporting this bill above others, that in my opinion, are more important.
The advocates say the poor will benefit from this bill because it will educate them about family planning, keeping the kids within a manageable number.
What happens to those who already have 11 kids? How do they benefit from this?
As naive as it may sound, the basic premise here is: Will the starving poor give a fuck about this bill?
And the answer to this question is also my answer to the question: Do we need an RH Bill? No.
The thing is, the poor is just so damn stubborn. You think they'd give a damn if you educate them for their own good? History says no. Case and point, the residents of a condemned tenement in Tondo, Manila. No matter how many times the government warns these people about the dangers of staying in said place, even offering them financial aid just so they would relocate and start anew, these people refuse to do so.
Two people caught in the heat of the moment won't consider using birth control methods if they feel that a condom can get in the way of the fun. And this doesn't apply to the sexually uneducated alone. I know sexually educated people who do it raw because it just feels better than doing it with protection.
So what difference can an RH Bill make under such circumstances? Little to none at all.
Here's my problem. The government keeps on saying it doesn't have a lot of money that's why it's so keen on collecting taxes, but it wants to allocate funds on something that we don't urgently need in the first place.
But Marlone, we urgently need the RH Bill.
Why? Because we're 12th in terms of population in the whole world? These numbers are daunting, but geographically speaking, do you really think we occupied all 7,100 islands of the archipelago already? Go to the provinces and I'll bet you'll find hectares of vacant lots. Sure, some of them belong to a rich family whose members include our president, but I'm certain you'll find ample land beyond Metro Manila's borders. For all I know, everybody's just cramped up here in NCR while the rest of the country remains uncharted. And let's not forget that a good number of Pinoys are overseas. Some working. Some migrating.
As Karen Davilla said on DZMM, population is power, not a problem. Even Muslims can attest to this. We hear news about shortage of personnel in various fields -- we are short on scientists, medical practitioners, educators, and blue-collar workers to name a few. Not to mention reports that we are running low on farmers because the children of incumbent farmers decided to give up farm life so they can go to the city and earn a living. That said, we can use the extra people to fill in these vacancies. The only problem here is that the have-nots don't have the formal training and education to take on these jobs. And there you have it. A far more important problem -- the state of the Philippine education system.
If the government simply wants to inform the masses about sex education and family planning, it doesn't need a bill for it. If you're aiming to educate the youngsters, you can incorporate sex ed in a subtle manner to subjects like HELE, GMRC and Science and Technology. In a country where TV personalities are penalized for uttering the male sex organ in Filipino, there's a good chance that an explicit approach might not work, or worse, lead to disastrous consequences like sparking curiosity that could lead to earlier sex and pregnancies.
In order to do this, tweaking of the current curriculum is required. With P-Noy already ignoring the Catholic Church's stand on the RH Bill, who's stopping him from instructing DepEd and those in the academe into coming up with a competent curriculum that can cater to sex ed? This kind of thing doesn't require funds or bills, but rather, a matter of brainstorming.
You want to educate the adults? Be my guess. Let's use the PIA and launch campaigns that will promote awareness on family planning and birth control methods. Whose stopping people from using condoms and contraceptives anyway? The Catholic Church can always condemn such devices, but at the end of the day, they remain readily available and are not illegal. And for a country whose vagrants and slum-mers got mobile phones, I find it hard to believe that a five-peso condom isn't affordable.
If the government was able to reduce casualties during the last New Year celebration through ads, maybe it can do the same with reproductive health. Add some condom ads to the side and you got information right there.
The proponents of the RH Bill are always banking on "informed choice" as its selling point. In a time where sex isn't taboo anymore, it doesn't take a Master's degree to figure out that the equation guy + girl + sex = baby. RH Bill will send legislators spending money to provide knowledge that is readily available via Internet and books. RH Bill will answer questions the community doctor or the school's guidance counselor can handle. I see the informed part, but shoving this bill down our throats and mandating the allocation of funds for it, where's the choice in that? Did you bother asking the poor if they want it? You think you know what they need better than they do?
The government should spend more time on manufacturing jobs. This will help us maximize the manpower and feed the poor. Even if you choose to have one kid, it would be pretty difficult to support your lone child if you don't have a job to begin with.
The RH advocates will always glorify the benefits of this bill. But nobody seems to be saying anything about potential drawbacks.
For one, P-Noy promised that he won't give us new taxes. But when he came into power, his BIR commissioner wanted to put taxes on tollways. And what did he do? He stayed mum on the subject. In line with this, if the government would need more funds just so they could launch RH Bill-related programs, they won't hesitate to ask more money from the people by way of taxes. So a law designed to uplift the lives of the poor ends up being their burden. And who gets more money when all of this has been said and done? The politicians.
Now, in a perfect world, the RH Bill would work, provided that the politicians would stop the grandstanding and use their funds to make it work. But in a country where I haven't seen pork barrel turn into something tangible, I'd be skeptical.
And did you know that contraceptives are cancerous? Well, if you don't, visit this link. Did the pro-RH mention anything about this?
Right now, hikes are rampant. Even our basic needs are becoming more expensive at an alarming rate. And things will only get worse. That said, we need less expenses, not more. If we're going to spend, it must be for a good reason. Why place your bet on a losing cock? Spend money on improving the health, education and agriculture sector. Take time to polish flaws in the justice system and clogging up loopholes in our laws. Don't settle for a bill that just might help in solving the problem.
Right now, we got bigger problems than this paranoia over overpopulation. For each day that passes, a poor family is deprived of food and nutrition. We have to stop the bleeding. I repeat: Feed the poor, then let's talk. And don't take the feed part literally. Find ways to help the poor put food on their plate.
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