RSSMANILA (UCAN) — A spokesman for Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III denied he had caved in to Church pressure over support for the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
“Senator Noynoy Aquino has not changed his stand on the RH bill,” Frederick Forbes told UCA News Feb. 1.
“There are certain provisions of the RH Bill he can not support, but on the whole he is behind the bill,” the press officer says. He said Aquino has held that stand and “we never changed our position.”
Newsbreak Online reports that Aquino softened his stand on the Reproductive Health and Population Development bill during the ABS-CBN News Channel’s Presidential Youth Forum at De La Salle University (DLSU) on Friday.
Aquino, 50, said he wants Filipinos to be educated on the various methods of family planning and be free to choose which they prefer.
“There are provisions that I cannot support,” Aquino is quoted as saying, while claiming he has been “mistakenly labeled as co-author” of the bill when he is simply an “interpellator” waiting to comment on the proposed law.
He reiterated his acceptance of certain premises of the law, such as the need to address poverty and other problems related to over population.
“In its current form there are provisions and wordings the senator cannot support,” Forbes told UCA News.
Aquino would like to change the title to “Responsible Parenthood Bill” because he wants to provide information on available methods for family planning, he said.
Aquino feels parents must have a responsibility to the children that they conceive and support them with education, housing health and food, Forbes said.
The press officer says he is not sure why people are trying to say Aquino has moved away from his previous stand. He says the senator would not change his stand just to stay up in the presidential race.
Aquino topped the latest survey on preferred presidential candidates in the May 10 general elections. He is running against nine candidates, including convicted former president Joseph Estrada and Jesus is Lord evangelical movement leader Eduardo Villanueva.
The Catholic Church rejects the RH bill and has instructed Catholics in a recent catechism that candidates who support the proposed law are “unacceptable regardless of his position on other matters” and should not be elected.
Bishops warn, however, that a candidate’s position on the RH Bill should not be the sole criterion for choosing a president.
PR08687.1587 February 1, 2010 43 EM-lines (400 words)
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