PRESS STATEMENT of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

The allegation of a United States multi-million peso lobby fund for the enactment of the RH bill is an old yarn which is destitute of factual basis.

This is a dead and fossilized tirade which anti-RH solons like Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia try to resurrect every time the RH bill is at the threshold of approval.

Allegation is not proof. Garcia has consistently failed to prove his bare allegations.

Garcia delivered a privilege speech to bait RH advocates to protracted and repetitive debates in order to further delay the passage of the RH bill, but there were no takers because the ploy of Garcia was too obvious and crude.

Ironically, Garcia is myopic to the well-oiled lobby against the bill by the organized and wealthy Catholic hierarchy with the aid of dozens of lay organizations which are well-funded.

Garcia has long been the conservative spokesman who has been pontificating from the antediluvian pulpit like when he vociferously opposed progressive legislation such as the institution of a comprehensive agrarian reform program and the abolition of the death penalty, both battles he had lost.

The principal proponents of the RH bill are recognized nationalist legislators who will not take a cent from foreign lobbyists.

The Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) for more than two decades has been a well-respected NGO both locally and internationally. Its enduring advocacy on population and development antedates the introduction of the RH bill.

PLCPD does not promote population control, but advocates freedom of informed choice with respect to reproductive health and the various forms of family planning from the natural to the modern which are medically safe, legal and truly effective. EDCEL C. LAGMAN