Golez takes exception to criticism of Reproductive Health Bill advocates
Quezon City (10 February) -- Rep. Roilo Golez (2nd District-Paranaque) has decried the unfair and unfounded criticisms by reproductive health bill advocates that he resorted to deceitful tactics in opposing House Bill 5043 or the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 by using distorted and misleading data.
In the House deliberations on HB 5043 last week, Ramon San Pascual, Executive Director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD), accused Golez of "passing off unofficial data set as official data" allegedly coming from government agencies like the Department of Health, National Statistics Office, and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute.
Golez later said that the data came from a book published by Social Watch, a non-governmental organization dealing with reproductive health and other pro-poor issues.
Rep. Edcel Lagman (1st District-Albay), sponsor of the RH Bill, had also criticized Golez's use of the data and refused further interpellations from Golez.
Golez criticized Lagman's use of outdated 2004 data on maternal and infant deaths in the RH Bill debates when there are already more updated data from primary sources like the Department of Health showing that maternal and infant death rates have improved. He also pointed out that maternal and infant death rates are low in places where doctors, nurses, and midwives are available, while rates are high in places where there is insufficient number of doctors, nurses, and midwives. Golez said that the solution is to spend more for these medical practitioners rather than on contraceptives. (PIA) [top]
