Senator Rodolfo Biazon yesterday shrugged off the walkout staged by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) during a Senate meeting on reproductive health bill.

Biazon, principal author of the measure and vice chairman of the Senate committee on health and demography, said the Catholic Church has the prerogative to protest and reject the Senate’s position on the Reproductive Health bill which is now being pushed in Congress.

During the technical working group (TWG) last Wednesday, representatives from the CBCP stormed out of the G.T. Pecson Room during the committee meeting at the Senate.

Biazon said he was not in the least insulted over the actions of the clergy, as he insisted that the bill’s primary concern is to curb the growing population of the country.

“Bakit naman ako maiinsulto? Karapatan nila iyan. Inirerespeto ko ang paniniwala nila pero hindi nila puwedeng ipilit ang gusto nila kasi, paano naman iyong paniniwala ng iba (Why should I be insulted? It is their right.) I respect their opinion but they cannot impose their opinion on others because how about the viewpoint of other people?,” Biazon said.

“Karapatan nila, pero hindi nila ma-impose ang gusto nila. Kung ayaw nilang magcontribute nasa kanila iyon, (That’s their right but they cannot just impose what they want. If the do not want to contribute, it's up to them),” he added.

Despite the walkout, Biazon forgave the CBCP officials for their actions and denied reports he was insulted reiterating that any individual has the right to express their ideas.

The Catholic church will no longer participate in the hearings being conducted by the Senate committee on health technical working group on the upper chamber’s version of the Reproductive Health bill, a church representative said yesterday.

But Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines — Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (CBCP ECFL) Executive Secretary Fr. Melvin Castro said they have decided not to participate in the process to avoid compromising their stand on the issue.

“If being part of that process we will be compromising our stance, then, as of the moment, we have opted not to be part of their process,” Castro said.

Biazon expressed hope that through a productive meeting with all sectors concerned, the provisions of the Reproductive Health bill would be sufficient to address the ballooning population of the country.
But he stressed that the Senate is against the “twochild policy” and is against abortion.