HONG KONG — There was both recrimination and celebration after the passage of a landmark bill in the Philippines on Monday, a measure that codifies sex education in schools and broadens access to condoms and birth control pills in poor and rural areas.
Versions of the bill had languished for more than a decade, as my colleague Floyd Whaley reported in The New York Times, because of staunch opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. About 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic.
The reproductive health measure, locally known as the RH bill, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 133 to 79, with 7 abstentions. (The bill had earlier passed the Senate, 13 to 8.)
Opponents of the bill were furious that 62 members of the House had not shown up for the vote.
“There is still a burning question that needs to be answered: Where were the other congressmen in time of such a crucial vote like the RH bill?” said the Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, which called the bill “ungodly” and published a list of the “Judases” who did not vote.
“This is evil itself at work,” the foundation said on its Web site.
Catholic bishops have said they would work to defeat any supporters of the law in elections next year.
But Edcel Lagman, the congressman who sponsored the bill, played down those warnings, saying, “It’s more of a threat than a reality. The experience in other Catholic countries is once a law is passed on reproductive health, even the church supports the law.”
One of the congressmen who missed the vote was Manny Pacquiao, the acclaimed welterweight boxer and almost certainly the most famous person in the Philippines. He was elected to the House in 2010 to represent Sarangani, located on the southern tip of the island of Mindanao.
Mr. Pacquiao was knocked cold in a non-title fight in Las Vegas on Dec. 8, losing to Juan Manuel Márquez of Mexico. Three days later, on the floor of the House in suburban Manila, he spoke against the reproductive health bill, which was up for a preliminary vote. After receiving a rousing standing ovation from his fellow lawmakers, he said, “Manny Pacquiao is pro-life. Manny Pacquiao votes ‘no’ to House Bill No. 4244.”
A condensed excerpt of Mr. Pacquiao’s remarks:
In the dying seconds of the sixth round of my fight against Marquez, a single punch knocked me out. For more than two minutes, I was lying unconscious, motionless. My wife cried . . . my friends and fans cried when they saw me not moving at all. Some thought I was dead. They thought another life had been lost.
What happened in Vegas strengthened my already firm belief in the sanctity of life, on whether a person’s right to live in this world should be put in the hands of his fellow man.
One of the most outspoken opponents of the bill was Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, widely known as Tito. He wanted to block teenagers from obtaining contraception, arguing that it would encourage young people to have sex.
Another congressman, Romero Quimbo, called Miro, was in the hospital on Monday, suffering from dengue fever, although he got permission to leave briefly so he could vote for the bill. Afterward, he tweeted a photo of himself in an ambulance heading back to the hospital.
Amnesty International generally applauded the passage of the bill, although the group noted that the current version was “imperfect” because it required girls under 18 to have written parental consent before getting contraceptives.
“The Philippines still have a long way to fully respect, protect and fulfill women’s right to reproductive health,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty’s deputy Asia-Pacific director.
The new bill does not affect abortions, which remain illegal in the Philippines.
The final version of the law can still be tweaked by legislators before it is sent to President Benigno S. Aquino III for his signature.
Mr. Aquino was vocal in his support for the measure, and his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, said Monday, “The people now have the government on their side as they raise their families in a manner that is just and empowered.”
