July 10, 2013 (TSR) – The Philippine government is confident that the Reproductive Health (RH) Law could withstand legal questions and could be implemented soon, a senior official said Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte dismissed notions that the oral arguments may create a bad start between the administration and the newly-elected leaders of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The CBCP opposed the passage of the RH bill.
Valte said the RH Law is not a new issue and nobody designed the Supreme Court(SC) hearings to coincide with the CBCP’s change of leadership.
The SC was supposed to hold the oral arguments on June 18 but reset it for July 9 because it had acted on several other petitions for and against the law.
There are 15 petitions challenging the RH Law while six intervenors are seeking to uphold its legality.
Last March, the SC issued a 120-day status quo ante order stopping implementation of the RH Law, and setting oral arguments on June 18.
The restraining order was issued in response to consolidated petitions of several groups who brought the issue to the court wanting to halt the implementation of the Reproductive Health law soon after its passage last year.
