As a member of the business community and as a Filipino who ardently wishes to see her countrymen rise out of poverty, I commend Sen. Noynoy Aquino for bravely coming out in support of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

I am glad that he supports the plan to have government health centers ready to provide contraceptives and that he believes parents should take responsibility for birth spacing.

When he said ?Palagay ko meron akong responsibilidad bilang may konsensyang tao na tumulong na yung mga batang dinadala sa mundo ay may pagkakataon na gumanda ang kanilang buhay (I believe I have a responsibility to help so that our children have the opportunity to live better lives),? he expressed what I believe many Catholics feel?that we must help parents plan lives of dignity for their families. In this day and age, it is unacceptable that 11 Filipino mothers die every day, or that 44 percent of the pregnancies among the poorest women are unplanned.

I admire him for risking the support of the Catholic Church in his election bid, and I urge him to be steadfast in his conviction. The Filipino voters are behind him on this. In a Pulse Asia survey conducted in 2007, findings showed that 75 percent of Filipinos say they will support a candidate who favors allocating government funds for family planning.

He has nothing to fear from Catholic voters either. In an SWS survey conducted in October 2008, 68 percent of Catholics (and 68 percent of Filipinos) agreed that there should be a law requiring the government to distribute legal contraceptives like condoms, IUD and pills to people who want to avail of them.

Senator Aquino is campaigning on a platform of decency, standing up for what?s right and putting the country?s interests above all else. For the millions of mothers who die during childbirth, the babies don?t make it past their first year, or the children who have to drop out of school because of poverty, the senator?s support for the RH bill despite censure from powerful forces is a ray of hope. And I enjoin my fellow Filipinos to get behind public officials with this strength of conviction.

?LOIDA NICOLAS LEWIS,
25C Luna Gardens,
Rockwell Center,
Makati City