Less than two weeks after President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines signed the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, now Republic Act (RA) 10354, lawyers James and Lovely-Ann Imbong filed a petition with the Supreme Court to declare the measure null and void.
The couple, who filed the petition on behalf of their minor children and joined by Catholic school Magnificat Child Development Center Inc., cited Article 12, Sec. 2 of the Constitution, which recognizes the State’s duty to protect the family, the life of mothers and their unborn children, and to support the primary right of parents in rearing their children.
According to the Constitution, “The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the government.”
The petition against the RH Law stated that the act introduces policies «that negate and frustrate the foundational ideals and aspirations of the sovereign Filipino people as enshrined in the Constitution.»
«This case will present the illegality of the Act as it mocks the nation’s Filipino culture–noble and lofty in its values and holdings on life, motherhood and family life–now the fragile lifeblood of a treasured culture that today stands solitary but proud in contrast to other nations,» the petition stated.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, and Education Secretary Armin Luistro were named respondents in the 27-page petition.
The petition embodies an effort to “reclaim our moral culture–a culture that all other countries have begun to lose way ahead of us. And anybody can join us in this new battle,” James Imbong stated after filing the petition Wednesday.
