Gabriela to Church: Talk to us instead

MANILA, Philippines - Women’s rights advocate Gabriela has asked the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for a dialogue on the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.

The CBCP News reported that Gabriela sent a letter seeking a dialogue with prelates in order to discuss their arguments on the RH Bill. The letter was sent last week “to present their side and also get our side,” said CBCP secretary general Msgr. Juanito Figura.

“We are still studying the situation if there is a favorable atmosphere for a dialogue and the other difficulty is that it’s hard to gather (our) panel,” Figura said. Gabriela initially scheduled the dialogue for June 3.

CBCP earlier decided to pull out from dialogues with Malacañang over the controversial bill, saying “there’s no reason to further undertake a serious study/dialogue in House Bill 4244 with the administration as proposed by President Aquino himself.”