MANILA, Jan. 16, 2013—It can now be said that legal protests against the RH law are coming from all the major islands of the country, as the first group from Mindanao filed a petition against the measure with the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The petitioners, Serve Life CDO – a Cagayan de Oro-based group composed of professionals including doctors and lawyers – and Rosevale Foundation – an educational institution in the same city – questioned the constitutionality of Republic Act (RA) 10354 in a 25-page petition that sought to halt the implementation of the new law.
The petition contained “merely a sampling of the many transgressions upon the dignity of the human being which the RH Law imposes. Worth mentioning at the outset is a deviously hidden floodgate for abortifacients in an innocuous provision, which, upon some reflection, reveals that the RH law effectively sanctions the taking of the most basic of all rights, the right to life,” the petition stated.
“All petitions are the same with respect to the main issue: whether or not the RH Law violates the Constitution. In our petition we have cited seven grounds, rights, policies, and directives enshrined in our Constitution,” said Atty. Earl Anthony Gambe, representing the group.
“The RH Law violates the right to life; right to protection against hazardous products; the prohibition against involuntary servitude; equal protection of the laws; freedom of speech and of expression; economic policy of the State; and unwarranted interference in education. These grounds are discussed in detail in our petition,” the lawyer explained.
Serve Live CDO, headed by its president, physician Nestor Lumicao, is composed of professionals including doctors, lawyers, educators, sociologists, businessmen and some priests and religious who organized themselves for the protection of life, in defense of the family and the sanctity of marriage, and the promotion of authentic health.
The most recent group to legally oppose the recently approved law prior to Serve Life CDO was Task Force for Family and Life Visayas Inc., which filed its petition late last week.
Other petitioners are Alliance for the Family Foundation Philippines, Inc. (ALFI) and Atty. James Imbong and wife Atty. Lovely Ann Imbong, joined by Magnificat Child Development Center Inc. (CBCP for Life)
