Without knowning exactly the content of that bill we cannot make proper judgment.
Basically, the bill seeks to provide government subsidies to artificial birth control. Contraception is legal in the Philippines (excepting abortifacients), but many people are angry that several local governments (including Manila proper), having councilmen who are in line with the Church on the issue, refuse to subsidize their sale and provision in the pharmacies (if the pharmacists will sell them at all; fortunately, there are some of them who still remember what they were taught in Catechism class).
A lot of this issue is being driven by foreign governments, usually Western, who see this as a way for poor, starving Filipinos to achieve the UN Development goals relating to public health.
There was an attempt during the 1970’s by President Marcos to do the very same thing; the Church, as now, threatened excommunication if he signed the bill legalizing it (it had passed his rubber-stamp legislature). He backed down, perhaps due to fears of losing legitimacy, having subverted democractic government already.
Seeing the above comment: There’s also the fact that the President is elected to a single six-year term. So he only gets to be held accountable once in his life, barring something like pulling a Marcos or outright murder or robbery. I suspect that, were he instead limited to two four-year-terms, he might be facing a tough reelection battle, especially once you discount Greater Manila’s disproportionate representation in polling.
Yes, it’s sad that for all Cory Aquino’s efforts in raising them right, her children have been blinded by fame and the accolades of an often morally-bankrupt West.
[/sarcasm]