By Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:53:00 12/10/2008
Last Monday, Oscar Lopez, chairman of the Lopez group of companies, was conferred the title of "Eminent Person" among the board of the Forum for Family Planning and Development.
Lopez is the fifth such "eminent person" on the Forum's board, after former President Fidel V. Ramos, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, businessman and philanthropist Washington SyCip, and internationally renowned demographer Mercedes Concepcion. The Forum is an NGO devoted to advocacy for family planning, particularly in influencing policy-shaping on this issue.
In his remarks, Lopez declared that "even as we are gathered here today, there are many serious challenges being faced by our movement," citing the "well-organized challenge" mounted by religious groups against the pending bill on reproductive health, among others.
The Lopez group chairman also noted that "it is not enough to just depend on government to accomplish the ideal population growth rate."
The private sector also has an important role to play, he said, adding that within the Lopez group they "promote family planning ... [and are] starting to show some progress in this regard and our effort is positively received by our employees as a sign of management's regard for their welfare."
Citing surveys that show public opinion support for reproductive health programs, particularly family planning, Lopez urged his audience to "do everything in our power to make sure that (the people) get what they want and need to have the family size they can properly provide for."
* * *
Indeed, as former president Fidel Ramos said in his "words of inspiration" that afternoon, "the changing but fundamental reality of today's world is that it is quality that determines quantity.
If this nation is to be developed and modernized, Filipino families must all endeavor to produce and nurture quality children and not incapable humans who become burdens to themselves and to society."
At the individual, family and national levels, family planning makes sense, and this is a fact already obvious to and embraced by the majority of Filipinos. But some of our political and religious leaders seem oblivious to reality and instead choose to impose their own sense of morality and judgment on others.
Groups like the Forum have their work cut out for them to make such folks wake up and smell the consequences of overpopulation.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Lea Salonga, Liza Macuja support RH Bill
Lea Salonga, Lisa Macuja support RH bill; Bands to rock 'House'
BY MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV
12/09/2008 | 04:43 PM
MANILA, Philippines - The controversial Reproductive Health Bill has found new allies in influential Filipino artists like Broadway superstar Lea Salonga and prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, and has even mobilized a number of musical acts into participating at a free concert to be held on Tuesday.
Salonga and Macuja were among the latest addition to a growing list of backers of the RH Bill, a measure being pushed by more than 100 lawmakers at the House of Representatives with the aim of providing poor families access to basic health information and addressing serious health problems on reproduction.
“Personally, I support [the RH Bill] and I’m sincerely hoping that it is passed because it will allow many of our countrymen, especially women, to have access to information that most of us already have access to," Salonga said in a taped message shown at a recent forum promoting the proposed reproductive health law.
Salonga, who is currently touring the United States , expressed confidence that the highly-contested measure, with its wide-ranging coverage, would be able to address the ills plaguing not only expecting mothers but also the youth.
“It’s a whole gamut of issues that this bill covers regarding family planning, spacing of our children, as well as other health issues such as STD [sexually transmitted disease] prevention, AIDS prevention. And I hope this will allow for a healthy and active discussions among all of you," said the 37-year-old Tony Award winner.
The bill had been receiving blows from pro-life supporters – the Catholic Church being the most vocal of them – who claimed passage of the bill would only promote abortion and promiscuity among teenagers.
In contrast to the Church, a recent survey conducted by polling firm Social Weather Station showed that most Filipinos, including Catholics, believe that there should be a reproductive health law and that the government should step in in ensuring that Filipinos are armed with basic knowledge on sexual education and contraception.
“I am a church-going Catholic, a wife, a mother of three beautiful children. And I believe that every woman should have the right to choose between wanted and unwanted pregnancies for her future," Macuja said.
“And the future of the children that she really wishes to have [can be achieved] thanks to the Reproductive Health," the highly-acclaimed ballerina said in another taped interview shown in the forum.
Even before Salonga and Macuja chipped in their support, backers of the RH Bill have already tagged along for their cause a number of priests from the Ateneo de Manila University; a support group for AIDS – The Girls, Women and HIV and AIDS Network; and even several Cabinet officials including Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
Rock the ‘House’
Further soliciting support from the music and arts industry, the Forum on Family Planning and Development Inc would be gathering more than 20 artists and bands for a one-night only, free concert at the Liwasang Aurora at the Quezon Memorial Circle at 6 p.m. of Tuesday.
“Together, let us rock the house… the House of the Representatives that is," declared Benjamin de Leon, the Forum president.
Peryodiko vocalist Vin Dancel, who will be performing at the free concert, said the best way that artists like him could support and promote the RH Bill is through their music.
“As artists, we enjoy a privileged position when we go up on stage and go up the microphone, wala silang choice kundi makinig. Were taking that opportunity to talk about this very important piece of legislation," Dancel said.
He said that they have even been promoting the bill through their mailing list over the Internet, encouraging their members to read the entire text of the measure before casting judgment on it.
Dancel, who also spoke at the forum, said the arguments hurled against the RH Bill were merely focused on its provision on artificial forms of contraception, when in fact the bill has a much broader scope.
“Dapat hindi nalilimitahan ang usapin ng RH sa sex at contraceptives dahil malawaka ang saklaw ng bill na ito and to limit the arguments to sex ay parang hindi dapat siya karapat dapat. Filipinos deserve so much more," said Dancel, a father of a seven-year-old boy.
Aside from natural and artificial forms of family planning, the bill also tackles other reproductive health issues like abortion, maternal deaths, child nutrition, reproductive system-related infections, RH awareness among the youth through sex education, and even violence against women.
For her part, Katwo Puertollano – vocalist of Duster, another band performing at the RH Bill concert - said during the forum that it was important for people to understand that the RH Bill is more a personal issue than a political or religious one.
“I’ve witnessed it destroy and change lives. Do we let this happen? Do the current rules that we have suffice? I don’t think so," Puertollano said.
She said that as a democratic and free society, the Filipinos should voice out their support for a measure which, she said, was only meant to protect lives and help address the chronic social ills like poverty.
“I urge everyone to support and to really go beyond the political and religious stigmas. We are in a position to be able to prevent more deaths and poverty," she said.
Among the musical acts slated to rock the night are Sandwich , Itchyworms, Lolita, Carbon, Sugarfree, Noel Cabangon, Imago, Chikoy Pura, Scarlet, Pedicab, Susan Fernandez, Cambio, Bob and Anya, Zoneone, Wandering Dw, FMD, and Jeepney Joyride.
No dialogue?
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has recently issued a statement stressing the religious body’s opposition to the current version of the bill, further citing major “flaws" that could pose threats to the lives of a pregnant woman and the baby she is conceiving.
But as a compromise, the CBCP had also said they are willing to throw their support for the RH Bill only if its proponents would strike off or modify some of its provisions. The CBCP said it was willing to raise their points of revision in a dialogue with the bill’s authors.
In response, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the bill’s primary author, said he was open to such a dialogue but doubted the CBCP’s seriousness in its call to sit with the RH Bill proponents.
In a separate interview with GMANews.TV, De Leon seconded Lagman’s sentiments and said based on the Church’s recent moves, he doubted whether such dialogue would ever take form.
“Ang tagal na noon nung ginawa nila ang offer na iyon, pero ayon sa aking nalalaman, hanggang ngayon wala pa kaming naririnig sa kanila (It’s been a long time since they offered to have a dialogue but we have yet to hear from them)," De Leon said.
He said if the Church really plans to dialogue with them, it should do so immediately so that the bill could pass the House even before lawmakers go into a Christmas break next week.
Vincent Jurlano, program officer of the United Nations Family Planning Authority, also stressed during the forum the urgency of passing the bill before the year ends.
“Dapat ipasa na nila sa House, para mapaghandaan na din ang susunod na stage, sa Senado (The bill should be passed at the House so it could proceed to the Senate)," Jurlano said.-
Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV
BY MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV
12/09/2008 | 04:43 PM
MANILA, Philippines - The controversial Reproductive Health Bill has found new allies in influential Filipino artists like Broadway superstar Lea Salonga and prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, and has even mobilized a number of musical acts into participating at a free concert to be held on Tuesday.
Salonga and Macuja were among the latest addition to a growing list of backers of the RH Bill, a measure being pushed by more than 100 lawmakers at the House of Representatives with the aim of providing poor families access to basic health information and addressing serious health problems on reproduction.
“Personally, I support [the RH Bill] and I’m sincerely hoping that it is passed because it will allow many of our countrymen, especially women, to have access to information that most of us already have access to," Salonga said in a taped message shown at a recent forum promoting the proposed reproductive health law.
Salonga, who is currently touring the United States , expressed confidence that the highly-contested measure, with its wide-ranging coverage, would be able to address the ills plaguing not only expecting mothers but also the youth.
“It’s a whole gamut of issues that this bill covers regarding family planning, spacing of our children, as well as other health issues such as STD [sexually transmitted disease] prevention, AIDS prevention. And I hope this will allow for a healthy and active discussions among all of you," said the 37-year-old Tony Award winner.
The bill had been receiving blows from pro-life supporters – the Catholic Church being the most vocal of them – who claimed passage of the bill would only promote abortion and promiscuity among teenagers.
In contrast to the Church, a recent survey conducted by polling firm Social Weather Station showed that most Filipinos, including Catholics, believe that there should be a reproductive health law and that the government should step in in ensuring that Filipinos are armed with basic knowledge on sexual education and contraception.
“I am a church-going Catholic, a wife, a mother of three beautiful children. And I believe that every woman should have the right to choose between wanted and unwanted pregnancies for her future," Macuja said.
“And the future of the children that she really wishes to have [can be achieved] thanks to the Reproductive Health," the highly-acclaimed ballerina said in another taped interview shown in the forum.
Even before Salonga and Macuja chipped in their support, backers of the RH Bill have already tagged along for their cause a number of priests from the Ateneo de Manila University; a support group for AIDS – The Girls, Women and HIV and AIDS Network; and even several Cabinet officials including Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
Rock the ‘House’
Further soliciting support from the music and arts industry, the Forum on Family Planning and Development Inc would be gathering more than 20 artists and bands for a one-night only, free concert at the Liwasang Aurora at the Quezon Memorial Circle at 6 p.m. of Tuesday.
“Together, let us rock the house… the House of the Representatives that is," declared Benjamin de Leon, the Forum president.
Peryodiko vocalist Vin Dancel, who will be performing at the free concert, said the best way that artists like him could support and promote the RH Bill is through their music.
“As artists, we enjoy a privileged position when we go up on stage and go up the microphone, wala silang choice kundi makinig. Were taking that opportunity to talk about this very important piece of legislation," Dancel said.
He said that they have even been promoting the bill through their mailing list over the Internet, encouraging their members to read the entire text of the measure before casting judgment on it.
Dancel, who also spoke at the forum, said the arguments hurled against the RH Bill were merely focused on its provision on artificial forms of contraception, when in fact the bill has a much broader scope.
“Dapat hindi nalilimitahan ang usapin ng RH sa sex at contraceptives dahil malawaka ang saklaw ng bill na ito and to limit the arguments to sex ay parang hindi dapat siya karapat dapat. Filipinos deserve so much more," said Dancel, a father of a seven-year-old boy.
Aside from natural and artificial forms of family planning, the bill also tackles other reproductive health issues like abortion, maternal deaths, child nutrition, reproductive system-related infections, RH awareness among the youth through sex education, and even violence against women.
For her part, Katwo Puertollano – vocalist of Duster, another band performing at the RH Bill concert - said during the forum that it was important for people to understand that the RH Bill is more a personal issue than a political or religious one.
“I’ve witnessed it destroy and change lives. Do we let this happen? Do the current rules that we have suffice? I don’t think so," Puertollano said.
She said that as a democratic and free society, the Filipinos should voice out their support for a measure which, she said, was only meant to protect lives and help address the chronic social ills like poverty.
“I urge everyone to support and to really go beyond the political and religious stigmas. We are in a position to be able to prevent more deaths and poverty," she said.
Among the musical acts slated to rock the night are Sandwich , Itchyworms, Lolita, Carbon, Sugarfree, Noel Cabangon, Imago, Chikoy Pura, Scarlet, Pedicab, Susan Fernandez, Cambio, Bob and Anya, Zoneone, Wandering Dw, FMD, and Jeepney Joyride.
No dialogue?
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has recently issued a statement stressing the religious body’s opposition to the current version of the bill, further citing major “flaws" that could pose threats to the lives of a pregnant woman and the baby she is conceiving.
But as a compromise, the CBCP had also said they are willing to throw their support for the RH Bill only if its proponents would strike off or modify some of its provisions. The CBCP said it was willing to raise their points of revision in a dialogue with the bill’s authors.
In response, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the bill’s primary author, said he was open to such a dialogue but doubted the CBCP’s seriousness in its call to sit with the RH Bill proponents.
In a separate interview with GMANews.TV, De Leon seconded Lagman’s sentiments and said based on the Church’s recent moves, he doubted whether such dialogue would ever take form.
“Ang tagal na noon nung ginawa nila ang offer na iyon, pero ayon sa aking nalalaman, hanggang ngayon wala pa kaming naririnig sa kanila (It’s been a long time since they offered to have a dialogue but we have yet to hear from them)," De Leon said.
He said if the Church really plans to dialogue with them, it should do so immediately so that the bill could pass the House even before lawmakers go into a Christmas break next week.
Vincent Jurlano, program officer of the United Nations Family Planning Authority, also stressed during the forum the urgency of passing the bill before the year ends.
“Dapat ipasa na nila sa House, para mapaghandaan na din ang susunod na stage, sa Senado (The bill should be passed at the House so it could proceed to the Senate)," Jurlano said.-
Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Multi-Sectoral Groups in Cebu to Support RH Bill
PIA Press Release
2008/11/25
Multi-sectoral groups in Cebu to support RH Bill 5043
Cebu City (25 November) -- An information campaign to deepen the understanding of the public and showcase the support of various multi-sectoral groups in Cebu on the importance of passing House Bill 5043 is slated tomorrow in a scheduled press conference in Cebu City.
Rep. Edcel Lagman, who is pushing for the immediate passage of the proposed bill will discuss the salient points of the bill and its status in Congress.
HB 5043 is otherwise known as "An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and for Other Purposes", or "The Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008."
A highlight of tomorrow's activity will be the presentation of respective positions and statement of support for the proposed RH and Population Development Bills by Rev. Danny Maing, senior pastor of the Mandaue City Alliance Church and the Interfaith Partnership for Responsible Parenthood, Rev. Orlando Carvajal, president of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests and Francis Monera, Board of Trustees of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The bill has received flak from the Catholic religious hierarchy as it firmly stood pat on its position that the bill is anti-life which is against the principle of the church on pro-life, this is learned.
In keeping with their policy on pro-life, Church leaders are not advocating for artificial birth control and instead advocate the use of natural family planning in population control management.
HB 5043 is the Substitute Bill that consolidates the four Bills on Reproductive Health originally proposed by various authors in the 14th Congress. These 4 Bills are HB 17 authored by Rep. Edcel Lagman (An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and for Other Purposes), HB 812 by Rep. Janette Garin (An Act Providing for Reproductive Health Care Structures and Appropriating Funds Therefor), HB 2753 by Rep. Narciso Santiago III (An Act to Protect the Right of the People to Information About Reproductive Health Care Services) and HB 3970 by Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (An Act Providing for Reproductive Health Care Structures and Appropriating Funds Therefore).
Tomorrow's activity is organized by the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) as it pushes for relevant human development policies in both Houses of Congress.
One of the PLCPD's banner advocacies is the Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill as it currently conducts a series of media events in various provinces nationwide to intensify public support on the bill. (PIA-Cebu/FCR) [top]
2008/11/25
Multi-sectoral groups in Cebu to support RH Bill 5043
Cebu City (25 November) -- An information campaign to deepen the understanding of the public and showcase the support of various multi-sectoral groups in Cebu on the importance of passing House Bill 5043 is slated tomorrow in a scheduled press conference in Cebu City.
Rep. Edcel Lagman, who is pushing for the immediate passage of the proposed bill will discuss the salient points of the bill and its status in Congress.
HB 5043 is otherwise known as "An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and for Other Purposes", or "The Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008."
A highlight of tomorrow's activity will be the presentation of respective positions and statement of support for the proposed RH and Population Development Bills by Rev. Danny Maing, senior pastor of the Mandaue City Alliance Church and the Interfaith Partnership for Responsible Parenthood, Rev. Orlando Carvajal, president of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests and Francis Monera, Board of Trustees of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The bill has received flak from the Catholic religious hierarchy as it firmly stood pat on its position that the bill is anti-life which is against the principle of the church on pro-life, this is learned.
In keeping with their policy on pro-life, Church leaders are not advocating for artificial birth control and instead advocate the use of natural family planning in population control management.
HB 5043 is the Substitute Bill that consolidates the four Bills on Reproductive Health originally proposed by various authors in the 14th Congress. These 4 Bills are HB 17 authored by Rep. Edcel Lagman (An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development, and for Other Purposes), HB 812 by Rep. Janette Garin (An Act Providing for Reproductive Health Care Structures and Appropriating Funds Therefor), HB 2753 by Rep. Narciso Santiago III (An Act to Protect the Right of the People to Information About Reproductive Health Care Services) and HB 3970 by Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (An Act Providing for Reproductive Health Care Structures and Appropriating Funds Therefore).
Tomorrow's activity is organized by the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) as it pushes for relevant human development policies in both Houses of Congress.
One of the PLCPD's banner advocacies is the Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill as it currently conducts a series of media events in various provinces nationwide to intensify public support on the bill. (PIA-Cebu/FCR) [top]
Sunday, November 23, 2008
If one is PRO-CHOICE, Does that make him/her Evil? NO!
BARACK Obama is pro-choice, yes. Does that make him pro-evil? No.
by Melanie Lim Sun Star Daily Cebu Nov 23, 2008
I cannot imagine how any society can define a person as evil because he supports freedom of choice.
If Obama does not sit well with Catholics, it is not because he presents the epitome of evil. It is because he presents the epitome of leadership for the entire consti tuency not just for a few sectors of society.
I am not anti-life. But I will always be pro-choice. Contrary to what others may think, I am not batting for abortion. But I believe in freedom of choice—-even if that choice entails abortion.
This is the reality of adulthood. When you offer choices, you accept the choices made—-whatever they are.
This is the lifeblood of a democracy. And lest you need reminding, Obama is not a leader of a church. He is a leader of a country.
With choices comes accountability. You only need to answer for yours. Let others answer for theirs. Terminating a pregnancy is not an easy decision. But sometimes, circumstances compel others to make difficult decisions. Real Christianity dictates we show compassion rather than condemnation.
Do I believe in God? Yes. Do I believe in gospel truth? No. I neither believe nor support dogma. For me, obedience is NOT the highest virtue. Submission is. And make no mistake—-they are NOT the same.
Obedience is to never question the truthfulness of anything. Submission is to question and then to accept the truthfulness of something.
When you submit, you walk with your eyes wide open—-you think, you ponder, you struggle before you arrive at your decision. Hence, the decision to submit carries significance. When you obey, you walk with your eyes wide shut and plunge into oblivion.
If Catholics think that abortion, artificial methods of contraception, divorce and capital punishment are evil, I will not argue with them.
That is their concept of right and wrong, not mine. And if my convictions are worthy of Catholic condemnation, I will accept the mortal judgment of the Catholic Church.
But I will stake my soul on the belief that God does not demand obedience but submission from me. If God had wanted me to follow blindly, He would have made me a robot. But God made me a human being and granted me the gift of free will. What greater clarity do I need that God wants me to think?
Catholics who are up in arms should understand—-I opine. I do not evangelize. This is an opinion, not an edict. Where does the fear come from? I am neither preacher nor prophet. If anything, I am a heretic. If your faith is as unwavering as mine, you should have nothing to fear.
What is evil? I doubt if dissension and disobedience are evil.
Choice certainly is not. But hypocrisy and self-righteousness, I call evil. Greed, corruption, oppression, sexual misconduct and molestation—-these are evil.
I absolutely agree that those who depart from Catholic tenets should abstain from receiving Holy Communion.
But shouldn’t this rule apply to those GIVING Holy Communion as well?
If you are not worthy to GIVE Holy Communion but you do it anyway, I think that might fall under the fiery definition of evil.
(sunstarcebucolumnist@yahoo.com)
( I really like this article of Melanie Lim. We have a similar stand. I am PRO RH and for PRO -Quality life ( not just pro-life I hope this can enlighten the catholic hierarchy and lay catholics who are against RH, most specially the Philippine Legislators,hoping they will support the passage of the RH Bill.
by Melanie Lim Sun Star Daily Cebu Nov 23, 2008
I cannot imagine how any society can define a person as evil because he supports freedom of choice.
If Obama does not sit well with Catholics, it is not because he presents the epitome of evil. It is because he presents the epitome of leadership for the entire consti tuency not just for a few sectors of society.
I am not anti-life. But I will always be pro-choice. Contrary to what others may think, I am not batting for abortion. But I believe in freedom of choice—-even if that choice entails abortion.
This is the reality of adulthood. When you offer choices, you accept the choices made—-whatever they are.
This is the lifeblood of a democracy. And lest you need reminding, Obama is not a leader of a church. He is a leader of a country.
With choices comes accountability. You only need to answer for yours. Let others answer for theirs. Terminating a pregnancy is not an easy decision. But sometimes, circumstances compel others to make difficult decisions. Real Christianity dictates we show compassion rather than condemnation.
Do I believe in God? Yes. Do I believe in gospel truth? No. I neither believe nor support dogma. For me, obedience is NOT the highest virtue. Submission is. And make no mistake—-they are NOT the same.
Obedience is to never question the truthfulness of anything. Submission is to question and then to accept the truthfulness of something.
When you submit, you walk with your eyes wide open—-you think, you ponder, you struggle before you arrive at your decision. Hence, the decision to submit carries significance. When you obey, you walk with your eyes wide shut and plunge into oblivion.
If Catholics think that abortion, artificial methods of contraception, divorce and capital punishment are evil, I will not argue with them.
That is their concept of right and wrong, not mine. And if my convictions are worthy of Catholic condemnation, I will accept the mortal judgment of the Catholic Church.
But I will stake my soul on the belief that God does not demand obedience but submission from me. If God had wanted me to follow blindly, He would have made me a robot. But God made me a human being and granted me the gift of free will. What greater clarity do I need that God wants me to think?
Catholics who are up in arms should understand—-I opine. I do not evangelize. This is an opinion, not an edict. Where does the fear come from? I am neither preacher nor prophet. If anything, I am a heretic. If your faith is as unwavering as mine, you should have nothing to fear.
What is evil? I doubt if dissension and disobedience are evil.
Choice certainly is not. But hypocrisy and self-righteousness, I call evil. Greed, corruption, oppression, sexual misconduct and molestation—-these are evil.
I absolutely agree that those who depart from Catholic tenets should abstain from receiving Holy Communion.
But shouldn’t this rule apply to those GIVING Holy Communion as well?
If you are not worthy to GIVE Holy Communion but you do it anyway, I think that might fall under the fiery definition of evil.
(sunstarcebucolumnist@yahoo.com)
( I really like this article of Melanie Lim. We have a similar stand. I am PRO RH and for PRO -Quality life ( not just pro-life I hope this can enlighten the catholic hierarchy and lay catholics who are against RH, most specially the Philippine Legislators,hoping they will support the passage of the RH Bill.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Churches unite for RH Bill
Churches unite for RH Bill
_____
By LILITA BALANE, Newsbreak | 11/22/2008 12:01 AM
A coalition of churches and faith-based organizations in the Philippines has given their support for House Bill 5043, also known as the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, which seeks to address the high population and worsening poverty in the Philippines through the promotion of reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development.
Contrary to the Catholic Church's position that the RH Bill was pro-abortion, the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CMACP) , United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP), Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA), Apostolic Catholic Church , and the Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches said the RH bill clearly espoused that abortion is a crime.
Moreover, they said that it seeks to provide mothers to the right to have safer pregnancies by giving them access to information and services.
"Primarily, we read and see it as a more intentional effort by our government to clear and provide for our nation a path that would lead to better management of our resources, both human and otherwise, which will eventually bring us into a more sustainable future," CMACP explained.
A position paper submited by the Iglesia ni Cristo also said that one need not be an expert to see for himself that the problem on population is real.
The INC said rapid population growth amply shows the need for family planning.
A group of professors from Jesuit-ran Ateneo de Manila University also attended the symposium to show their stand on HB 5043. The ADMU professors said that their move to support the bill was dictated by their conscience and not by their religious belief.
Patriach Dr. John Florentine Teruel, founding bishop of the Apostolic Church, made it clear that not all Catholic churches oppose the RH bill.Teruel said that the Apostolic Catholic Church was once skeptical of the bill. But after hearing the discussion of Representative Edcel Lagman, principal author of the bill, they now fully support the measure.
A Catholic denomination which started in Bataan, the Apostolic Catholic Church separated from the hierarchy of Roman Catholic in the 1980s. Though the church follows the Roman Catholics'seven sacraments, they have a patriarch instead of a Pope and a "Mahal na Ingkong" as their Holy Spirit. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Teruel said his church is more conservative. "We denounce sin vices. We observe modesty in dressing among women and we do not allow members below 24 years old to engage in courtship or sexual relationship," he said.
Teruel said that RH bill is pro-life, which is contrary to the information dissemina-ted by the Catholic Church.
"It is now clear to the Apostolic Catholic Church that the artificial family
planning method in the bill is not an abortive measure.
Let us leave the fathers and the mothers to decide. Let us not control how they will plan their families.
Let's us give them free will as the Bible says," Teruel said adding that the CBCP should not resort on threatening legislators just to advance their interests.
The CBCP reportedly threatened that lawmakers will be deprived of communion in their dioceses if they vote in favor of the bill.
Church groups however vowed to help in Lagman's efforts to have the RH bill
approved in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
as of 11/22/2008 4:54 AM
http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/11/21/08/churches-unite-rh-bill
_____
By LILITA BALANE, Newsbreak | 11/22/2008 12:01 AM
A coalition of churches and faith-based organizations in the Philippines has given their support for House Bill 5043, also known as the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, which seeks to address the high population and worsening poverty in the Philippines through the promotion of reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development.
Contrary to the Catholic Church's position that the RH Bill was pro-abortion, the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CMACP) , United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP), Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA), Apostolic Catholic Church , and the Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches said the RH bill clearly espoused that abortion is a crime.
Moreover, they said that it seeks to provide mothers to the right to have safer pregnancies by giving them access to information and services.
"Primarily, we read and see it as a more intentional effort by our government to clear and provide for our nation a path that would lead to better management of our resources, both human and otherwise, which will eventually bring us into a more sustainable future," CMACP explained.
A position paper submited by the Iglesia ni Cristo also said that one need not be an expert to see for himself that the problem on population is real.
The INC said rapid population growth amply shows the need for family planning.
A group of professors from Jesuit-ran Ateneo de Manila University also attended the symposium to show their stand on HB 5043. The ADMU professors said that their move to support the bill was dictated by their conscience and not by their religious belief.
Patriach Dr. John Florentine Teruel, founding bishop of the Apostolic Church, made it clear that not all Catholic churches oppose the RH bill.Teruel said that the Apostolic Catholic Church was once skeptical of the bill. But after hearing the discussion of Representative Edcel Lagman, principal author of the bill, they now fully support the measure.
A Catholic denomination which started in Bataan, the Apostolic Catholic Church separated from the hierarchy of Roman Catholic in the 1980s. Though the church follows the Roman Catholics'seven sacraments, they have a patriarch instead of a Pope and a "Mahal na Ingkong" as their Holy Spirit. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Teruel said his church is more conservative. "We denounce sin vices. We observe modesty in dressing among women and we do not allow members below 24 years old to engage in courtship or sexual relationship," he said.
Teruel said that RH bill is pro-life, which is contrary to the information dissemina-ted by the Catholic Church.
"It is now clear to the Apostolic Catholic Church that the artificial family
planning method in the bill is not an abortive measure.
Let us leave the fathers and the mothers to decide. Let us not control how they will plan their families.
Let's us give them free will as the Bible says," Teruel said adding that the CBCP should not resort on threatening legislators just to advance their interests.
The CBCP reportedly threatened that lawmakers will be deprived of communion in their dioceses if they vote in favor of the bill.
Church groups however vowed to help in Lagman's efforts to have the RH bill
approved in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
as of 11/22/2008 4:54 AM
http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/11/21/08/churches-unite-rh-bill
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Appeal for the passage of RH Bill into Law
An Appeal to the Philippine Legislators,
While the “POPE APPEALS TO WORLD LEADERS TO FIGHT POVERTY” and to “"courageously take and apply the necessary measures to wipe out extreme poverty, hunger, ignorance and the plague of pandemics,which above all, hit the most vulnerable." (CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy 09/22/2008 | 12:19 AM GMA News TV)
The undersigned, an ordinary Filipino, a Catholic, ( a Social Worker, who has long been dealing with the difficulties of the many poor children and their families in the squatter and non-squatter areas) appeals to our other legislators to -
PLEASE … do something for our FILIPINOS living in extreme POVERTY !
and for families in very difficult circumstances, with too many children
who are neglected, malnourished and some dying!
Is this what “pro-life” Catholics … call,the sanctity /sacredness of life? When
many of the Filipinos are living but dying young or having a miserable life?
compared to that life which is well-planned, using safe and effective Family
Planning Method of their choice and a better chances of having children with
a better quality of life!
the least your Honor can do for the poor Filipinos is to
SUPPORT the RH Bill ! which has been long overdue …
The Filipinos expect your Honor and the rest of the Legislators to be INDEPENDENT-MINDED, to DECIDE based on what is FOR THE GOOD OF THE MANY poor Filipinos … and not to be swayed by the threats of one religious group. Pls. consider that not all Filipinos are Catholics nor are all Catholics oppose the RH Bill; many lay people are just silent for various reasons and so are a number of priests and devout but liberal Catholics.
I greatly hope you will consider this and the appeals of the many RH Supporters who are thinking of the benefits this law will have, to the many poor Filipinos … Thank you very much!
Very truly yours,
Mrs. FROHNIE D. CAGALITAN
PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc. (Q-Life)
“Advocating Poverty Reduction and Quality of Life for the Poor”
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com http:// proqualitylife.blogspot.com
. . . being pro-life is not enough, we should be pro-quality life . . .
“ let us aim for a better QUALITY OF LIFE for every Filipino …”
While the “POPE APPEALS TO WORLD LEADERS TO FIGHT POVERTY” and to “"courageously take and apply the necessary measures to wipe out extreme poverty, hunger, ignorance and the plague of pandemics,which above all, hit the most vulnerable." (CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy 09/22/2008 | 12:19 AM GMA News TV)
The undersigned, an ordinary Filipino, a Catholic, ( a Social Worker, who has long been dealing with the difficulties of the many poor children and their families in the squatter and non-squatter areas) appeals to our other legislators to -
PLEASE … do something for our FILIPINOS living in extreme POVERTY !
and for families in very difficult circumstances, with too many children
who are neglected, malnourished and some dying!
Is this what “pro-life” Catholics … call,the sanctity /sacredness of life? When
many of the Filipinos are living but dying young or having a miserable life?
compared to that life which is well-planned, using safe and effective Family
Planning Method of their choice and a better chances of having children with
a better quality of life!
the least your Honor can do for the poor Filipinos is to
SUPPORT the RH Bill ! which has been long overdue …
The Filipinos expect your Honor and the rest of the Legislators to be INDEPENDENT-MINDED, to DECIDE based on what is FOR THE GOOD OF THE MANY poor Filipinos … and not to be swayed by the threats of one religious group. Pls. consider that not all Filipinos are Catholics nor are all Catholics oppose the RH Bill; many lay people are just silent for various reasons and so are a number of priests and devout but liberal Catholics.
I greatly hope you will consider this and the appeals of the many RH Supporters who are thinking of the benefits this law will have, to the many poor Filipinos … Thank you very much!
Very truly yours,
Mrs. FROHNIE D. CAGALITAN
PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc. (Q-Life)
“Advocating Poverty Reduction and Quality of Life for the Poor”
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com http:// proqualitylife.blogspot.com
. . . being pro-life is not enough, we should be pro-quality life . . .
“ let us aim for a better QUALITY OF LIFE for every Filipino …”
Sunday, October 12, 2008
CAN CATHOLICS SUPPORT THE RH BILL? Yes!
By Mary RacelisPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 02:02:00 10/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Can one be a Catholic and still support the Reproductive Health Bill? Growing numbers of professional and educated lay Filipino Catholics believe they can. Increasingly uneasy that the unshakeable position of the Church contradicts directly their own understandings of Philippine realities, many are actually reading the bill to see for themselves—and emerging as its supporters.
Catholic NGO workers, social workers and social science researchers working in poor rural and urban communities overflowing with malnourished, out-of-school children and youth have particular problems with the Church position. They find it difficult to accept that poor mothers and fathers who want to avoid a fourth or fifth pregnancy or wait a few years before the next one should be condemned for choosing reliable, contraceptive family planning methods.
One urban poor woman was asked what the Church might say about her practice of saving part of her meager earnings to buy birth control pills every month. Her reply: “Ang simbahan ba ang magpapakain sa mga anak namin? [Will the Church feed our children?]”
Then there is the deafening silence of the Church on how to respond to the thousands of poor women who undergo clandestine, unsafe abortions for lack of access to modern family planning. In 2000, some 473,000 women had induced abortions, 79,000 of them winding up in hospitals from complications, and 800 leaving as corpses.
The World Health Organization estimates that this already alarming 2000 statistic may by 2008 be as high as 800,000! Yet the Church remains in denial. Its spokespersons claim that their calculations yield “only 200,000” induced abortions. Meanwhile, desperate women eking out a meager living for four to eight children and possibly supporting an unemployed or chronically drunk husband as well consider the prospect of another child to be unthinkable—and go for an abortion.
The bill recognizes this reality by offering poor women safer and more effective choices for preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. Because it enables women to reject the unsafe abortion route, the bill can legitimately be called anti-abortion. The Church’s position, on the other hand, poses the ultimate irony. By opposing contraceptive options for women but offering no other viable alternatives, it is in effect contributing to those 473,000 abortions!
The low priority given to women’s needs results in their appalling health status. Ten die each day, or 3,650 per year, from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. One Filipina out of 140 faces the risk of maternal death in her lifetime. Contrast this with one in 500 for Thai women, and one in 560 for Malaysian women. Maternal mortality rates in the Philippines are unacceptably high at 162 per 100,000 live births. The corresponding ratio for Thailand is 110 and for Malaysia 62. Skilled attendants are present at birth for 60 percent of Filipinas, while the comparable figures for Thai women reach 97 percent and Malaysian women 98 percent. Buddhists and Muslims seem to do better by their women than Catholics!
Moreover, when a mother dies in labor because she has not gone for prenatal check-ups, her baby is also likely to die in the first year if not the first month of life. Surviving toddlers are similarly at risk. An estimated 10 million Filipino women incur post-partum disabilities every year owing to poor obstetric care. Class disparities come starkly to the fore as fully 96 percent of women with higher education receive post-natal care from a health professional, compared with only 33 percent of women with no education.
Catholics who support the bill appreciate the accountability it demands of government in mandating as national policy specific benefits to women and families, “more particularly to the poor and needy.” Examples include Mobile Health Care Services in every congressional district, and one emergency obstetric hospital per 500,000 population. Midwives and skilled birth attendants must be available in every city and municipality to attend to women during childbirth at a ratio of one per 150 deliveries per year. Maternal death reviews will be conducted locally in coordination with the Department of Health and POPCOM. Hospitals will handle more complex family planning procedures.
Given these and other benefits, educated Catholics feel vindicated in supporting a bill that offers women and families comprehensive health and family planning services as a matter of right and choice. Church proclamations alleging that House Bill 5043 is “anti-poor,” “anti-women,” “pro-abortion” and “immoral” ring hollow in the face of empirical evidence to the contrary. The bill reads exactly the opposite as pro-poor, pro-women, anti-abortion and respectful of human life.
Moreover, its provisions satisfy Catholic consciences as being compatible with the Church’s social teachings, including the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, integral human development and the primacy of conscience.
In this light they urge that the Church listen to them as responsible Catholic laity who offer their Church the advantage of evidenced-based approaches to the evolving needs of 21st-century Philippine society.
By ceasing its attacks on the bill, allowing it to pass and concentrating instead on monitoring implementation, the Church will convey an important point to its uneasy, increasingly critical lay members—that despite its hierarchical structure and celibate, all-male leadership, it can still respond meaningfully to the needs and aspirations of poor women and their families. At the very least, let us hope the Church resists the temptation to “shoot the messengers” who dare to articulate alternative but realistic Catholic views!
Mary Racelis is a member of the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov).
MANILA, Philippines - Can one be a Catholic and still support the Reproductive Health Bill? Growing numbers of professional and educated lay Filipino Catholics believe they can. Increasingly uneasy that the unshakeable position of the Church contradicts directly their own understandings of Philippine realities, many are actually reading the bill to see for themselves—and emerging as its supporters.
Catholic NGO workers, social workers and social science researchers working in poor rural and urban communities overflowing with malnourished, out-of-school children and youth have particular problems with the Church position. They find it difficult to accept that poor mothers and fathers who want to avoid a fourth or fifth pregnancy or wait a few years before the next one should be condemned for choosing reliable, contraceptive family planning methods.
One urban poor woman was asked what the Church might say about her practice of saving part of her meager earnings to buy birth control pills every month. Her reply: “Ang simbahan ba ang magpapakain sa mga anak namin? [Will the Church feed our children?]”
Then there is the deafening silence of the Church on how to respond to the thousands of poor women who undergo clandestine, unsafe abortions for lack of access to modern family planning. In 2000, some 473,000 women had induced abortions, 79,000 of them winding up in hospitals from complications, and 800 leaving as corpses.
The World Health Organization estimates that this already alarming 2000 statistic may by 2008 be as high as 800,000! Yet the Church remains in denial. Its spokespersons claim that their calculations yield “only 200,000” induced abortions. Meanwhile, desperate women eking out a meager living for four to eight children and possibly supporting an unemployed or chronically drunk husband as well consider the prospect of another child to be unthinkable—and go for an abortion.
The bill recognizes this reality by offering poor women safer and more effective choices for preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. Because it enables women to reject the unsafe abortion route, the bill can legitimately be called anti-abortion. The Church’s position, on the other hand, poses the ultimate irony. By opposing contraceptive options for women but offering no other viable alternatives, it is in effect contributing to those 473,000 abortions!
The low priority given to women’s needs results in their appalling health status. Ten die each day, or 3,650 per year, from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. One Filipina out of 140 faces the risk of maternal death in her lifetime. Contrast this with one in 500 for Thai women, and one in 560 for Malaysian women. Maternal mortality rates in the Philippines are unacceptably high at 162 per 100,000 live births. The corresponding ratio for Thailand is 110 and for Malaysia 62. Skilled attendants are present at birth for 60 percent of Filipinas, while the comparable figures for Thai women reach 97 percent and Malaysian women 98 percent. Buddhists and Muslims seem to do better by their women than Catholics!
Moreover, when a mother dies in labor because she has not gone for prenatal check-ups, her baby is also likely to die in the first year if not the first month of life. Surviving toddlers are similarly at risk. An estimated 10 million Filipino women incur post-partum disabilities every year owing to poor obstetric care. Class disparities come starkly to the fore as fully 96 percent of women with higher education receive post-natal care from a health professional, compared with only 33 percent of women with no education.
Catholics who support the bill appreciate the accountability it demands of government in mandating as national policy specific benefits to women and families, “more particularly to the poor and needy.” Examples include Mobile Health Care Services in every congressional district, and one emergency obstetric hospital per 500,000 population. Midwives and skilled birth attendants must be available in every city and municipality to attend to women during childbirth at a ratio of one per 150 deliveries per year. Maternal death reviews will be conducted locally in coordination with the Department of Health and POPCOM. Hospitals will handle more complex family planning procedures.
Given these and other benefits, educated Catholics feel vindicated in supporting a bill that offers women and families comprehensive health and family planning services as a matter of right and choice. Church proclamations alleging that House Bill 5043 is “anti-poor,” “anti-women,” “pro-abortion” and “immoral” ring hollow in the face of empirical evidence to the contrary. The bill reads exactly the opposite as pro-poor, pro-women, anti-abortion and respectful of human life.
Moreover, its provisions satisfy Catholic consciences as being compatible with the Church’s social teachings, including the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person, the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable, integral human development and the primacy of conscience.
In this light they urge that the Church listen to them as responsible Catholic laity who offer their Church the advantage of evidenced-based approaches to the evolving needs of 21st-century Philippine society.
By ceasing its attacks on the bill, allowing it to pass and concentrating instead on monitoring implementation, the Church will convey an important point to its uneasy, increasingly critical lay members—that despite its hierarchical structure and celibate, all-male leadership, it can still respond meaningfully to the needs and aspirations of poor women and their families. At the very least, let us hope the Church resists the temptation to “shoot the messengers” who dare to articulate alternative but realistic Catholic views!
Mary Racelis is a member of the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov).
Sunday, October 5, 2008
"Catholics - for Quality Life"
To: GO’s / NGO’s / LGU’s and Socially Responsible Filipinos
Re: Reproductive Health Bill 5043
We know that there are many lay Catholics who believe that couples should have the options to chose other Family Planning Methods, in case the Natural Family Planning Method is not applicable to them, rather than having too many children they can’t afford to provide for their needs, resulting to many children being uncared for, malnourished, some dying at a young age! or will be snatchers, offenders, criminals and bad elements our society
However, some of may just be “blind followers” or afraid of the threats of the church or silent for various reasons, but if YOU decide to Speak Up and be heard for the sake of the many poor families who can have a decent and quality life even if they are poor . . . or ensure that you and your law abiding family will not be victim of the bad elements of our society, in the future . . . you may join us - “The Catholics - for Quality Life!” .
There is an on-going online signature campaign for the immediate passage of the RH Bill, if you support the Bill, pls go to http://www.Petition Online.com/rhan2008/ petition.html ( you can just paste this and click) or if you have Filipino friends here and abroad who you think are Socially Responsible, please pass this on to them.
For those who want to know more about the RH Bill or a discussion on the topic or are interested, to join the ”The Catholics - for Quality Life!” pls. contact us or give us your contact numbers inc. e-adds.
Thank you very much!
FROHNIE D. CAGALITAN
PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc.
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City 6000 Phils.
T (063-32) 2590989 T/F (063-32) 4166084
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com http://proqualitylife.blogspot.com
---------------------------------------------------------
Declaration of Support for the Immediate Passage of the Reproductive Health Bill into Law
To: The Philippine Congress
We are seriously disturbed that more than 10 Filipino women die every day due to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. The big majority of those who die are poor women at the prime of their lives. We are alarmed that 29 out of 1,000 infants die due to various sickness and illnesses that are preventable and curable.
We are troubled that 4.9 million Filipino youth, aged 15-27 are sexually active but programs that would ensure their safety and help them become more responsible in dealing with their sexuality and relationships are severely lacking. Especially worrisome is the fact that 1 out of 5 female teenagers get pregnant before they reach their 20th birthday.
These are just a few of the problems in the midst of the ongoing economic crisis, escalating poverty, and the ever-increasing prices of basic commodities and services. Moreover, the Philippine population grows unabated with almost 2 million individuals added every year.
Researches consistently show that poverty is more prevalent among big families compared to smaller ones. The acute lack of services and information regarding reproductive health: * results in the untimely death of women and children; * is the reason why our youth are largely unprepared to deal with matters pertaining to their sexuality and relationships; and * exacerbates the effects of economic crisis and poverty on millions of ordinary Filipinos, especially those with big families.
We believe that Filipinos, particularly the poor, urgently need access to information and services that will address their reproductive health needs. We believe that a rights-based, comprehensive, and responsive reproductive health law will help empower Filipinos to achieve a better quality of life.
We firmly believe that the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill into law will help actualize people’s, especially women’s rights to make informed decisions. Therefore, we call on our legislators to pass the Reproductive Health Bill into law now.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/rhan2008/petition.html
Re: Reproductive Health Bill 5043
We know that there are many lay Catholics who believe that couples should have the options to chose other Family Planning Methods, in case the Natural Family Planning Method is not applicable to them, rather than having too many children they can’t afford to provide for their needs, resulting to many children being uncared for, malnourished, some dying at a young age! or will be snatchers, offenders, criminals and bad elements our society
However, some of may just be “blind followers” or afraid of the threats of the church or silent for various reasons, but if YOU decide to Speak Up and be heard for the sake of the many poor families who can have a decent and quality life even if they are poor . . . or ensure that you and your law abiding family will not be victim of the bad elements of our society, in the future . . . you may join us - “The Catholics - for Quality Life!” .
There is an on-going online signature campaign for the immediate passage of the RH Bill, if you support the Bill, pls go to http://www.Petition Online.com/rhan2008/ petition.html ( you can just paste this and click) or if you have Filipino friends here and abroad who you think are Socially Responsible, please pass this on to them.
For those who want to know more about the RH Bill or a discussion on the topic or are interested, to join the ”The Catholics - for Quality Life!” pls. contact us or give us your contact numbers inc. e-adds.
Thank you very much!
FROHNIE D. CAGALITAN
PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc.
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City 6000 Phils.
T (063-32) 2590989 T/F (063-32) 4166084
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com http://proqualitylife.blogspot.com
---------------------------------------------------------
Declaration of Support for the Immediate Passage of the Reproductive Health Bill into Law
To: The Philippine Congress
We are seriously disturbed that more than 10 Filipino women die every day due to pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. The big majority of those who die are poor women at the prime of their lives. We are alarmed that 29 out of 1,000 infants die due to various sickness and illnesses that are preventable and curable.
We are troubled that 4.9 million Filipino youth, aged 15-27 are sexually active but programs that would ensure their safety and help them become more responsible in dealing with their sexuality and relationships are severely lacking. Especially worrisome is the fact that 1 out of 5 female teenagers get pregnant before they reach their 20th birthday.
These are just a few of the problems in the midst of the ongoing economic crisis, escalating poverty, and the ever-increasing prices of basic commodities and services. Moreover, the Philippine population grows unabated with almost 2 million individuals added every year.
Researches consistently show that poverty is more prevalent among big families compared to smaller ones. The acute lack of services and information regarding reproductive health: * results in the untimely death of women and children; * is the reason why our youth are largely unprepared to deal with matters pertaining to their sexuality and relationships; and * exacerbates the effects of economic crisis and poverty on millions of ordinary Filipinos, especially those with big families.
We believe that Filipinos, particularly the poor, urgently need access to information and services that will address their reproductive health needs. We believe that a rights-based, comprehensive, and responsive reproductive health law will help empower Filipinos to achieve a better quality of life.
We firmly believe that the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill into law will help actualize people’s, especially women’s rights to make informed decisions. Therefore, we call on our legislators to pass the Reproductive Health Bill into law now.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/rhan2008/petition.html
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Will they just remain children in the streets?
tired! after roaming around the city streets ...
Some of these boys have been sniffing rugby (see those plastics they're holding) roaming the streets and begginh Do you think they will just be contented of rugby? and or begging?
Are they not supposed to be in school? Where are their parents? Cannot anymore attend to them? Do you think children deserve this kind of life? roaming around and sleeping along the sidewalk?
Where are the so called "pro-life" group? Is it enough to bring a LIFE into this world, regardless of what kind of life that will be? a miserable life? or a life in extreme poverty?
I believe Poverty is a situation that CAN and MUST be changed! Everyone deserves QualityLife including the poor... but every matured Adult( parents) including the Youth has to be RESPONSIBLE! With the current economic crisis we have to ECONOMICALLY PRODUCTIVE and LESS REPRODUCTIVE!
Parents must be RESPONSIBLE enough to have only the number of children they can afford to have and attend to! If Natural Family Planning Method is not applicable to them, they have other options of any of the Artificial or Non-Fertility Based Methods.
If the Reproductive Health Bill will be passed, Reproductive Health Services including RH Education will now be available and accessible to them.
As of now the so called "pro-life" group is only promoting the "NFP only" Method!
* the camera being used in the above photos, is low-end, inferior quality, couldn't take nice photos ...
the elder sisiter has to beg while her little sister was lying down the sidewalk, where are the parents?
these children also deserve a dignified life and or quality life!
the groups who called themselves "pro-life" should also look into the "current life" and living conditions of the poor children and their families ...
pls refer to some more photos, but thse are just few scenarios of the dis-advantaged. unattended, neglected poor children in our society
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Separating Church and State
Passion For Reason
Separating Church and State, fact from fiction
By Raul Pangalangan
Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 01:39:00 07/25/2008
Most Read
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Daily Inquirer front page on Tuesday featured a photo of a mother and three small children silhouetted against the light, living in a hammock under a bridge, with the fetid tide just two feet below them. I noticed that the children, presumably all hers, were spaced barely a year or two apart, with a newborn cradled in her arms and two older children, neither of whom could have been over five years old.
On that same day, the latest Social Weather Stations survey reported that 14.5 million Filipinos experienced “involuntary hunger” between April and June 2008, a record high equivalent to almost three million households.
At the same time, House Speaker Prospero Nograles—proclaiming, “I am a devout Catholic”—called for a “ceasefire” in the all-out assault by the Catholic Church against the reproductive health and population control bills pending in Congress.
The good bishops talk about the sanctity and dignity of life. Living with three children under a bridge: Where is the dignity? Where is the sanctity? Do we respect life by making it difficult for that woman to plan for her family? So that her sleeping two-year-old won’t accidentally fall into the foul stream and die, if not from drowning, from swallowing poisoned water?
Do we respect their dignity if we condemn them to an earthly hell where they inhale putrid air with each breath day and night?
This is not a debate about the nuances of Catholic theology. This is simply about the most dearly held norms in our Constitution, the basic distinction between truth and falsity, and plain common sense.
Hardline clergy have labeled as “evil” the sponsors of the Reproductive Health Care bills pending before Congress, and have called them “abortionists.” That is a lie.
I have read the various bills authored by Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Panfilo Lacson and Representatives Edcel Lagman and Janette Garin. I can categorically say that there is not a single mention in any bill of legalizing abortion. In contrast, a computer search shows that the bills mention the word “abortion” solely in order to reiterate that “abortion shall remain to be penalized under the Revised Penal Code and relevant jurisprudence” and to provide programs to teach people about the “proscription and hazards of abortion.”
In fact, each time they define “family planning” (so that couples may “decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children”), they always affirm that “abortion is not included as a family planning method” and that the methods “exclud[e] abortion, which is a crime.” In case the bishops still have any doubts, the authors go out of their way and affirm that “abortion remains a crime and is punishable.”
Indeed, when the bills refer to family planning programs, they actually aim “to help women avoid abortion [by] preventing unintended pregnancies and ensuring access to quality family planning methods.” They cite convincing evidence that access to contraceptives is the best way to reduce abortions.
One-third of all pregnancies in the Philippines have ended up in abortions and, in 2000 alone, they recorded 473,400 cases of induced abortions, more than 90 percent of them by married women. A survey by the poll group Social Weather Stations shows that 97 percent of Filipinos want to be able to control their fertility and plan their families—and almost 90 percent of the respondents are Catholic.
One woman out of six wants family planning but can’t practice it for lack of access to family planning health services. Almost 60 percent of contraceptive users depend on government for their supply of contraceptives. If the bishops truly oppose abortion, why exclude contraceptives from the government’s family planning services when we all know that to do so will simply lead to more abortions?
The only way for the bishops to sustain their argument is to say that contraception and abortion are one and the same thing. But that is a matter internal to Church doctrine. It is binding on true believers. It cannot command nonbelievers. Not all Filipinos are Catholic, and not all Filipino Catholics subscribe to the same level of dogmatism as the local bishops’.
Our own Constitution recognizes the “right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions.” In a famous US case cited by the Philippine Supreme Court, it was said: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion ….”
Which family planning method to use is for the spouses alone—not for any government—to decide in their behalf.
To confine family planning to the clergy’s approved methods is to impede that free choice.
What galls me about the raging debate is the in-your-face brashness of the Catholic clergy. Having twisted the facts, they now intimidate our secular officials to toe dogma, threatening to withhold from them the sacraments.
I wonder: Do they still give communion to that bishop in Antipolo City who was found a few years back to be keeping a mistress? To the infamous plunderers in government? To all those sexual offenders referred to by no less than Pope Benedict XVI last week? The bishops must be consistent in telling the truth and in punishing sinners before they can pontificate.
Otherwise, what they show is not theological devotion but secular arrogance, the bluster of power, cocky in the knowledge that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, bereft of legitimacy and opportunistic to the core, will yield to expediency, kiss the hand that anoints, and lend the sword of an unworthy Caesar to carry out a strained—and self-defeating—reading of scripture.
There are those who believe without questioning, but there are those who question because they truly believe.
* * *
Comments to passionforreason@gmail.com
Separating Church and State, fact from fiction
By Raul Pangalangan
Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 01:39:00 07/25/2008
Most Read
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Daily Inquirer front page on Tuesday featured a photo of a mother and three small children silhouetted against the light, living in a hammock under a bridge, with the fetid tide just two feet below them. I noticed that the children, presumably all hers, were spaced barely a year or two apart, with a newborn cradled in her arms and two older children, neither of whom could have been over five years old.
On that same day, the latest Social Weather Stations survey reported that 14.5 million Filipinos experienced “involuntary hunger” between April and June 2008, a record high equivalent to almost three million households.
At the same time, House Speaker Prospero Nograles—proclaiming, “I am a devout Catholic”—called for a “ceasefire” in the all-out assault by the Catholic Church against the reproductive health and population control bills pending in Congress.
The good bishops talk about the sanctity and dignity of life. Living with three children under a bridge: Where is the dignity? Where is the sanctity? Do we respect life by making it difficult for that woman to plan for her family? So that her sleeping two-year-old won’t accidentally fall into the foul stream and die, if not from drowning, from swallowing poisoned water?
Do we respect their dignity if we condemn them to an earthly hell where they inhale putrid air with each breath day and night?
This is not a debate about the nuances of Catholic theology. This is simply about the most dearly held norms in our Constitution, the basic distinction between truth and falsity, and plain common sense.
Hardline clergy have labeled as “evil” the sponsors of the Reproductive Health Care bills pending before Congress, and have called them “abortionists.” That is a lie.
I have read the various bills authored by Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Panfilo Lacson and Representatives Edcel Lagman and Janette Garin. I can categorically say that there is not a single mention in any bill of legalizing abortion. In contrast, a computer search shows that the bills mention the word “abortion” solely in order to reiterate that “abortion shall remain to be penalized under the Revised Penal Code and relevant jurisprudence” and to provide programs to teach people about the “proscription and hazards of abortion.”
In fact, each time they define “family planning” (so that couples may “decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children”), they always affirm that “abortion is not included as a family planning method” and that the methods “exclud[e] abortion, which is a crime.” In case the bishops still have any doubts, the authors go out of their way and affirm that “abortion remains a crime and is punishable.”
Indeed, when the bills refer to family planning programs, they actually aim “to help women avoid abortion [by] preventing unintended pregnancies and ensuring access to quality family planning methods.” They cite convincing evidence that access to contraceptives is the best way to reduce abortions.
One-third of all pregnancies in the Philippines have ended up in abortions and, in 2000 alone, they recorded 473,400 cases of induced abortions, more than 90 percent of them by married women. A survey by the poll group Social Weather Stations shows that 97 percent of Filipinos want to be able to control their fertility and plan their families—and almost 90 percent of the respondents are Catholic.
One woman out of six wants family planning but can’t practice it for lack of access to family planning health services. Almost 60 percent of contraceptive users depend on government for their supply of contraceptives. If the bishops truly oppose abortion, why exclude contraceptives from the government’s family planning services when we all know that to do so will simply lead to more abortions?
The only way for the bishops to sustain their argument is to say that contraception and abortion are one and the same thing. But that is a matter internal to Church doctrine. It is binding on true believers. It cannot command nonbelievers. Not all Filipinos are Catholic, and not all Filipino Catholics subscribe to the same level of dogmatism as the local bishops’.
Our own Constitution recognizes the “right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions.” In a famous US case cited by the Philippine Supreme Court, it was said: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion ….”
Which family planning method to use is for the spouses alone—not for any government—to decide in their behalf.
To confine family planning to the clergy’s approved methods is to impede that free choice.
What galls me about the raging debate is the in-your-face brashness of the Catholic clergy. Having twisted the facts, they now intimidate our secular officials to toe dogma, threatening to withhold from them the sacraments.
I wonder: Do they still give communion to that bishop in Antipolo City who was found a few years back to be keeping a mistress? To the infamous plunderers in government? To all those sexual offenders referred to by no less than Pope Benedict XVI last week? The bishops must be consistent in telling the truth and in punishing sinners before they can pontificate.
Otherwise, what they show is not theological devotion but secular arrogance, the bluster of power, cocky in the knowledge that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, bereft of legitimacy and opportunistic to the core, will yield to expediency, kiss the hand that anoints, and lend the sword of an unworthy Caesar to carry out a strained—and self-defeating—reading of scripture.
There are those who believe without questioning, but there are those who question because they truly believe.
* * *
Comments to passionforreason@gmail.com
Humanae Vitae
Pinoy Kasi Behind HUMAN LIFE
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:42:00 07/25/2008
Most Read
MANILA, Philippines—Today is the 40th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (On Human Life), cited as the basis for the Catholic Church’s prohibition of “artificial” contraception. I am certain many people, Catholics included, are not even aware of the encyclical and, among those who know of the encyclical, very few would have read the document.
Catholics and non-Catholics alike simply presume that the Catholic Church has always banned contraception, and that they do this based on doctrines that have not changed across time.
Rina Jimenez-David’s columns last Tuesday and Wednesday summarized the work of historians and theologians showing that the Catholic Church has not always been consistent on issues of sexuality, including family planning and abortion.
John Nery’s column on Tuesday grappled more with the applications of “Humanae Vitae,” and raises questions many people are asking today not just about family planning but about the very function of marriage itself.
My column will focus on the scenes behind “Humanae Vitae.” Understanding these events could help us answer some of the questions we constantly ask about the Catholic Church and family planning. My account here mainly relies on an extensively researched book by Robert Blair Kaiser entitled, “The Politics of Sex and Religion,” published in 1985. (He also wrote “The Encyclical That Never Was,” published in 1987.) Kaiser knows the Vatican, having worked for Time magazine and writing on Catholic Church issues all through the 1960s.
To put “Humanae Vitae” in context, we have to go further back for a quick review of the Church’s perspective on sexuality. Early Christians adopted a view, borrowed from the Stoics, that saw the body and sex rather negatively. Physical pleasures were dangerous, and sex, well, St. Augustine wrote that the only “excusing good” for sex was reproduction.
Calendar method
Despite these views and the emphasis on procreation, Catholics sought to regulate their fertility through the centuries with a variety of methods, from herbal potions to withdrawal. When these failed, they resorted to abortion and even infanticide. It’s a situation that we still see today in many countries, including the Philippines.
Contraception continued to be haphazard into the 20th century simply because little was known about the physiological processes around fertility. It was not until 1930 that two physicians, Kyusaku Ogino and Herman Kraus, working independently, learned to calculate the incidence and length of a woman’s infertile period, paving the way for more scientific family planning methods.
That same year, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical “Casti Connubii” (On Chaste Marriage) reiterating that “the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children,” but noting that there were also matrimonial rights, albeit secondary, that needed to be considered: “...mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence, which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider as long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved.”
In 1951, in a speech before Italian midwives, Pope Pius XII said couples could limit intercourse to the infertile period, if they had good reasons for limiting the number of children. This was the calendar method, which unfortunately was not very reliable, especially for the many women with irregular menstrual cycles.
The pill
In the 1950s, medical scientists were able to develop a hormonal contraceptive pill, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1960. Here now was a very reliable method of contraception. “The pill” sparked mixed reactions, including hopes for couples who wanted to space births, as well as fears that this would lead to hedonism.
Curiously, one conservative theologian, Marcelino Zalba, suggested the pill could be allowed for Catholic sisters working in war-torn Belgian Congo to prevent pregnancies from rape.
The discovery of the pill could not have happened at a tenser period for the Catholic Church. The liberal Pope John XXIII had initiated Vatican II, introducing many reforms and upsetting conservatives. In 1963, he created a Pontifical Commission on Population, Family and Birth to study marriage. After John XIII died, his successor Pope Paul VI expanded the pontifical commission, which had theologians, sociologists, obstetricians and social scientists, including a Filipina, Dr. Mercedes Concepcion of the University of the Philippines. (She has since retired from teaching, but remains active in population work, where her surname has not gone unnoticed.)
The commission reviewed Catholic Church documents as well as research on family life. They also interviewed Catholic couples about married life. When conservative papal advisers realized the commission was becoming sympathetic to contraception, they had 12 conservative bishops brought in to sit with the commission.
In the end, the commission issued a majority report, supported by 30 of the 35 lay members, 15 of the 19 theologians and nine of the 12 bishops. The commission observed that “the regulation of conception appears necessary for many couples who wish to achieve a responsible, open and reasonable parenthood in today’s circumstances.” The commission even suggested that contraception is a “cultural mission which the Creator has commissioned to men, whom he has made his cooperators.”
The conservatives were alarmed, to say the least. To allow contraception, they advised the Pope, would contradict “Casti Connubii” and undermine the Catholic Church’s doctrinal authority. There were fears as well of the pill bringing about hedonism and state-sponsored family planning. Pope Paul VI eventually set aside the majority report and issued “Humanae Vitae” with this fateful passage (par. 14): “Every matrimonial act must remain open to the transmission of life. To destroy even only partially the significance of intercourse and its end is contradictory to the plan of God and to his will.”
Forty years after “Humanae Vitae,” the debates continue, even as millions of Filipinos’ lives are affected by that encyclical. Many Catholics go about their way using the pill and other “artificial” contraceptives, sometimes on advice of priests and nuns who tell them to follow their conscience.
The problem is that many more Filipinos want to space births—through “natural” and “artificial” means—but have no access to services because politicians are held hostage by conservative Catholic bishops and lay people who insist there is no need for family planning.
The tyranny of a conservative minority produced “Humanae Vitae.” Today, a vocal minority seeks to impose an order even more stringent than “Humanae Vitae” in blocking any form of family planning, as well as a discussion of the broader issues around sexuality and human life which the pontifical commission had handled so well.
* * *
Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:42:00 07/25/2008
Most Read
MANILA, Philippines—Today is the 40th anniversary of the papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (On Human Life), cited as the basis for the Catholic Church’s prohibition of “artificial” contraception. I am certain many people, Catholics included, are not even aware of the encyclical and, among those who know of the encyclical, very few would have read the document.
Catholics and non-Catholics alike simply presume that the Catholic Church has always banned contraception, and that they do this based on doctrines that have not changed across time.
Rina Jimenez-David’s columns last Tuesday and Wednesday summarized the work of historians and theologians showing that the Catholic Church has not always been consistent on issues of sexuality, including family planning and abortion.
John Nery’s column on Tuesday grappled more with the applications of “Humanae Vitae,” and raises questions many people are asking today not just about family planning but about the very function of marriage itself.
My column will focus on the scenes behind “Humanae Vitae.” Understanding these events could help us answer some of the questions we constantly ask about the Catholic Church and family planning. My account here mainly relies on an extensively researched book by Robert Blair Kaiser entitled, “The Politics of Sex and Religion,” published in 1985. (He also wrote “The Encyclical That Never Was,” published in 1987.) Kaiser knows the Vatican, having worked for Time magazine and writing on Catholic Church issues all through the 1960s.
To put “Humanae Vitae” in context, we have to go further back for a quick review of the Church’s perspective on sexuality. Early Christians adopted a view, borrowed from the Stoics, that saw the body and sex rather negatively. Physical pleasures were dangerous, and sex, well, St. Augustine wrote that the only “excusing good” for sex was reproduction.
Calendar method
Despite these views and the emphasis on procreation, Catholics sought to regulate their fertility through the centuries with a variety of methods, from herbal potions to withdrawal. When these failed, they resorted to abortion and even infanticide. It’s a situation that we still see today in many countries, including the Philippines.
Contraception continued to be haphazard into the 20th century simply because little was known about the physiological processes around fertility. It was not until 1930 that two physicians, Kyusaku Ogino and Herman Kraus, working independently, learned to calculate the incidence and length of a woman’s infertile period, paving the way for more scientific family planning methods.
That same year, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical “Casti Connubii” (On Chaste Marriage) reiterating that “the conjugal act is destined primarily by nature for the begetting of children,” but noting that there were also matrimonial rights, albeit secondary, that needed to be considered: “...mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence, which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider as long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved.”
In 1951, in a speech before Italian midwives, Pope Pius XII said couples could limit intercourse to the infertile period, if they had good reasons for limiting the number of children. This was the calendar method, which unfortunately was not very reliable, especially for the many women with irregular menstrual cycles.
The pill
In the 1950s, medical scientists were able to develop a hormonal contraceptive pill, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1960. Here now was a very reliable method of contraception. “The pill” sparked mixed reactions, including hopes for couples who wanted to space births, as well as fears that this would lead to hedonism.
Curiously, one conservative theologian, Marcelino Zalba, suggested the pill could be allowed for Catholic sisters working in war-torn Belgian Congo to prevent pregnancies from rape.
The discovery of the pill could not have happened at a tenser period for the Catholic Church. The liberal Pope John XXIII had initiated Vatican II, introducing many reforms and upsetting conservatives. In 1963, he created a Pontifical Commission on Population, Family and Birth to study marriage. After John XIII died, his successor Pope Paul VI expanded the pontifical commission, which had theologians, sociologists, obstetricians and social scientists, including a Filipina, Dr. Mercedes Concepcion of the University of the Philippines. (She has since retired from teaching, but remains active in population work, where her surname has not gone unnoticed.)
The commission reviewed Catholic Church documents as well as research on family life. They also interviewed Catholic couples about married life. When conservative papal advisers realized the commission was becoming sympathetic to contraception, they had 12 conservative bishops brought in to sit with the commission.
In the end, the commission issued a majority report, supported by 30 of the 35 lay members, 15 of the 19 theologians and nine of the 12 bishops. The commission observed that “the regulation of conception appears necessary for many couples who wish to achieve a responsible, open and reasonable parenthood in today’s circumstances.” The commission even suggested that contraception is a “cultural mission which the Creator has commissioned to men, whom he has made his cooperators.”
The conservatives were alarmed, to say the least. To allow contraception, they advised the Pope, would contradict “Casti Connubii” and undermine the Catholic Church’s doctrinal authority. There were fears as well of the pill bringing about hedonism and state-sponsored family planning. Pope Paul VI eventually set aside the majority report and issued “Humanae Vitae” with this fateful passage (par. 14): “Every matrimonial act must remain open to the transmission of life. To destroy even only partially the significance of intercourse and its end is contradictory to the plan of God and to his will.”
Forty years after “Humanae Vitae,” the debates continue, even as millions of Filipinos’ lives are affected by that encyclical. Many Catholics go about their way using the pill and other “artificial” contraceptives, sometimes on advice of priests and nuns who tell them to follow their conscience.
The problem is that many more Filipinos want to space births—through “natural” and “artificial” means—but have no access to services because politicians are held hostage by conservative Catholic bishops and lay people who insist there is no need for family planning.
The tyranny of a conservative minority produced “Humanae Vitae.” Today, a vocal minority seeks to impose an order even more stringent than “Humanae Vitae” in blocking any form of family planning, as well as a discussion of the broader issues around sexuality and human life which the pontifical commission had handled so well.
* * *
Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph
DSWD Chief backs Reproductive Health Bill; Velarde against
DSWD chief backs reproductive health bill; Velarde against
By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO and JENNY F. MANONGDO
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral yesterday aired support for the reproductive health bill, saying that the people should have an informed choice on family planning.
"I am pro-natural family planning but also prochoice in which case we should be able to give information to all families and access to services so that they can make intelligent choice for their families," Cabral said.
Although Catholic Church leaders have remained strong on their stance against the bill, supporters of the consolidated reproductive health bill have become more aggressive in pushing the measure.
They emphasized the need for religious leaders and reproductive health advocates to convene on the merits of the bill and give the couples an informed choice on family planning.
Members of the Reproductive Health Alliance Network (RHAN) said the bill will allow the people to exercise their democratic rights in planning for their desired family size.
Cabral said the DSWD has presented a position paper to Congress and to the Commission on Population (PopCom) regarding their position on the controversial bill.
She said even the DSWD-attached agency, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) supports the reproductive health bill.
Cabral said she is firm in supporting the bill though it is not in line with the President’s stand.
"Lahat naman tayo ay may freedom of speech at kung tayo ay magkakaroon ng clash na irreconcilable, alam na natin kung ano dapat nating gawin. Kung sino ang nag-appoint sya ang may karapatan na magtanggal sa trabaho. So lahat kami ay ever ready kung ano man."
Meanwhile, El Shaddai leader Bro. Mariano "Mike" Velarde is mobilizing its members against the reproductive health and population management bill in Congress.
"We will (mobilize our members). Sapagkat para ma-realize ng taong bayan na we are being deceived by these people," Velarde said. Several El Shaddai members are set to attend Friday’s Prayer Rally for Life organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) in España, Manila.
Velarde said instead of pushing people to use artificial means of family planning, the government should just let the people decide on how they should plan their own families.
"Ang tanong ko nga diyan ay bakit niyo pinipilit na itulak ang mga pills na yan na gamitin ng tao at the expense of the government tax money? E di hayaan yung gustong gumamit niyan. Free choice tayo di ba? Ang choice ng tao ay hindi pwedeng i-legislate," said Velarde. He said he would rather let lawmakers promote and educate the public on the proper use of resources and family planning."I-educate natin ang tao tungkol diyan at turuan natin itong ating taong bayan na gamitin ang kanilang natural talent and resources… yan ang ating pagka-abalahan hindi yung pagtutulak ng mga drogang ito na para matigil ang pagdami ng population," Velarde said.
By LESLIE ANN G. AQUINO and JENNY F. MANONGDO
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral yesterday aired support for the reproductive health bill, saying that the people should have an informed choice on family planning.
"I am pro-natural family planning but also prochoice in which case we should be able to give information to all families and access to services so that they can make intelligent choice for their families," Cabral said.
Although Catholic Church leaders have remained strong on their stance against the bill, supporters of the consolidated reproductive health bill have become more aggressive in pushing the measure.
They emphasized the need for religious leaders and reproductive health advocates to convene on the merits of the bill and give the couples an informed choice on family planning.
Members of the Reproductive Health Alliance Network (RHAN) said the bill will allow the people to exercise their democratic rights in planning for their desired family size.
Cabral said the DSWD has presented a position paper to Congress and to the Commission on Population (PopCom) regarding their position on the controversial bill.
She said even the DSWD-attached agency, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) supports the reproductive health bill.
Cabral said she is firm in supporting the bill though it is not in line with the President’s stand.
"Lahat naman tayo ay may freedom of speech at kung tayo ay magkakaroon ng clash na irreconcilable, alam na natin kung ano dapat nating gawin. Kung sino ang nag-appoint sya ang may karapatan na magtanggal sa trabaho. So lahat kami ay ever ready kung ano man."
Meanwhile, El Shaddai leader Bro. Mariano "Mike" Velarde is mobilizing its members against the reproductive health and population management bill in Congress.
"We will (mobilize our members). Sapagkat para ma-realize ng taong bayan na we are being deceived by these people," Velarde said. Several El Shaddai members are set to attend Friday’s Prayer Rally for Life organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) at the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) in España, Manila.
Velarde said instead of pushing people to use artificial means of family planning, the government should just let the people decide on how they should plan their own families.
"Ang tanong ko nga diyan ay bakit niyo pinipilit na itulak ang mga pills na yan na gamitin ng tao at the expense of the government tax money? E di hayaan yung gustong gumamit niyan. Free choice tayo di ba? Ang choice ng tao ay hindi pwedeng i-legislate," said Velarde. He said he would rather let lawmakers promote and educate the public on the proper use of resources and family planning."I-educate natin ang tao tungkol diyan at turuan natin itong ating taong bayan na gamitin ang kanilang natural talent and resources… yan ang ating pagka-abalahan hindi yung pagtutulak ng mga drogang ito na para matigil ang pagdami ng population," Velarde said.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
CBCPhils - Double Standard
DOUBLE STANDARDS 07/17/08 Posted under Uncategorized
I find it painfully hypocritical that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) would suggest not giving communion to members of the church simply because of their stance on family planning.
What about other members guilty of other “sins?” What about the politicos who steal from the people and still have the gall to show their faces at church every Sunday? That’s been going on for decades, and yet they pick this as a reason to kick somebody out? Why not also refuse to give communion to Gloria’s entourage who flew overseas just to watch Pacquiao’s bout, even as we were still reeling from Typhoon Frank’s aftermath?
Talk about double standards. While I don’t agree with Gabriela on many matters, I will side with their point that abortion happens simply because many women here have neither the financial nor the emotional means to care for their child. There are probably more reasons, but given our level of poverty, this is the most likely cause.
If the church is so against abortion, then why don’t they care for the unwanted child? Or would they rather he or she grow in “a situation of sin,” where starvation and neglect will push them to resort to drastic actions just to stay alive?
I am angered especially because I am also a practicing Catholic. Since when did we end up with leaders with this backward thinking. Family planning does not equal anti-life. If anything, it ensures that the couple will have the means to properly care for their offspring.
As for the argument that sex education would lead to immoral acts, this flow of logic implies that reading about lock picking will also encourage us to commit thefts, or that reading about serial killers will turn us into murderers. Except that this doesn’t happen normally, unless the one reading is already mentally disturbed.
This only reveals that the CBCP is selling their pulpit’s common sense and integrity short. We are smarter than that, and we certainly deserve better leaders than that.
-Antonio Yang III, Sta. Mesa, Metro Manila
PRO RH Legislators are the People's CHAMPIONS!
Pro_RH Legislators: The People’s Champions!
The Filipino people need champions.
Champions in Congress to craft policies that respond to the needs of their
constituents. We need them to address pressing issues through laws so that pro-
people and pro-poor programs are implemented, rights are respected and,
therefore, lives become better.
A national policy on reproductive health (RH) is one of our needs. At a time when
prices of basic commodities and services are soaring amidst widespread poverty,
ordinary people urgently need all the help they can get.
Wage increases, tax breaks, food and electricity- consumption subsidies are good
but not enough. These initiatives are not sustainable. With the ever-increasing
scarcity of resources, government will eventually not be able to adequately address
the needs of the people.
Legislators have to deal with the need of our families, especially the poor to plan
their lives. RH information and services are needed to enable people to make informed and intelligent decisions that will: save women’s lives, facilitate having children that parents can provide for, prepare the youth to handle responsibilities that go with having relationships, and empower men to realize and use the various options available to them in planning their families.
The existence of such urgent needs cannot be denied. In the City of Manila alone where RH services have been virtually absent for the past eight years, throngs of residents flocked to the Tondo Sports Complex last Friday to avail of free family planning information and services offered by NGOs and the City Health Department. Manila residents in poor communities acted on their need at the first opportunity offered them.
An increasing number of local government units (LGUs) are also stepping up to address this need as evidenced by the passage of RH ordinances in Aurora province, Sulu, Olongapo, and Quezon City to name a few. Moreover, there are LGUs that are presently processing their own RH ordinances.
In Congress, we have RH champions. These legislators have taken action based on the facts that:
•10 Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth complications;
•3 out of 4 of these women who die are aged 15-19 years old; and
•Internationally, 99% of all women who die from such causes come from
developing countries.
We, RH advocates laud the courage, determination and foresight of these legislators
to work for measures that offer strategic solutions to current crises. Like
many of our people, we are one with our legislators who stand with ordinary
Filipinos; with women on the issue of RH. As shown by the 2004 Pulse Asia
survey:
•86% of respondents support candidates with programs for women’s health;
•82% supports candidates who are in favor of couples’ free choice of family planning
methods;
•82% considers candidates supportive of a law on population as worthy of their
votes; and
•83% favors candidates who support allocating funds for family planning.
We ask our legislators not to give up on our needs--not to give up on our rights.
We ask our legislators to continue being our champions until that day when all
Filipinos, rich and poor, shall have the opportunities to pursue a life of quality.
The Filipino people need champions.
Champions in Congress to craft policies that respond to the needs of their
constituents. We need them to address pressing issues through laws so that pro-
people and pro-poor programs are implemented, rights are respected and,
therefore, lives become better.
A national policy on reproductive health (RH) is one of our needs. At a time when
prices of basic commodities and services are soaring amidst widespread poverty,
ordinary people urgently need all the help they can get.
Wage increases, tax breaks, food and electricity- consumption subsidies are good
but not enough. These initiatives are not sustainable. With the ever-increasing
scarcity of resources, government will eventually not be able to adequately address
the needs of the people.
Legislators have to deal with the need of our families, especially the poor to plan
their lives. RH information and services are needed to enable people to make informed and intelligent decisions that will: save women’s lives, facilitate having children that parents can provide for, prepare the youth to handle responsibilities that go with having relationships, and empower men to realize and use the various options available to them in planning their families.
The existence of such urgent needs cannot be denied. In the City of Manila alone where RH services have been virtually absent for the past eight years, throngs of residents flocked to the Tondo Sports Complex last Friday to avail of free family planning information and services offered by NGOs and the City Health Department. Manila residents in poor communities acted on their need at the first opportunity offered them.
An increasing number of local government units (LGUs) are also stepping up to address this need as evidenced by the passage of RH ordinances in Aurora province, Sulu, Olongapo, and Quezon City to name a few. Moreover, there are LGUs that are presently processing their own RH ordinances.
In Congress, we have RH champions. These legislators have taken action based on the facts that:
•10 Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth complications;
•3 out of 4 of these women who die are aged 15-19 years old; and
•Internationally, 99% of all women who die from such causes come from
developing countries.
We, RH advocates laud the courage, determination and foresight of these legislators
to work for measures that offer strategic solutions to current crises. Like
many of our people, we are one with our legislators who stand with ordinary
Filipinos; with women on the issue of RH. As shown by the 2004 Pulse Asia
survey:
•86% of respondents support candidates with programs for women’s health;
•82% supports candidates who are in favor of couples’ free choice of family planning
methods;
•82% considers candidates supportive of a law on population as worthy of their
votes; and
•83% favors candidates who support allocating funds for family planning.
We ask our legislators not to give up on our needs--not to give up on our rights.
We ask our legislators to continue being our champions until that day when all
Filipinos, rich and poor, shall have the opportunities to pursue a life of quality.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
LAW MAKERS TO BE FIRM ON PHIL. POPULATION BILL
Ex-health chief urge lawmakers to be firm on population bill
Activist priest scoffs at politics behind lobbying
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:29:00 07/19/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez on Saturday asked the lawmakers not to compromise with the Catholic bishops on the reproductive health bill.
"I don't think that's an issue that the Church should interfere with. That's a social and economic policy, which is purely the business of the government. I don't think they should even say anything about that,'' he said in an interview after a press forum in Quezon City.
"Why should the House and the Senate negotiate with the Church on a social issue?'' he added.
Romualdez, who never got to implement a program to increase the budget for the purchase of contraceptives and promote the two-child policy after President Estrada was toppled in 2001, said he agreed with the intent of the bill
"My own position is, if we want to have a sensible population management program, it should be one that aims at reducing our population growth rate to zero. That can be done only with a two-child policy [that can be implemented for 10 to 15 years],'' he said.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, principal author of the House bill, also scoffed at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Commission on Family and Life's announcement that supporters of the bill would not be welcome to the July 25 prayer rally of the Catholic community in Manila.
"If organizers of the prayer rally on the Filipino family on July 25 do not welcome reproductive health and family planning advocates then that is their call and discretion,'' he said.
"We do not intend to gatecrash this vaudeville of misinformation. It is, however, disheartening that those who claim to be purveyors of truth, are in fact peddling misinformation,'' he added.
He said he got a copy of the "Manifesto of Filipino Families,'' which would be read and circulated on July 25, and which contained some misinformation, like claims that Congress has been railroading the bill, and laws on reproductive health would lead to abortion, among others.
"This is completely untrue. On the contrary, a rational and comprehensive national policy on family planning, which includes contraceptive use, reduces significantly the rate of abortion as documented by international studies,'' he said.
"Consequently, there is no need to legalize abortion if there is an increased usage of modern and effective contraceptives,'' he added.
In his email, activist priest, Fr. Robert Reyes said everyone should "develop the fine moral sensitivity to see and sense what is behind the current controversy.''
"While big words like life, conscience, and law are being bandied about, an imp, a little pesky god called convenience is romping about. The focus on population and threats of excommunication are convenient tools of convenience favoring those it means to favor, which unfortunately do not include the poor,'' he said.
Since Pope Benedict XVI has always been concerned about the "fast spreading culture of death,'' the debate on population management would be a "timely and convenient issue'' for the bishops to show support for him, he said.
"In like manner, the population controversy gives a bishop-friendly President a convenient opportunity to give and show her support to her bishop-friends as a sign of her profound gratitude,'' Reyes said in an e-mailed statement.
And since President Macapagal-Arroyo was friendly to the bishops, lobbying against "pro-choice'' and "anti-life'' bills in Congress would be "easy and quite convenient,'' he added.
But lost in the atmosphere of convenience were the poor who had to contend with the spiraling prices of food and fuel every day, said Reyes, called the "running priest'' for staging runs to highlight his causes and who now works for the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong.
"In all these, those who suffer the most are not heard,'' he said.
While the protagonists in the debate are heard, many poor women “will quietly use contraceptives and resort to abortions (induced and spontaneous),'' according to Reyes.
The Catholic Church will stage a series of prayer rallies this week in a bid to pressure the House of Representatives into dropping the reproductive health bill, which has been passed at the committee level in the House of Representatives.
The CBCP has met with the President to reiterate the Church’s fierce opposition to the bill, saying the measure would pave the way for the eventual acceptance of abortion in the country.
Arroyo responded by vowing to stick to her stand against contraceptives' use.
Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus Dosado has issued a pastoral statement ordering priests in his archdiocese to refuse
communion to what he called pro-abortion politicians.
Lagman and reproductive health advocates have explained that the bill seeks to control the country’s population growth, currently one of the highest in the world at 2.36 percent every year, by educating couples on their choices of artificial and natural birth control methods. To strengthen this choice, funding would be provided for the free distribution of condoms and birth control pills.
Hundreds of thousands of induced abortions are being conducted every year in the Philippines, leading to deaths of many mothers. Reproductive health advocates say poor mothers resort to abortions because they are not aware of completely safe contraceptives and birth spacing.They added that many mothers have compromised their health by giving birth to five up to six children without reasonable birth spacing.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Activist priest scoffs at politics behind lobbying
By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:29:00 07/19/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez on Saturday asked the lawmakers not to compromise with the Catholic bishops on the reproductive health bill.
"I don't think that's an issue that the Church should interfere with. That's a social and economic policy, which is purely the business of the government. I don't think they should even say anything about that,'' he said in an interview after a press forum in Quezon City.
"Why should the House and the Senate negotiate with the Church on a social issue?'' he added.
Romualdez, who never got to implement a program to increase the budget for the purchase of contraceptives and promote the two-child policy after President Estrada was toppled in 2001, said he agreed with the intent of the bill
"My own position is, if we want to have a sensible population management program, it should be one that aims at reducing our population growth rate to zero. That can be done only with a two-child policy [that can be implemented for 10 to 15 years],'' he said.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, principal author of the House bill, also scoffed at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Commission on Family and Life's announcement that supporters of the bill would not be welcome to the July 25 prayer rally of the Catholic community in Manila.
"If organizers of the prayer rally on the Filipino family on July 25 do not welcome reproductive health and family planning advocates then that is their call and discretion,'' he said.
"We do not intend to gatecrash this vaudeville of misinformation. It is, however, disheartening that those who claim to be purveyors of truth, are in fact peddling misinformation,'' he added.
He said he got a copy of the "Manifesto of Filipino Families,'' which would be read and circulated on July 25, and which contained some misinformation, like claims that Congress has been railroading the bill, and laws on reproductive health would lead to abortion, among others.
"This is completely untrue. On the contrary, a rational and comprehensive national policy on family planning, which includes contraceptive use, reduces significantly the rate of abortion as documented by international studies,'' he said.
"Consequently, there is no need to legalize abortion if there is an increased usage of modern and effective contraceptives,'' he added.
In his email, activist priest, Fr. Robert Reyes said everyone should "develop the fine moral sensitivity to see and sense what is behind the current controversy.''
"While big words like life, conscience, and law are being bandied about, an imp, a little pesky god called convenience is romping about. The focus on population and threats of excommunication are convenient tools of convenience favoring those it means to favor, which unfortunately do not include the poor,'' he said.
Since Pope Benedict XVI has always been concerned about the "fast spreading culture of death,'' the debate on population management would be a "timely and convenient issue'' for the bishops to show support for him, he said.
"In like manner, the population controversy gives a bishop-friendly President a convenient opportunity to give and show her support to her bishop-friends as a sign of her profound gratitude,'' Reyes said in an e-mailed statement.
And since President Macapagal-Arroyo was friendly to the bishops, lobbying against "pro-choice'' and "anti-life'' bills in Congress would be "easy and quite convenient,'' he added.
But lost in the atmosphere of convenience were the poor who had to contend with the spiraling prices of food and fuel every day, said Reyes, called the "running priest'' for staging runs to highlight his causes and who now works for the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong.
"In all these, those who suffer the most are not heard,'' he said.
While the protagonists in the debate are heard, many poor women “will quietly use contraceptives and resort to abortions (induced and spontaneous),'' according to Reyes.
The Catholic Church will stage a series of prayer rallies this week in a bid to pressure the House of Representatives into dropping the reproductive health bill, which has been passed at the committee level in the House of Representatives.
The CBCP has met with the President to reiterate the Church’s fierce opposition to the bill, saying the measure would pave the way for the eventual acceptance of abortion in the country.
Arroyo responded by vowing to stick to her stand against contraceptives' use.
Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus Dosado has issued a pastoral statement ordering priests in his archdiocese to refuse
communion to what he called pro-abortion politicians.
Lagman and reproductive health advocates have explained that the bill seeks to control the country’s population growth, currently one of the highest in the world at 2.36 percent every year, by educating couples on their choices of artificial and natural birth control methods. To strengthen this choice, funding would be provided for the free distribution of condoms and birth control pills.
Hundreds of thousands of induced abortions are being conducted every year in the Philippines, leading to deaths of many mothers. Reproductive health advocates say poor mothers resort to abortions because they are not aware of completely safe contraceptives and birth spacing.They added that many mothers have compromised their health by giving birth to five up to six children without reasonable birth spacing.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Solon: Catholic Church propagating lies about birth control, family planning
Solon: Catholic Church propagating lies about birth control, family planning
07/19/2008 09:07 PM
MANILA, Philippines - A pro-choice senior member of the House of Representatives on Saturday accused the Catholic church of deliberately spreading “falsehoods" about the government’s consolidated bills on reproductive health and family planning.
In a statement, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the author-proponent of reproductive heath bills, said he and his colleagues “do not intend to gatecrash" the July 25 prayer rally on the Filipino family, as they don’t want to be a party to “this vaudeville of misinformation."
“It is, however, disheartening that those who claim to be purveyors of truth, are in fact peddling misinformation," Lagman said referring to the “Manifesto of Filipino Families."According to Lagman, the manifesto – which the Catholic Church espouses – “will only mire the faithful in ignorance and shackle our women to a life of unremitting pregnancies because it contains deliberate falsehoods." He said in the Bible, John 8:32 unequivocally states, “The truth shall set you free."
“An inordinately huge population growth rate of 2.04 percent imperils family life as a ballooning population impacts adversely on health, education, food security, employment, shelter and the environment – the very essentials of sustainable family life," he said. Lagman said the “misrepresentations" are as follows: * “Congress is railroading the family planning bills. This is false.
These bills have been pending in Congress for the past four Congresses. This length of time of more than one decade belies railroading.* “Laws on reproductive health and family planning eventually lead to legalization of abortion. This is completely untrue. On the contrary, a rational and comprehensive national policy on family planning, which includes contraceptive use, reduces significantly the rate of abortion as documented by international studies.
Consequently, there is no need to legalize abortion if there is an increased usage of modern and effective contraceptives."“There is absolutely no truth to statements that if contraceptives are widely used, the legalization of abortion will be inevitable. There are numerous countries that allow the dissemination of information and promote the access to modern family planning methods and yet still proscribe abortion like the Catholic countries of Guatemala, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ireland and Malta, among others.*
“A national policy on family planning will drastically reduce the population and would result in a population winter. Again, this is a false scare tactic. Despite the expected reduction in the annual population growth rate once a national policy on family planning is in place, the number of people will still continue to increase due to the dynamics of population momentum considering the number of Filipino women of reproductive age.
Experts led by UP Economics professors have declared in a paper entitled “Population and Poverty: The Real Score" that given the excruciatingly slow decrease in our Total Fertility Rate, a so-called population winter will not happen in the country for “at least another 100 years.“Even with a sustained family planning program, our population will continue to increase for another 60 years, by which time our total population would have reached a staggering 240 million according to the National Statistics Coordinating Board (NSCB).* “We should pay homage to OFWs for their dollar remittances as “a payoff of high fertility in the past." This is a cockeyed view on fertility.
Must we continue exporting our people as a “blessing" of a runaway population? High fertility has resulted to the absence of local employment to millions of Filipino workers who are forced to seek jobs abroad despite the hardships and loneliness of working in foreign shores, not to mention the social costs of migration, which tend to destroy the solidarity of the Filipino family.* “The side effects of contraceptive pills are life-threatening. This is incorrect. Medical science shows that the side effects of pills are minimal, if ever.
Family planning saves lives. One-third of all maternal deaths can be prevented by family planning. Unwanted pregnancies are more life threatening to mothers and infants.“Medical and scientific evidence show that if we take into consideration all the possible risks connected with a modern contraceptive like pills, the medical risks associated with them are infinitely much lower than those related to an actual pregnancy and childbearing. This is an unequivocal fact."
Meantime, pro-life Rep. Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque’s first district assured the public that the pro-life caucus of the House of Representatives will continue to defend the dignity of life and family. He defended, on the other hand, the Catholic Church amid criticisms about its opposition to what it believes is pro-abortion. The bill’s authors “are painting a doom's day scenario and unnecessarily scaring the public that poverty will exacerbate if we fail to pass this." “They even go to the extent of attacking the Catholic Church for its advocacy on Pro-life and on its teachings on the Dignity of Life and preservation of the Family. We would like it known to the people that we will continue to fight against the Reproductive Health bill based on rational, constitutional and moral basis," Zialcita said. “We believe that as legislators, it is our supreme duty to protect and uphold the interest of the people in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution, and will not be beholden to small interest groups like multinational pharmaceutical companies," he added. “It is our sworn duty as legislators to promote the common good, for the benefit of the majority of the people," Zialcita said in a statement. - GMANews.TV
07/19/2008 09:07 PM
MANILA, Philippines - A pro-choice senior member of the House of Representatives on Saturday accused the Catholic church of deliberately spreading “falsehoods" about the government’s consolidated bills on reproductive health and family planning.
In a statement, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the author-proponent of reproductive heath bills, said he and his colleagues “do not intend to gatecrash" the July 25 prayer rally on the Filipino family, as they don’t want to be a party to “this vaudeville of misinformation."
“It is, however, disheartening that those who claim to be purveyors of truth, are in fact peddling misinformation," Lagman said referring to the “Manifesto of Filipino Families."According to Lagman, the manifesto – which the Catholic Church espouses – “will only mire the faithful in ignorance and shackle our women to a life of unremitting pregnancies because it contains deliberate falsehoods." He said in the Bible, John 8:32 unequivocally states, “The truth shall set you free."
“An inordinately huge population growth rate of 2.04 percent imperils family life as a ballooning population impacts adversely on health, education, food security, employment, shelter and the environment – the very essentials of sustainable family life," he said. Lagman said the “misrepresentations" are as follows: * “Congress is railroading the family planning bills. This is false.
These bills have been pending in Congress for the past four Congresses. This length of time of more than one decade belies railroading.* “Laws on reproductive health and family planning eventually lead to legalization of abortion. This is completely untrue. On the contrary, a rational and comprehensive national policy on family planning, which includes contraceptive use, reduces significantly the rate of abortion as documented by international studies.
Consequently, there is no need to legalize abortion if there is an increased usage of modern and effective contraceptives."“There is absolutely no truth to statements that if contraceptives are widely used, the legalization of abortion will be inevitable. There are numerous countries that allow the dissemination of information and promote the access to modern family planning methods and yet still proscribe abortion like the Catholic countries of Guatemala, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ireland and Malta, among others.*
“A national policy on family planning will drastically reduce the population and would result in a population winter. Again, this is a false scare tactic. Despite the expected reduction in the annual population growth rate once a national policy on family planning is in place, the number of people will still continue to increase due to the dynamics of population momentum considering the number of Filipino women of reproductive age.
Experts led by UP Economics professors have declared in a paper entitled “Population and Poverty: The Real Score" that given the excruciatingly slow decrease in our Total Fertility Rate, a so-called population winter will not happen in the country for “at least another 100 years.“Even with a sustained family planning program, our population will continue to increase for another 60 years, by which time our total population would have reached a staggering 240 million according to the National Statistics Coordinating Board (NSCB).* “We should pay homage to OFWs for their dollar remittances as “a payoff of high fertility in the past." This is a cockeyed view on fertility.
Must we continue exporting our people as a “blessing" of a runaway population? High fertility has resulted to the absence of local employment to millions of Filipino workers who are forced to seek jobs abroad despite the hardships and loneliness of working in foreign shores, not to mention the social costs of migration, which tend to destroy the solidarity of the Filipino family.* “The side effects of contraceptive pills are life-threatening. This is incorrect. Medical science shows that the side effects of pills are minimal, if ever.
Family planning saves lives. One-third of all maternal deaths can be prevented by family planning. Unwanted pregnancies are more life threatening to mothers and infants.“Medical and scientific evidence show that if we take into consideration all the possible risks connected with a modern contraceptive like pills, the medical risks associated with them are infinitely much lower than those related to an actual pregnancy and childbearing. This is an unequivocal fact."
Meantime, pro-life Rep. Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque’s first district assured the public that the pro-life caucus of the House of Representatives will continue to defend the dignity of life and family. He defended, on the other hand, the Catholic Church amid criticisms about its opposition to what it believes is pro-abortion. The bill’s authors “are painting a doom's day scenario and unnecessarily scaring the public that poverty will exacerbate if we fail to pass this." “They even go to the extent of attacking the Catholic Church for its advocacy on Pro-life and on its teachings on the Dignity of Life and preservation of the Family. We would like it known to the people that we will continue to fight against the Reproductive Health bill based on rational, constitutional and moral basis," Zialcita said. “We believe that as legislators, it is our supreme duty to protect and uphold the interest of the people in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution, and will not be beholden to small interest groups like multinational pharmaceutical companies," he added. “It is our sworn duty as legislators to promote the common good, for the benefit of the majority of the people," Zialcita said in a statement. - GMANews.TV
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Phiippine Gov't and Church over Abortion Row
PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT AND CHURCH LOCK HORNS OVER ABORTION ROW
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008Source: Gulf News
Manila: The head of the 240-member House of Representatives expressed opposition to a Catholic Church directive telling clerics to refuse the sacrament of communion to politicians who abet abortion.
In a statement that marks a rare occasion where perceived liberal politicians openly locked horns with the conservative Roman Catholic clergy, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he disagrees with the stand of Ozamiz City Archbishop Jesus Dosado on refusing communion to politicians who do not share the same views with the Church on abortion.
"While I agree with the Archbishop that we should not legalise abortion, I don't really agree that those who believe otherwise should be denied the right to receive the body of Christ in Holy Communion," Nograles said.
Filipino politicians had typically avoided confrontation with the Catholic Church on certain politically- sensitive social issues, including abortion.
In a pastoral letter released Sunday, Dosado, prelate of the Southern Philippine archdiocese, explicitly said that "pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be denied Holy Communion until they bring to an end the objective situation of sin."
The pastoral letter was also apparently aimed at mustering opposition against a bill pending at the House of Representatives, House Bill 00017, which essentially provides access to Filipino families to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning.
Family planning The Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development bill seeks to provide the environment for Filipino couples and individuals to enjoy the right to plan their families.
The bill has been co-authored by at least 48 members of the House and was approved by the House Committees on health and population and family relations.
It is expected to be calendared for the second reading by the House Committee on Rules when Congress resumes session on July 28.
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008Source: Gulf News
Manila: The head of the 240-member House of Representatives expressed opposition to a Catholic Church directive telling clerics to refuse the sacrament of communion to politicians who abet abortion.
In a statement that marks a rare occasion where perceived liberal politicians openly locked horns with the conservative Roman Catholic clergy, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he disagrees with the stand of Ozamiz City Archbishop Jesus Dosado on refusing communion to politicians who do not share the same views with the Church on abortion.
"While I agree with the Archbishop that we should not legalise abortion, I don't really agree that those who believe otherwise should be denied the right to receive the body of Christ in Holy Communion," Nograles said.
Filipino politicians had typically avoided confrontation with the Catholic Church on certain politically- sensitive social issues, including abortion.
In a pastoral letter released Sunday, Dosado, prelate of the Southern Philippine archdiocese, explicitly said that "pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be denied Holy Communion until they bring to an end the objective situation of sin."
The pastoral letter was also apparently aimed at mustering opposition against a bill pending at the House of Representatives, House Bill 00017, which essentially provides access to Filipino families to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning.
Family planning The Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development bill seeks to provide the environment for Filipino couples and individuals to enjoy the right to plan their families.
The bill has been co-authored by at least 48 members of the House and was approved by the House Committees on health and population and family relations.
It is expected to be calendared for the second reading by the House Committee on Rules when Congress resumes session on July 28.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
RP not meeting maternal mortality rate cut targets
By TRINA LAGURAabs-cbnNEWS.com
The goal of the Philippines to reduce maternal mortality rate (MMR) to 52 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015 will be unattainable unless proper family planning is implemented, according to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.
The report, released Friday during the World Population Day Forum in Mandaluyong City, said that in the early 1990s the country's MMR was 209 deaths per 100,000 live births, but by 1998 the ratio significantly decreased to 172.
The group, however, was alarmed by the slow drop in the number of maternal deaths since then, noticing that the MMR decreased only to 162 per 100,000 live births in 2006 or only about 22 percent in past 13 years.
This means that about 10 women die giving birth every day, the UNFPA said
"At this pace, by 2015 MMR will have only declined to 140, and the target of 52 will be unachievable," it said.
The report pointed out that better results can be achieved to bring down the MMR since the three major causes of maternal deaths – hypertension, hemorrhage and unsafe abortion – are preventable.
The UNFPA maintained that "through appropriate family planning," the MMR could decline by almost 30 percent. Maternal health is one of the goals included in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to reduce poverty across the globe by half by 2015.
MDG 5, in particular, aims to reduce MMR by 75 percent from 1990 to 2015, as well as increase access to reproductive health care.
"In the Philippines, four babies are born every minute, exerting pressure on the country's resources to support these children and plan for their future. None of the MDGs can be achieved if we do not address the issues of population squarely," it said.
The Philippines, along with more than 140 countries, marked the World Population Day Friday, an event that called on nations to promote women empowerment and reduce maternal deaths.
By TRINA LAGURAabs-cbnNEWS.com
The goal of the Philippines to reduce maternal mortality rate (MMR) to 52 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015 will be unattainable unless proper family planning is implemented, according to a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report.
The report, released Friday during the World Population Day Forum in Mandaluyong City, said that in the early 1990s the country's MMR was 209 deaths per 100,000 live births, but by 1998 the ratio significantly decreased to 172.
The group, however, was alarmed by the slow drop in the number of maternal deaths since then, noticing that the MMR decreased only to 162 per 100,000 live births in 2006 or only about 22 percent in past 13 years.
This means that about 10 women die giving birth every day, the UNFPA said
"At this pace, by 2015 MMR will have only declined to 140, and the target of 52 will be unachievable," it said.
The report pointed out that better results can be achieved to bring down the MMR since the three major causes of maternal deaths – hypertension, hemorrhage and unsafe abortion – are preventable.
The UNFPA maintained that "through appropriate family planning," the MMR could decline by almost 30 percent. Maternal health is one of the goals included in the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to reduce poverty across the globe by half by 2015.
MDG 5, in particular, aims to reduce MMR by 75 percent from 1990 to 2015, as well as increase access to reproductive health care.
"In the Philippines, four babies are born every minute, exerting pressure on the country's resources to support these children and plan for their future. None of the MDGs can be achieved if we do not address the issues of population squarely," it said.
The Philippines, along with more than 140 countries, marked the World Population Day Friday, an event that called on nations to promote women empowerment and reduce maternal deaths.
FREE! No-Scalpel Vasectomy
PRO QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc. (Q-LIFE)
Advocating Poverty Reduction & Quality Life for the Poor. . .
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City, Phils. (063-32) 4166084/2590989
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com
To: All Heads of LGU’s, GO’s, NGO’s, CBO’s,
the Media and to all SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE Companies and Filipino Citizens,
Please reproduce/post this or pass this info to those who need
to be informed on this –
ECONOMIC CRISIS ? NSV an option and FREE !
With the current economic crisis . . . continuing and indefinite rise in the prices of gasoline, rice and just about every basic commodities, how can the low to no-definite- income workers provide for the basic needs and at least a decent life for their several children? and ensure they will not be an additional problem/burden to others and to our society?
It is very essential this time, for PARENTS ( and soon to be parents- the youth) to have a sense of RESPONSIBILITY. If they have low or no definite income (and want to properly raise quality children...) they can decide to have only 2 or few children! They can have several options, from any of the Modern Fertility – Based or the Non-Fertility Based Family Planning Methods.
No-Scalpel Vasectomy (NSV) is just one but a good option for men who don’t want additional children It is a modern technique, safe, simple and quick (15 mins.) procedure. No incision, no suture, just BAND-AID! High success rate, more than 99%, with the modern equipment from the U.S.
Responsible men should take this opportunity, while this is FREE! at Sacred Heart Hospital. Other private institution is charging P3,000+ per procedure.
There is no side effect whatsoever on the strength and sexual functioning. Many workers/laborers and professionals have underwent Vasectomy including the Filipino Founders of NSV International, Inc. Urologists Dr. Ramon Suarez and Engr. Bob Kiamko and their families/relatives and lately his son also Dr. Ron Suarez.
For NSV Orientation, (and other Q-Life Programs & Services) pls. contact Mrs. Frohnie D. Cagalitan of PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc. (Q-Life) Tel 4166084/2590989 (9-12am M-F) or for NSV schedule pls. contact Mrs. Myrna H. Danuco, Sacred Heart Hospital Tel 2540477.
Advocating Poverty Reduction & Quality Life for the Poor. . .
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City, Phils. (063-32) 4166084/2590989
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com
To: All Heads of LGU’s, GO’s, NGO’s, CBO’s,
the Media and to all SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE Companies and Filipino Citizens,
Please reproduce/post this or pass this info to those who need
to be informed on this –
ECONOMIC CRISIS ? NSV an option and FREE !
With the current economic crisis . . . continuing and indefinite rise in the prices of gasoline, rice and just about every basic commodities, how can the low to no-definite- income workers provide for the basic needs and at least a decent life for their several children? and ensure they will not be an additional problem/burden to others and to our society?
It is very essential this time, for PARENTS ( and soon to be parents- the youth) to have a sense of RESPONSIBILITY. If they have low or no definite income (and want to properly raise quality children...) they can decide to have only 2 or few children! They can have several options, from any of the Modern Fertility – Based or the Non-Fertility Based Family Planning Methods.
No-Scalpel Vasectomy (NSV) is just one but a good option for men who don’t want additional children It is a modern technique, safe, simple and quick (15 mins.) procedure. No incision, no suture, just BAND-AID! High success rate, more than 99%, with the modern equipment from the U.S.
Responsible men should take this opportunity, while this is FREE! at Sacred Heart Hospital. Other private institution is charging P3,000+ per procedure.
There is no side effect whatsoever on the strength and sexual functioning. Many workers/laborers and professionals have underwent Vasectomy including the Filipino Founders of NSV International, Inc. Urologists Dr. Ramon Suarez and Engr. Bob Kiamko and their families/relatives and lately his son also Dr. Ron Suarez.
For NSV Orientation, (and other Q-Life Programs & Services) pls. contact Mrs. Frohnie D. Cagalitan of PRO-QUALITY LIFE Training & Dev’t. Inc. (Q-Life) Tel 4166084/2590989 (9-12am M-F) or for NSV schedule pls. contact Mrs. Myrna H. Danuco, Sacred Heart Hospital Tel 2540477.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Q-LIFE Quick Survey
Q – L I F E Q U I C K S U R V E Y
Name: ___________ Age: ____ Add: ______ e-add: ________ Contact #s : ______
Do you want the PHILIPPINES to be a BETTER, SAFER and more PEACEFUL place to live ?
A. As a Filipino do you believe that - (please answer Yes, No or Undecided)
1. POVERTY is a condition that CAN be changed and MUST be changed ?
2. Everyone deserves a decent or Quality Life including the POOR children and their
families?
3. Quality Life can be achieved if one has a sense of RESPONSIBILITY
and accountability of the consequences of his / her action ?
4. If low income parents don’t want their children and their family to live in
extreme Poverty, they can opt to have only 2 or few children?
5. If the young adults now, don’t want a miserable family life in the future,
they can PLAN their life and delay their marriage/pregnancy until READY,
financially, emotionally, etc.
6. Every child must be born Wanted, well-planned, well-cared for and properly raised?
7. If a couple wants to plan their family, they have the option to decide what
Family Planning Methods?
8. Marriage and or pregnancy is supposed to be ONLY for people who are BOTH matured,
financially independent & RESPONSIBLE in bringing up children to be
productive,independent and law abiding?
9. Every matured individual has a personal RESPONSIBILITY to take care of oneself and
his/her family and NOT to be dependent nor BURDEN to parents and the
SOCIETY?
10. Even if we are law abiding citizens, we, or our families & friends can be
victimized or affected directly or indirectly with the bad elements of
our society, (usually as a result of Poverty &
Irresponsibility), do you think we have SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY to help our
society?
---------------------------------------------------------
If Yes, is your response to most of the questions, you are qualified
to be a Q-Life Advocate
B. Are you willing to help in *Advocating –
a. Poverty Reduction or minimizing or alleviating Poverty in our country ?
b. For a decent or Quality Life among our Poor children and their families?
c. . . . and be a Volunteer Q-LIFE ADVOCATE ?
* Advocacy can be done in many different ways, could be in your own small ways
at your own time, if you want to help in Advocating and needs an Orientation
on Q-LIFE, please contact::
MRS. FROHNIE DIPUTADO-CAGALITAN
PRO “QUALITY LIFE” Training & Dev’t, Inc. (Q-LIFE)
Advocating Poverty Reduction & Quality of Life for the Poor...
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City 6000 Philippines
Tel (063-32) 259 0989 Tel/Fax (063-32) 416 6084
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com
Name: ___________ Age: ____ Add: ______ e-add: ________ Contact #s : ______
Do you want the PHILIPPINES to be a BETTER, SAFER and more PEACEFUL place to live ?
A. As a Filipino do you believe that - (please answer Yes, No or Undecided)
1. POVERTY is a condition that CAN be changed and MUST be changed ?
2. Everyone deserves a decent or Quality Life including the POOR children and their
families?
3. Quality Life can be achieved if one has a sense of RESPONSIBILITY
and accountability of the consequences of his / her action ?
4. If low income parents don’t want their children and their family to live in
extreme Poverty, they can opt to have only 2 or few children?
5. If the young adults now, don’t want a miserable family life in the future,
they can PLAN their life and delay their marriage/pregnancy until READY,
financially, emotionally, etc.
6. Every child must be born Wanted, well-planned, well-cared for and properly raised?
7. If a couple wants to plan their family, they have the option to decide what
Family Planning Methods?
8. Marriage and or pregnancy is supposed to be ONLY for people who are BOTH matured,
financially independent & RESPONSIBLE in bringing up children to be
productive,independent and law abiding?
9. Every matured individual has a personal RESPONSIBILITY to take care of oneself and
his/her family and NOT to be dependent nor BURDEN to parents and the
SOCIETY?
10. Even if we are law abiding citizens, we, or our families & friends can be
victimized or affected directly or indirectly with the bad elements of
our society, (usually as a result of Poverty &
Irresponsibility), do you think we have SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY to help our
society?
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If Yes, is your response to most of the questions, you are qualified
to be a Q-Life Advocate
B. Are you willing to help in *Advocating –
a. Poverty Reduction or minimizing or alleviating Poverty in our country ?
b. For a decent or Quality Life among our Poor children and their families?
c. . . . and be a Volunteer Q-LIFE ADVOCATE ?
* Advocacy can be done in many different ways, could be in your own small ways
at your own time, if you want to help in Advocating and needs an Orientation
on Q-LIFE, please contact::
MRS. FROHNIE DIPUTADO-CAGALITAN
PRO “QUALITY LIFE” Training & Dev’t, Inc. (Q-LIFE)
Advocating Poverty Reduction & Quality of Life for the Poor...
1-93 J. Osmeña Ext. Cebu City 6000 Philippines
Tel (063-32) 259 0989 Tel/Fax (063-32) 416 6084
e-add: proqualitylife@gmail.com
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