Panigan ang buhay, tutulan ang RH bill

“Kinikilala ng Estado ang kabanalan ng buhay pampamilya at ipagtatanggol at palalakasin ang pamilya bilang isang batayang institusyong panlipunan na may karapatang itaguyod ang sarili. Ipagsasanggalang din nito ang buhay ng ina at ang buhay ng di pa isinisilang mula nang ito ay ipaglihi.” (Art II, Seksyon 12)

Binaggit ng Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines o CBCP ang mismong sipi ng Pambansang Konstitusyon sa kanilang pahayag upang ilahad ang kanilang mariing pagtutol sa anumang pagpapasa ng RH bill o “Responsible Parenthood Bill” na isinusulong ngayon sa Kongreso.

Pinaniniwalaan na ang iba sa mga contraceptives ay hindi lamang panghadlang ng pagkikita ng itlog at esperma kundi pagpapalaglag ng buhay na nabuo bago mapunta ito sa sinapupunan ng ina.

Dalawang batayan ang gabay ng Simbahan sa tamang paninindigang tutulan ang RH or Reproductive Health Bill, “na hindi lamang usaping pang-Katoliko kundi matinding paglapastangan sa mga tunahy na pinahahalagahan ng tao at ng kulturang Pilipino ukol sa buhay ng tao na ating itinatangi noon pa.”

Una, ang buhay ay pinakasagradong kaloob na pisikal na ibinibigay ng isang tao sa Diyos, ang Maylikha ng buhay. “Ang sagabal na artipisyal upang mahadlangan ang pagbuo at ang pagsilang ng buhay ay maliwanag na lumalabag sa batayang katotohanan hinggil sa buhay ng tao.”

Ikalawa, ang mga magulang, kaisa ng Diyos, ang siyang magdadala ng mga anak sa mundo. “Sila rin ang may pangunahing at di-maaagaw na karapatan at pananagutang kalingain, pangalagaan at hubugin ang kanilang mga anak upang sila’y umunlad bilang mga tao ayon sa kalooban ng Maylikha.” Ang “Sex education” na isinusulong sa mga paaralan ay hiwalay sa pangunahing papel ng mga magulang na subayabayan ang paghubog ng kanilang mga anak.

Ang paninindigan ng Simbahan

1. Mas pagtuunan ng pamahalaan ng pansin ang katatayuan ng maraming mga mahihirap, lalo na ang nagdurusang mga kababaihan na nagususmikap upang gumanda ang buhay at kailangang mangibang-bayan upang kamtin ito o pumasok sa hindi disenteng paghahanap-buhay.

2. Manindigan sa buhay ng tao mula sa sandali ng paglilihi hanggang sa natural na katapusan nito.

3. Manindigan sa responsible at natural na pagsasaayos ng bilang at panahon ng pagsisilang sa pamamagitan ng Natural Family Planning.

4. Ang tao’y tagapangasiwa lamang ng kanyang katawan; dapat itong umalinsunod sa kalooban ng Diyos na nakikipag-usap sa atin sa pamamagitan ng budhi.

5. Nararapat na ang budhi ay may sapat na kabatiran at ito’y ginagabagayan ng mga turo ng pananampalataya.

6. Manindigan sa kalayaan sa relihiyon at sa karapatang tumutol ayon sa budhi sa mga bagay na labag sa sariling pananampalataya. Ang mga nakapataw na parusa na napapaloob sa minumungkahing RH Bill ang dahilan ng ating pagtutol dito.

Panawagan ng CBCP: “Sama-sama tayong manalangin, sama-sama tayong magmuni, sama-sama tayong magpasya, sama-sama tayong kumilos, lagi sa layuning ang katotohanan ay mamayani” sa harap ng maraming banta laban sa buhay ng tao at laban sa ating mga itinataguyod na mga halagang pantao at pang-kultura.”

Noynoy's speech is complete

The literary structure of Nonoy’s speech disputes the opinion generated by critics and GMA supporters, claiming that it is lacking in depth and concreteness of programs.

On the contrary, his speech reveal a powerful strategy of governance in the next 6 years.

First, he clarifies two paths and offers the path of principled governance rather than the flawed road of corruption.   This choice should help us clarify where we really are as a nation.  To ask for immediate promises from Pres. Aquino without resolving the past would just bring us to deeper problems in the future.  “Kung sino man ang di lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.”

The figures simply show that the present government can barely survive given the corrupt practices of the past administration particularly committed in the MWSS, NAPOCOR, tax evasion, diversion of funds to fit favored districts in Pampanga, NFA – all tinted with a desire for "luho" or excessive luxury.

Aquino challenges the public, “Hindi ba krimen ang mga ito?”  as if he is inviting us to question whether we as a people have lost our sensibilities to what is right and just accept all these corrupt practices, incorporate them into our system, and waste away precious public funds, thus, inflicting more sufferings upon the victimized ordinary taxpayers. 

Such is the notion of corruption as the cancer of society; no matter what taxes you impose, no matter what prices you increase, the selfish and greedy would have an unsatiable desire to live an exorbitant lifestyle at the expense of the poor and the needy Filipinos.  That is why all projects geared towards empowering the Filipinos such as schools and economic opportunities remain unrealized unless there is a radical change the government in the way it disburses its funds and selflessly serve the public.

Given these stunning revelations, Pres. Aquino proceeds to offer the courses to take.  He says, “Tatanggalin natin ang mga proyektong tiwali.  Gagamitin ang zero-based approach."  The zero based approach is a scheme of total accountability.  In zero-based budgeting, every department function is reviewed comprehensively and all expenditures must be approved, rather than only increases.  Isn’t that a concrete course to take and not the flowery words of promise but without concrete course of action?  After all, he cannot promise any more projects.  The government does not have the resources at its disposal.  She herself is poor.

He further declared the following actions:
1.    To go after tax evaders who can afford to buy Lamborghini but don’t have the resources to pay what is due to the country;
2.    Justice to media people and others and put an end to extrajudicial killings;
3.    Establishment of the truth commission to get all the facts and the extent of corrupt practices per person;
4.    Public-private partnerships to finance education, infrastructures (buildings and railway systems), military and police facilities and other institutions vital to progress and generate jobs to our people;
5.    Partnerships with local and foreign investors through easy transactions which will produce jobs and increase the consumer power of the Filipinos;
6.    Education that is geared toward global competitiveness; and
7.    Philhealth to benefit the poor.

From the Congress, the President appeals approval of bills, among them are the following:
1.    Approval of the Presidential appointees based on their merit;
2.    Fiscal responsibility bill – to include fiscal incentives as well as to prohibit monopolies, anti-trust law;
3.    Protect the wistleblowers and strengthen the witness protection program;
4.    Rejustification of the law to reconcile conflicting ones;
5.    Peace in Mindanao and communications with CPP, NPA if they are truly sincere in the development of the Philippines.

For everyone, including responsible media and all others, the President challenges them towards “Pakikilahok” (participation) and not “pakikialam” implying the constant blaming of government but not putting anything to offer solutions for it.

He warns us about the return of a system of "pagsasamantala" (abuse).  Finally, "Ang Diyos at taumbayan ang nagbasbas sa panunungkulang ito", recalling the words of scripture, "If God is for us, then who is against us?" This for me, brings everything to its proper conclusion – everything is placed in the hand of God as he blesses the sacrifices of this country.  It is through this that "we can dream again and make those dreams come true."

Probably some things are lacking; but the basic tenets of his governance are found in his speech.  He shall rule with justice and no one is above the law.  He shall make everything functional and geared towards serving the public well.  But the guiding foundation to all of this is honest governance.  That is why his trust rating is so high; he is speaking from his heart.

If there are also things that are still lacking as alleged by the  critics, a 30 minute SONA cannot encapsulate all the harm and done to the Philippines in the long course of history leading to its decay.  We definitely need more than 6 years or more, perhaps beyond Pres. Aquino, to undo the evil that has been done and put our country back in track.

Political ads reflect the kind of leadership the candidate will exercise

As the election campaign near its end, all hell breaks lose in Philippine politics as mudslinging and black propaganda fill up the media outlets.
   The recent fiasco was the press conference of Nanay Curing together with Manny Villar’s sisters.  Though this unfortunate conference received the flack of thousands of Filipinos, the publicists even sweetened and converted this into a political ad.
   The document of the Church “The Ethics of Advertising” should give us a clear idea on proper role     advertising gives the public:  “In doing so, the Church stresses the responsibility of media to contribute to the authentic, integral development of persons and to foster the well-being of society. The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good. Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice and solidarity.”
   Regarding political advertising. it can make its contribution by informing people about the ideas and policy proposals of parties and candidates, including new candidates not previously known to the public.
   Negatively, political advertising can obstruct proposals and ideas. “This happens when, for example, the costs of advertising limit political competition to wealthy candidates or groups, or require that office-seekers compromise their integrity and independence by over-dependence on special interests for funds.”
   “Such obstruction of the democratic process also happens when, instead of being a vehicle for honest expositions of candidates’ views and records, political advertising seeks to distort the views and records of opponents and unjustly attacks their reputations. It happens when advertising appeals more to people’s emotions and base instincts — to selfishness, bias and hostility toward others, to racial and ethnic prejudice and the like — rather than to a reasoned sense of justice and the good of all.”
    We have witnessed how the poor, the children, and the elderly were used for the sake of creating sympathy votes for a candidate. What do these ads say about the values of the candidate running for the highest post of the land?
   Advertising should “respect the human person, his right duty to make a responsible choice, his interior freedom; all these goods would be violated if man’s lower inclinations were to be exploited, or his capacity to reflect and decide compromised.”
    That being said, we leave it to the public what kind of leader we will put to Malacanang since in just a short time, we have seen how they have manipulated and abused the voiceless to fit their own selfish ends.  The voting public should be aware of any manipulations done to them before things are too late and that we will spend another six years worse than all previous years we’ve spent suffering from the clutches of corrupt regimes.

A Catechism on Family and Life for the 2010 elections

Photo courtesy of the CLC Philippines

Click to read the full CBCP document here

It may seem odd for the Catholic Church to issue a document incorporating Family and Life and choosing the next set of leaders after the May 2010 elections. How are they related in the first place?

The fact is that condom and pill advocates and producers are pushing to make their products legal and seemingly necessary by influencing legislators and even government to issue laws that would make pro-life advocates look like criminals.

The Department of Health already succeeded in distributing free condoms last Valentines day claiming that their use would prevent the spread of HIV. But according to Dr. Angie Aguirre, a bioethician and a consultant of the CBCP Commission on Family and Life, such move would only propagate promiscuity among young people and encourage extramarital relations, not to mention the percentage of condom's failure rate to curb HIV infections.

Regarding contraceptives like IUD and pills, these are clearly abortificiants rather than contraceptives. These products would consequently pave the way for the legalization of abortion, a necessary backup for the failure of these products do do what they are supposed to do in the first place.

From the point of view of marketing, producers would aggressively influence government and legislature for its very survival by providing a barrage of created needs just to justify business existence, from curbing population to health reasons. But the main motivation is to find their way into the market without any hindrance or feelings of guilt whatsoever.

Such aggression hurts the moral fiber of every person and family and the next generation. Once approved, Catholic practitioners and other persons who in their conscience oppose to the use of such products would now being considered criminals. Why should we be punished because of our moral convictions? And would a third child suffer being a liability simply because he/she is unwanted? Who are we to give those judgments?

RH bill and the 2010 elections

It is imperative then to choose our next leaders based on their moral convictions to promote the family, life, decency, and morals instead of simply curbing population which by now is considered a myth because this world is rapidly aging because of the contraceptive mentality.

The document states that "it would not be permissible to vote for candidates who support anti-family policies, including reproductive health which negatively connotes the promotion of abortifacients and inflict penalties for parents who do not allow their adolescent children to engage in sexual acts, etc. or any other moral evil such as abortion, divorce, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Otherwise one become an accomplice to the moral evil in question."

It would be good to realize that it is important to stress that future leaders should be chosen not only on the basis of eradicating poverty by promising homes and money; but rather, on the intense desire to strengthen morality especially in the areas of family, life, and honest governance. Then we won't have to think about using these undesirable contraceptives in the first place.

The aftermath of Ondoy

The kind of politics we have

Here in the Philippines, the euphoria over the announcement of a popular candidate for the presidential elections, untainted by corruption and a source of hope for many, especially the students, could easily be flushed out into oblivion with the taunting, jeering, and sour graping of politicians from various angles.

This penchant for criticizing fellow Filipinos below the belt is what's further causing our country's fragmentation, which is based on the battle among personalities rather than really seeking what is good for the country.

This is further complicated by media's choice of sensational titles and issues that seek attract attention rather report what is for the best interest of the country.

Back during Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton's battle for the Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, mudslinging also emerged, with Clinton revealing a string of tirades against Obama. But when she knew she was losing the battle, Clinton backed out and threw her overwhelming support to Obama. Will this kind of scenario also apply in our country? I don't think so, with the kind of politics we have in our country.

The cause of this problem may be traced in the obsessive, inordinate attachment to power. This is what is killing the hope that the ordinary citizen longs for - that one day, we may be united under one common cause, i.e., to curb corruption and give our people the opportunity to live.

Our traditional politicians may already be carrying too many baggage arising from every corrupt transaction or shady deal that would make them liable; the only means to be immune to lawsuits is to continue holding on to power. These politicians know their way around and could easily plan to quell the threat of another person who wants to take power away from them.

This kind of damaged politics is precisely the one eating away the people's hopes for a better future like cancer eating away a healthy body. This is not an issue of a neophyte entering the world of Philippine politics, but of concerted unconscious desire to maintain a corrupt lifestyle coming from those who benefited through corruption. Be forewarned, these people are coming from both administration and the opposition.

Would we still maintain the "status quo" and entrust the care of this country to time-tested politicians who knew they way around or would we rather invest in a new candidate, whose family was subjected to harassment, whose father was assassinated and whose mother stuck to her vision to restore democracy back to the country?

It is true that Noynoy Aquino should stand on his own instead of banking on the popularity of his parents; but at least we have some idea of the travails the whole family went through only in the name of Philippine democracy, including his own involvement in this sacrifice as their son. This would not be taken away from him. For him to stand apart from his family background would be tantamount to force him to lose his own identity. The very fact that his parents were the late President Corazon Aquino and hero Ninoy Aquino is enough for him to run for the Presidential race, no more, no less.

Noynoy is running for President!

by Fr. Lito Jopson

CLUB FILIPINO, September 9, 2009 - Noynoy Aquino makes his mark in Philippine history as he makes his announcement to run for the Presidential race.

Inspired to carry on what his mother President Cory Aquino started, and the persistent calls for him to be president, his discernment process finally took a firm shape today.

Speaking in Tagalog, he said, "Paglikuran ang iba bago ang sarili". He also commended Mar Roxas for giving up his desire to run and reported that talks are on-going to make him his vice-presidential candidate.

Also learning from 3 experiences among the young people, he concluded with them, "Pwede na muling mangarap."

"Pinakamalaking kasalanan ang kawalan ng pag-asa," he now makes a formal announcement to run for president and accepts the challenges it entails. He accepts the advice of his departed parents. He accepts the responsibility to continue the fight for the country and to lead in this challenge.

Yes, he is finally going to run in next year's election.

Part of his agenda is to engage in ongoing dialogue for the people in Mindanao and to curb corruption with the power of political will, taking off from his mother Cory Aquino as prime example of good leader that others followed.