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Date Posted: 23:45:37 08/05/12 Sun
Author: IMRD
Subject: Aug 5, 2012 news

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=834824

Contraception is corruption - Church
By Evelyn Macairan (The Philippine Star) Updated August 05, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (286)



Thousands attend an anti-Reproductive Health Bill rally in the rain at the EDSA Shrine in Ortigas yesterday. BOY SANTOS
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MANILA, Philippines - In what could be its final push to block the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in Congress, the Catholic Church led a rally yesterday where it reminded the faithful of the measure’s link to birth control and warned them that “contraception is corruption.”
The Catholic clergy delivered their message in a “prayer rally” at the EDSA shrine where more than 10,000 faithful, including some politicians, braved bad weather to show their solidarity with the Church’s stand.
“Corruption is the cancer of the Philippines that prevents us from growing. My dear youth, contraception is corruption. The use of government money, taxpayers’ money, to give out contraceptive pills is corruption,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a message read by former Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa.
The rally was organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (CBCP-ECFL).
Villegas said the reason why the Catholic Church is standing up against contraception and abortion is that it cares for the future of the youth of the country.
“This quarrel is not for us, it is for you. I am standing to defend you. We are fighting error because you might be misled. We are battling against corruption because we know it can harm your soul. Believe me, contraception harms your soul,” Villegas said.
He recalled that when President Aquino ran for president, he used the slogan “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap (there are no poor where there are no corrupt).”
He added that the promotion of contraceptive pills imparts to the mind of the people that indiscriminate sex is all right and that babies are to blame for the country’s poverty.
He also hit back at Aquino, who mentioned in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that to address the problem on the backlog of classrooms, there should be responsible parenthood.
“If more babies are the cause of poverty, are we now saying kung walang anak walang mahirap? It does not rhyme because it is not correct. We can have more classrooms, more food, more jobs if we would be less corrupt. Send out the corrupt official and not the baby,” Villegas said.
“My dear youth, your birth was not a mistake. Your birth was God’s gift to us and to our leaders. You are not the problem, you are our blessing. The problem is the corruption of elders,” he added.
“When contraception fails a birth control generation will give birth to an abortion generation,” he added.
He also said that if the contraceptive pill is considered an essential medicine, it may appear that it is intended to cure the “disease” of pregnancy.
“There is a wisdom that only age and experience can give. We are old but God made us old so we can be reminders for us not to forget our Filipino values, the commandments of God and the rules of good character,” Villegas said.
He also pointed out that the reason why there is no Tagalog word for “contraception” is that it is not only “ungodly” but “un-Filipino” as well. “Fight contraception or we perish as a Godly nation,” he said.
Among the politicians present were Senate President Juan Juan Ponce Enrile, Majority leader Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Gregorio Honasan.
Honasan said that the anti-RH rally “is part of freedom of expression and freedom of speech. We should not politicize the RH bill, the effects of this would be felt for generations from now so we should be prudent and cautious.”
Among the bishops present were Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo David, Military Ordinariate Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, San Jose Nueva Ecija Bishop Roberto Mallari, and Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes.
More than 7,000 rallyists also converged at the Peneranda Park in Legazpi City.
Conscience
CBCP-ECFL chairman Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes said lawmakers should base their decision on the measure on their conscience and not on the rally turnout. Rally organizers had earlier predicted a “massive” turnout.
He said he does not believe that the rally should be treated as a “make or break” by congressmen in making their decision on Aug. 7.
“It is not the size of the crowd. Our congressmen are also thinking about their vote, on what would be good for the people. They should vote on what is right. During the time of Jesus Christ, there were people who shouted that Christ should be crucified. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the ‘voice of the people’. During the time of Jesus Chirst, the ‘voice of the people’ was for Christ to be crucified, but that was wrong. It is not always the case that the more people who agree on a position are always right,” Reyes said.
He also said that the Catholic Church will not punish lawmakers who will vote for the measure. However, “we would remember who they are.”
“The RH bill, primarily, is against the laws of God. Whatever is against the laws of God, that is not good for the people because it is God who made Man and he knows what is good and bad for us,” he added.
El Shaddai spiritual leader Bro. Mike Velarde, for his part, said the late father of President Aquino, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., had said, “The Filipinos are worth dying for. He did not say ‘The Filipinos are worth killing for.”’
“That is the truth. He offered his life for the Filipinos. Life is precious, now they want to kill life,” said Velarde
The El Shaddai leader also asked the people to pray so that legislators would not make a mistake of voting for the RH bill. “Those for life will live and their political life will succeed.”
“Those who would vote for the RH bill…R.I.P. (Rest In Peace),” he added.
“The proponents of the RH bill said that it is not abortion, that is not true, that is deception. This is preemptive abortion because these medications would stop the formation of life in the womb. That is pre-emptive abortion, premeditative killing,” Velarde added. “If you will kill the people, who would you lead over?”
“We are not mandated to kill life from beginning to end. We are mandated to honor and preserve life from beginning to end,” Velarde added. With Cet Dematera, Eva Visperas


http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=63&articleId=834825

Palace: No backing down on Reproductive Health bill
(The Philippine Star) Updated August 05, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (34)



MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang declared yesterday it would not back down on its position to have the bill on responsible parenthood and reproductive health passed by Congress despite a rally against it led by Catholic bishops.
At the same time, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office chief Manuel Mamba and deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte stressed the issue should not be seen as a political one.
Some quarters believe the issue is pitting the Aquino administration against the Catholic Church and former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Mamba said the unpopularity of Arroyo might actually harm the bishops’ moves to oppose the passage of the RH bill.
Mamba also shrugged off concerns that the rally at the EDSA shrine yesterday would affect the votes of lawmakers. Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Gregorio Honasan attended the prayer rally. “Of course, they are very adamant or very insistent on their stand but I think we still have a majority of the senators supporting the bill,” he said, reacting to the presence of the senators at the rally.
“For us the congressmen have decided. The important thing is for them to come (on Aug. 7) and vote. Majority of those we have talked with are supporting the bill overwhelmingly. That is why what we want is to end the debates and we go into voting so we will get into the period of amendments and then ultimately, reach the second reading and have this approved,” Mamba said over radio dzRB.
Mamba said those opposing the bill were working to stall its passage, “at the same time bring it as close to the elections so that politicians will be more afraid” to take position. “But in our view, with many lawmakers (I spoke with) they are really supporting this bill at this point in time,” Mamba said.
Mamba said that in more than a decade of discussions on the measure, anti-RH lawmakers had even resorted to repeatedly questioning the quorum just to stall the measure’s passage.
“Something like that happened (question on quorum). And it is more of stalling and not taking into consideration the merits of the bill. So hopefully on Tuesday this can be put to a vote and we will see who really are supporting this,” Mamba said.
He said that although anti-RH advocates were getting support, the administration is confident that more congressmen would turn up to voice their support for the measure.
He claimed that some priests have even expressed support for the measure.
“I talked to a lot of friends who are priests and religious people and they are supportive of the bill but they don’t want to say it because the Church hierarchy is really anti-RH. But the truth is even the young priests, most of them are also supportive of the bill,” Mamba said.
He also said support for the measure is unlikely to imperil any politician’s chances in the elections, adding “this is a very popular measure, as far as our people our concerned.”
“So I honestly believe that if congressmen attend the (voting on Monday), we will have an overwhelming support of the bill,” Mamba said.
He lamented what he called misinformation, particularly from spokespersons who were clueless about the issue.
“That’s why sometimes, we do not know who are really telling them to go into an offensive, hitting the bill. But if you hear it even over the radio, you can see that their arguments were…beyond the merits of the bill already. It’s really more of the misinformation that they got,” Mamba said.
“But as far as members of our Congress are concerned, this has been debated for almost 10 years now. In fact, you will already get irritated because the interpellation are just being repeated…it will never end,” Mamba said.
“From the very start, because it’s the leadership who are really opposing it, that’s why some senators are complaining. But we feel that if this is passed on second reading at the House…Senate will also be prodded to put it to vote and ultimately, in my view, the Senate will follow,” Mamba said.
Name pro-abortion groups
Mamba also said it would be up to Sotto to name the individual and groups pushing for the legalization of abortion in the RH bill.
“In any measure there are the pros and the antis, and we have always been encouraging them to come out also. But in the long run, our Congress people will have to talk of the merits and demerits of the bill,” he said.
“And it’s not easy to fool those who will vote on this because they are our representatives and we feel that they have enough knowledge to really go to the merits of the bill,” he added.
“Let’s give our people choices on what to do about (their families),” Mamba said.
Asked about Arroyo being anti-RH, Mamba said this should not be politicized because “really the former president is very unpopular at this point in time” and “in fact, I think, that will even worsen their chances if that is the case.”
“For us, we don’t want to politicize it. We just talk of the merits,” he said.
Valte, for her part, said the position of President Aquino and his administration was not plucked out of thin air, even as she urged the public to study the matter closely.
“There are some who are trying to make this political. Again, let’s concentrate on the issues and let’s focus on the issues,” Valte said.
Proof of support
The principal author of the RH bill, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, said the low turnout at the rally should confirm overwhelming public support for the measure.
“That is definitely not massive,” Lagman said in a telephone interview, referring to the low turnout at the prayer rally.
“That (prayer rally) was just an instant replay of all the repetitive statements that the congressional allies of the clergy have been saying in the debates. The only difference is that in the House there are debates, theirs is only soliloquy,” he said
He said the better gauge of the people’s support for the measure is the “empirical data of surveys after surveys that showed that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos favor family planning and the use of government resources for reproductive health and purchase non-abortive contraceptives.”
Sen. Pia Cayetano said there’s no telling if the rally would influence lawmakers when they vote on the measure on Tuesday.
Cayetano and Sen. Miriam Santiago are the main authors of the RH bill in the Senate.
In a feature on the RH bill presented by BBC News television, Santiago pointed out that the bill only aims to provide all Filipinos with all the necessary information and access to the various methods of family planning.
“That’s all that it says and yet in this benighted country, as if we’re living in the middle ages, that is considered heresy. Why is there so much opposition to information? We just want the poor Filipino woman to know what are the ways of family planning. If she wants to reject all of them, that’s fine, there’s no compulsion,” Santiago said.
Santiago argued that the claims of the Church are false because the bill does not promote abortion.
“There is absolutely no connection between contraception, on the one hand, and abortion on the other hand. Contraception means the use of a barrier so that the eggs and the sperm never meet. If they never meet, you can never get pregnant, you can never have fertilization,” Santiago said.
“It has absolutely no relation to reality. These bishops have never been married. They don’t realize what the sexual urges are capable of doing and to claim exclusivity or a monopoly of knowledge is always a dangerous situation,” she added.
Santiago pointed out that 11 mothers die from pregnancy and childbirth complications in the country every day because of the lack of information and access to reproductive health care.
“This means that every year some 3,000 to 5,000 Filipinas die simply because they do not know about reproductive health methods or do not have access to facilities,” Santiago said.
She warned her colleagues in Congress about the consequences of not passing the RH bill, not only on the health of the poor mothers, but also on the image of the country in the international community.
“First, we will be the joke of the international community, in addition, the Philippines will sound very much like it’s still in the dark ages,” Santiago said.
New warning
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), meanwhile, has expressed alarm over the increasing maternal mortality rate in the country, with young and poor women as primary victims.
“It is very concerning for your rates to be increasing. Even in Afghanistan, the rates of maternal deaths are decreasing,” UNFPA Country Representative Ugochi Daniels said last Friday.
The 2011 Family Health Survey showed that the country’s maternal mortality rate went up to 221 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2006 to 2010, from 162 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2000 to 2005.
Daniels noted the increase is “certainly alarming” because it is a reflection of the “inactions with regards to ensuring all women have access” to information and reproductive health services.
“What is the impact? The impact we know comes within the lives of the women and these are preventable deaths. I think we’ve gone from 11 (maternal deaths) a day to between 14 and 15 a day now. And unfortunately, most of these are poor women,” she added.
In the Philippines, she explained that women “in higher economic roots get to have the number of children that they want to have, which is usually two or three. Poor women, on the other hand, bear more than the children that they actually want to have.”
Ugochi, along with World Health Organization Country Representative Dr. Soe Nyunt-U and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is pushing for the passage of the RH Bill.
Also voicing support for the measure is United Nations Children’s Fund Country Representative Vanessa Tobin.
“It is not possible to over emphasize what is the urgency around us. For us, we are trying to see whatever it is that we can do to support this from the point of view of good evidence, from the point of view of what the data in the Philippines is saying,” Daniels maintained. With Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Sheila Crisostomo

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