VoyForums

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6], 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 02:49:32 08/10/12 Fri
Author: IMRD
Subject: Aug 7-12 , 2012 news

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=ARMM-legislators-backing-Reproductive-Health-Bill&id=56342

ARMM legislators backing Reproductive Health Bill


MARAWI -- Legislators in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have thrown their support to the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
RELATED STORIES


Armed men attack soldiers stationed in Mindanao campus

Gov’t wants to fast-track peace pact

Deal to ‘neutralize’ attacks, says business council

Talks with Moro rebels resume

Habitat for Humanity tapped for ARMM project

Irene P. Tillah of Sulu and chairman of the Regional Legislative Assembly’s committee on health and social services said yesterday she supports the application of such law in the autonomous region taking into account Muslim norms.

"I believe a thorough and comprehensive study is significant and necessary," she added.

ARMM is considered one of the most "economically challenged" regions in the Philippines, let alone in Mindanao, data from the National Statistics Office show.

The data has been cited by Assemblywoman Samira A. Gutoc-Tomawis in supporting an RH legislation in ARMM that will give access to women in ARMM to basic health services.

"The assembly’s women led by Irene Tillah and we as women sectoral (representatives) are pushing for the RH bill with support from Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman, inspired by a 2003 Islamic edict fatwah that provides for both male and female reproductive health," she said.

Ms. Gutoc-Tomawis was referring to the Tanzim al-Usra -- the official ruling (fatwah) on reproductive health and family planning -- released by the Assembly of Darul-Iftah of the Philippines in 2003 that supports birth spacing, delaying pregnancy and use of safe and legal contraceptives.

The House of Representatives yesterday voted to terminate long-standing debates on the controversial priority measure and proceed to the introduction of amendments, while the Senate has yet to conclude the same. -- Nef T. Luczon

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=Lurking-behind-RH-bill&id=56553


Lurking behind RH bill


Streetwise
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

THE PERIOD of debate on House Bill No. 4244 -- "An act providing for a comprehensive policy on responsible parenthood, reproductive health and population management, and for other purposes" -- the consolidated version in the House of Representatives of what is deceptively named and popularly known as the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, was ended abruptly by majority vote last Monday night.
RELATED STORIES


Streetwise -- Carol Pagaduan-Araullo: "Beauty transfigured"

Streetwise -- Carol Pagaduan-Araullo: "Beauty transfigured"

Streetwise -- Carol Pagaduan-Araullo: "Revolution and counterrevolution"

Streetwise -- Carol Pagaduan-Araullo: "Ka Arman: victim, fighter, martyr"

Streetwise -- Carol Pagaduan-Araullo: "Claiming false credit"

This occurred a day earlier than scheduled, apparently as a result of Malacañang’s move to push the bill forward. This means the bill has gone one step further in the legislative mill to the period of amendments before it is put to a vote on second reading. This is a positive development even though it demonstrates once more the strong sway of Malacañang over the Lower House.

The bluster and bluff of the Catholic Church hierarchy regarding its capacity to convert the anti-RH sentiment to punishment of pro-RH politicians at the 2013 polls has received a major rebuff. It is a sad commentary on the level of debate over the bill that the first major battle had to be over antiquated and irrational beliefs held on to by Catholic Church leaders and their followers.

Understandably, the pro-RH camp in the Lower House -- a curious mix of Aquino administration allies, women’s RH advocates, population control apostles -- are pleased that they have won Round 1 in the stand-off with the anti-RH camp.

The latter had been reinvigorated by the show-of-force rally led by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines two days earlier at the historic EDSA Shrine and the high-profile switching of sides by six co-authors of the bill. They were led by none other than former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, defiantly out on bail from hospital detention after prosecutors failed to prove they had a strong case.

The contention over the RH bill appeared like another looming collision between Mr. Aquino and Mrs. Arroyo fanned by the grandstanding of the latter, the desperation of the CBCP for additional congressional allies and the overeager GMA bashing by some of Mr. Aquino’s loyalists who coined the slogan "A no vote for RH is a yes vote for Gloria!"

The antis and the pros are gearing for another clash during this second stage. The antis will attempt to thoroughly emasculate the bill with major amendments based on a reprise of their earlier arguments. But this time around those in the pro-RH camp who reject the framing of the RH bill as a population control measure will finally have the chance to push for amendments that will shape the RH bill as one that upholds and promotes women’s’ reproductive health rights sans the population control agenda.

So what is wrong with population control serving as an overarching framework for the RH bill?

First, it attributes poverty and economic backwardness or so-called underdevelopment to runaway population growth and thereby covers up the real causes especially those having to do with the exploitation and oppression of the working people in an unjust social system and government policies that shore up such a system.

Second, it shifts the burden of poverty to the poor themselves citing their mistaken belief that more children will mean better social security; their ignorance of the scientific rationale for family planning; their lack of access to fertility control methods and services because of their inability to pay for these; and plain irresponsibility in having children unmindful of the implications and consequences.

Third, it will repeat the mistake of population control programs since the ’70s that utilized scarce public funds for the aforesaid purpose with barely an impact on maternal and child health much less on alleviating poverty and reversing maldevelopment.

Finally, it dangles major improvements in maternal and child health and even utilizes the promise of women empowerment through RH rights in order to advance its reactionary agenda.

The history of population control policies and programs in the Philippines is replete with how a succession of Philippine presidents since Ferdinand Marcos were inveigled and the civilian bureaucracies indoctrinated with hefty USAID funding and UN imprimatur to latch on to the convenient line that the problem of poverty and underdevelopment was a "population problem".

The only major backstep to this was during the Arroyo regime when Mrs. Arroyo sought to win over as many RC bishops as she could to support her embattled presidency by reducing the population control policy to a "natural family planning" program of the Health Department.

A 1975 confidential document titled "National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200)" gave "paramount importance" to population control measures and the promotion of contraception among 13 populous countries, including the Philippines. It deemed rapid population growth inimical to the sociopolitical and economic growth of these countries and to the national interests of the United States since these countries can produce destabilizing opposition forces against the latter. It recommends the US leadership to "influence national leaders" and that "improved world-wide support for population-related efforts should be sought through increased emphasis on mass media and other population education and motivation programs by the UN, USIA, and USAID."

The Philippine government’s commitments to the UN Medium Development Goals cites population control measures couched in the less politically charged terms of reproductive health as the key to taking advantage of the "demographic window of development". In this scenario it is alleged that there will be "more productive citizens relative to dependents and…savings can increase."

Mr. Aquino’s quip in his state of the nation address that with "responsible parenthood" there will hopefully be less numbers of children needing public education and therefore a reduced demand on government resources derives from this expected outcome.

HB 4244 while ostensibly aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care is still heavily framed and anchored on population control as the means to development. The title of the bill itself clearly links RH to "population and development".

In the section on "Guiding Principles", despite the proviso that "there shall be no population targets and the mitigation of population growth is incidental to the promotion of RH and sustainable human development" there is the countervailing statement that "the limited resources of the country cannot be suffered to be spread so thinly to service a burgeoning multitude making allocations grossly inadequate and effectively meaningless."

Section 12 talks about "integration of responsible parenthood and family planning components in all anti-poverty programs and sustainable human development programs" again echoing the line that fertility and population control is fundamentally entwined with poverty and underdevelopment.

Section 26 on Implementing Mechanisms bestows on the Population Commission (PopCom) the role of "coordinating body for the implementation of this act" with the mandate to "integrate on a continuing basis the interrelated health and population development agenda." According to the bill’s principal sponsor, the PopCom "shall serve as the central planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring body for the comprehensive and integrated policy on reproductive health and population development."

All told, HB4244 is undoubtedly a population control bill in the proverbial reproductive health clothing.

The positive provisions in the current RH bill should not end up as mere cosmetization of population control and serve as an insidious come-on to lure women’s health advocates to uncritically support the bill in its current form.

Reproductive health rights pertain to the rights of women to take charge of their reproductive functions so that they may balance the role of giving life and rearing the young with being productive members of society in other capacities, as well as pursuing their aspirations and dreams for themselves and others. It cannot be denied that RH rights are intrinsically and inextricably tied up with women’s overall socioeconomic status.

An RH bill that seeks fertility control as a means primarily to control population growth rather than to empower women by improving their overall health status and their reproductive health in particular is at bottom anti-women and is doomed to fail.

Women’s health advocates and progressives must wage a more determined fight to rid the current RH bill of its population control prison and thus defeat the attempt to use reproductive health as a cover to advance the discredited and pernicious population control agenda.


http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/30951-crucial-vote-on-rh-bill


BusinessMirror.com.ph Home Opinion Crucial vote on RH bill
Crucial vote on RH bill
Monday, 06 August 2012 20:58 Butch del Castillo / Omerta

THE turnout in the nationwide prayer-rally called by the bishops at the Edsa Shrine on Saturday against the passage of the controversial reproductive-health (RH) bill was dismayingly low.
Organizers of the Metro Manila rally, however, were quick to say it was largely the bad weather that dampened the enthusiasm of many who were all set to converge on the people-power shrine.
Police estimated the crowd size to be not more than 10,000. That’s only 20 percent of the 50,000 expected by the Church. (Other major cities in the country where similar protests were supposedly simultaneously held weren’t crowing much about crowd sizes, either.)
Saturday’s event was supposed to be a nationwide “show of force” organized by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The Catholic hierarchy intends to literally instill the fear of God in politicians who would dare back any measure allowing birth control through artificial means.
Since 1998 to the present, every time such a measure was filed (the term they used then was family planning), the Church always succeeded in derailing its passage on moral grounds.
This time, however, there are strong indications that Congress will not be as compliant as before. This time, the Aquino administration promises to see the bill through.
In his appeal to Congress, P-Noy said the measure was badly needed by the government to deal with the country’s socioeconomic problems, particularly poverty and unemployment.
Mr. Aquino’s position is strongly supported not only by the business sector but also by the United Nations, which, only the other day, said openly that there is no better time than this to pass the controversial measure.
The measure is also considered overdue by 70 percent of this Catholic country’s population, according to the Pulse Asia survey conducted two years ago.
The UN’s most telling argument in support of the bill was that reproductive health “is not about population numbers, it is about ensuring a life of health and dignity.”
The Church’s objections to the RH bill, by the way, are supported by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto. Despite this, however, the great majority of both chambers of Congress seem to be in favor of approving it.
If the bill is finally approved, it would make an honest man of the Chief Executive who has confidently predicted its passage by his political allies in Congress.
If Saturday’s prayer rally was intended to be a “show of force” by the CBCP, it succeeded only in betraying the movement’s lack of support. What’s worse was that on this issue, it only betrayed the lack of a Catholic vote.
(But what politicians would always be wary about is the individual influence wielded by parish priests in their districts. The Catholic clergy may not be as closely knit as the Iglesia ni Cristo, but they certainly have a strong say in the daily conduct of affairs in a community.)
Judging from its anemic and limp performance on Saturday, I daresay the rally was really more a show of weakness than anything else. One of the huge placards being waved around by a rallyist screamed: “Yes to Saved Sex/ No to Safe Sex.”
This particular placard, of course, became the object of guffaws and ridicule from a wide audience across the nation. This indicated that the rally participants themselves don’t seem to understand the issues or what, exactly, they’re supposed to oppose.
This placard was caught on film and aired by one of the news networks. It is also being widely circulated on the Internet as we speak.
A crucial vote is scheduled in the House of Representatives today on whether to formally end floor deliberations on the measure after 14 years of dilly-dallying.
On my radio program, “Business is our Business” (12-1 p.m., DWIZ, 882 mghz, Monday-Friday), I’ve discussed this reproductive-health issue quite extensively.
I’ve been saying that the CBCP could have strengthened its position by having a two-pronged approach to the population issue, instead of confining itself to citing the moral grounds against the measure.
I don’t know if this Internet source that calls itself “Redredfox” has been listening to my programs and echoing some of my words. Or, it could be just a case of an uncanny coincidence. But it recently came out with this brief position statement:
“Population is a development driver. This means that the bigger it is, the greater the possibility of development.
“With a big population comes a big market size, a big labor force. This creates greater consumption, greater production and, therefore, greater economic growth.
“Contraceptives will slow down population growth, slow down economic development.
“Population is a human resource. Contraceptives will diminish this resource.”
Actually, the gist of what I have been saying all along was that the Church has not objected strongly to the premise that a big population is always a liability. Why can’t we look at population—even one with a galloping growth rate—as a potential asset that over time would benefit the economy and the nation. Indeed, why don’t we look at all those newborn children as potential assets worthy of our investments?
Behold, China and India.
I’m sure the Church has a rich talent pool of economists and sociologists who could find some fine connection between religious dogma and the practical problems of the world.
In any case, I’m just thinking out loud.

Omerta_bdc@yahoo.com

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/30950-pass-the-rh-bill

Pass the RH bill
Pass the RH bill
Monday, 06 August 2012 20:56 Ernesto Hilario / About Town

THE rally organized on Saturday by the Catholic Church to oppose the reproductive-health (RH) bill drew a meager crowd of around 7,000 to 10,000, according to police estimates. You would think that the bishops, by the way they talk, would have mobilized a far bigger crowd, possibly in the hundreds of thousands, than they were able to muster at the Edsa Shrine. And we’ll know today if they really have 140 congressmen in the bag, so to speak, who will send the RH bill back to Square One, if not to oblivion.
The bishops have been less than forthright about the RH bill. They have raised false issues, including the patently ridiculous claim that the bill would encourage abortions. I’ve gone through the text of the proposed measure and found nothing that would suggest that its authors are against life. On the contrary, giving information on family planning is actually pro-life, as it would save many Filipino families from a fate worse than death, which is debilitating poverty.
The bill defines family planning as “a program which enables couples, individuals and women to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children, acquire relevant information on reproductive-health care, services and supplies and have access to a full range of medically safe, legal, affordable, effective natural and modern methods of limiting and spacing pregnancy.” There’s nothing wrong with this.
And here’s what it says about abortion: “While this Act recognizes that abortion is illegal and punishable by law, the government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.”
The proposed law would also give the poor preferential access to family-planning services in state hospitals, while lessons on family planning and sex education would become compulsory in schools and for couples applying for a marriage license.
Apart from these, the State shall “assist couples, parents and individuals to achieve their desired family size within the context of responsible parenthood for sustainable development and encourage them to have two children as the ideal family size. Attaining the ideal family size is neither mandatory nor compulsory. No punitive action shall be imposed on parents having more than two children.”
These are all steps in the right direction.
A recent survey by Social Weather Stations showed that around 70 percent of 95 million Filipinos want Congress to pass the RH bill. Most Filipinos not only want the immediate enactment of the RH bill, but also want the government to use public funds for family planning, including the purchase and distribution of non-abortive contraceptives.
The international community also supports the RH bill. The World Health Organization, United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) believe that such a bill is long overdue with the Philippine population growing at a rapid pace, with more people living in poverty and more young women getting pregnant.
As pointed out by UNFPA, the RH bill is important for the Philippines to achieve its health-related targets in the Millennium Development Goals like maternal health, HIV/AIDS and infant mortality.
The bill should be passed to allow couples to decide on the size of their family by making information and services available to them. I don’t buy the bishops’ argument that the RH bill will encourage promiscuity. The RH bill, as its name suggests, is about responsible parenthood, reproductive health and sustainable human development.
President Aquino is right: In a situation where couples are in no position to make an informed judgment, the State has the responsibility to educate them on family planning.
I commend Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay, principal author of the RH bill in the House, and Sen. Pia Cayetano, author of the RH bill in the Senate, for standing their ground on this vital issue.
I fully support the passage of the reproductive-heath bill and urge our legislators to approve it, as it will be a big step forward in the nation’s quest for a sustainable future.

E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/opinion/30948-the-youth-and-the-birth-control-quarrel

The youth and the birth-control quarrel
Monday, 06 August 2012 20:51 Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas

MY dear youth of Pangasinan,
I know how much it saddens you to see your parents fight in front of you—at the dinner table, in the car or anywhere in the house. I know how much such quarrels between your parents confuse you, disillusion you and discourage you deeply yet quietly.
As it is at home so it is in the community, in society, in the country. As your Church parents and parents in the government “quarrel” again in public over issues of contraception, abortion and birth control, I am worried that you might be left on the fringes as usual to be voiceless spectators. You might start to say, “Here they go again!” and walk away angry, confused and misled. You might start to get rebellious against authority and grow cynical about society because we, your adults, cannot agree.
If our rallies and exchange of harsh words hurt you, please forgive us, your elders. It is surely not our intention to cause you distress or to lead you to get discouraged. Believe me my dear sons and daughters, we, your Church elders, stand against contraception and abortion because we love you, we love God and we love His commandments. Maybe our fault is that we have not clarified it earlier that we are not fighting to win over the other. 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 contraception because we know it can harm your soul. Believe me. Contraception harms your soul. Contraception is corruption.
You heard then-candidate now-President Noynoy Aquino during his campaign “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap!” He was elected in a landslide victory because he spoke what we carried in our hearts. Corruption is the cancer of the Philippines that prevents us from growing. When he called us his “boss,” we cheered. When he banned “wang wang” in the streets and the moral “wang wang” in the bureaucracy, we followed his vision.
My dear youth, contraception is corruption. The use of government money, taxpayers’ money, to give out contractive pills is corruption. Contraceptive pills teach us this: “It is alright to have sex with someone provided you are safe from babies. Babies are a nuisance.” A culture of contraception looks at babies as reasons for our poverty. Birth control, they say, means more food, more classrooms, more houses and better health for mothers. 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 and more hospitals if we would be less corrupt. Send out the corrupt officials, not the babies! My dear youth, your birth was not a mistake. Your birth was God’s gift to us, your elders. You are not the problem. You are our blessing. The problem is the corruption of your elders, we, your elders. We, your elders, must change so your future can be brighter. Pardon those who say children are a nuisance. No! No! No! You are a blessing and I embrace you all and I love you all!
Contraception always fails like all human inventions. When contraception fails, a birth-control generation will give birth to an abortion generation. A contraceptive pill is to be considered an essential medicine. If it is a medicine, what sickness is it curing? Is pregnancy a sickness? If it is a medicine that is supposed to cure, why do healthy women get sick with cancer after taking the contraceptive pills? My dear youth, contraception makes healthy people sick. It makes pure people corrupt. It makes us look at babies as nuisance, not gifts. My dear youth, anyone who treats you as nuisance, I will fight. I am against contraception because I am pro-child. I am against contraception because I am pro-mother. I love you, my dear children. Thank God for mothers who give birth to jewels like you!
I know that many of you, my dear youth, do not believe in the Church anymore. You think the Church does not understand. The Church is autistic—“may sariling mundo! The bishops are not listening. The bishops preach from their ivory towers. The bishops are not aware of what the majority of the people undergo. They are distant and unreachable.”
You are somehow correct but not fully.
Matanda na kami! Totoong matanda pero ang matanda ay tagapagpaalala sa mga bata. Kung puro bata na lang tayong lahat, wala ng magtuturo at magpapa-alala sa mga gintong aral ng kahapon. 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 you not to forget our Filipino values, the commandments of God and the rules of good character. You have jokingly told me to dye my hair so I can look young and handsome. Jokingly, yet truthfully, I told you, I will not. It took me 51 years to have this. I am proud to be gray-haired and old. Being old makes me different from you but it also gives me a chance to be a reminder of the silver lessons of the past and the golden promises of the life to come. Ang matanda ay tanda! Ang matanda ay living reminder.
When we teach you that contraception is corruption, we are not being insensitive to the challenge of modernity or deaf to surveys of social behavior. Rather, we are just being protective of you because we know it can destroy you sooner than you think. Europe is on the downtrend. It is losing its soul because it now relies on the influx of migrants to keep it afloat. They are facing a severe wintertime in their childbirths. It is losing its identity because it does not have children and youth to carry the torch. They started with contraception, they embraced abortion and now they are killing their weak and sick grandparents. Paul VI prophesied that artificial contraception could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. And it is happening in Europe. We, your elders, plead with you do not follow that path to moral corruption. Dare to be different. Dare to be better!
We want to be a tiger economy in Asia like our neighbor countries. What is a tiger without teeth? What is progress without giggling children? For whom do we envision progress—just for ourselves? What is victory at the expense of our immortal souls? Matanda na kami. Kaya kami tumanda para mayroon kayong tanda sa buhay.
Mga apo, mga anak, mga pamangkin at mahal sa buhay. There is no Tagalog or Pangasinan word for contraception because it is not only ungodly, it is also unFilipino.
Contraception is corruption. Contraception is the mother of abortion. Contraception makes sex pleasure cheap without responsibility. Contraception says babies and children are annoying. Contraception is contra youth. Contraception is contra children. Contraception is against us.
Fight contraception or we perish as a godly nation. Youth of Pangasinan, youth of the Philippines, I love you. Because I love you, I will fight contraception. This battle is for you and I fight for love of you.

From the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, August 4, 2012.
+Socrates B. Villegas
Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
Apostolic administrator of San Fernando de La Union

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/28494-the-rh-bill

The RH Bill
•
•
Published on 07 August 2012
Hits: 636
Written by MABEL P. VILLARICA-MAMBA
The total estimated population of the Philippines this year is 103,775,002 with an average growth rate of 1.8 percent per annum or around 1.8 million people annually. In 50 years, providing the growth rate remains constant, our population will easily double.
At present, the Philippines is the 12th most populated country in the world. I believe people are a country’s greatest resource. However, for a family living below the poverty line earning P200 a day as a pedicab driver or a scavenger, each additional mouth to feed means less for more.

When I was in Grade 7 at the Colegio de Sta. Rosa in Makati, we had sex education. We were taught the different kinds of contraceptive methods, both natural and artificial. Our teacher, Miss Pangilinan, emphasized our Catholic faith admonishes married couples to use the natural method even if artificial contraceptives are more effective. I don’t quite remember if I ever discussed this with my parents but I never forgot what I learned in our class.

That was in 1981. . . 31 years ago.

It is now 2012 and today, the House of Representatives will vote on the “The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011[RH Bill].”

I read the bill and tried to see if any of the criticisms against it are true. Among the placards carried by the rallyists during the Prayer Rally at the EDSA Shrine on Saturday, I was most affected by those implying the proposed law legalizes abortion.

I have a very good friend in the US who had a problematic pregnancy. Tests showed that the baby, when born, won’t live for more than a few hours. Further, her life was at risk. Her doctor advised abortion. She didn’t want to, being a devout Catholic, but she also thought about her family and her very young children.

When she was scheduled for the operation, she and her husband prayed for a sign. It was a difficult decision to make. The sign came and she didn’t push thru with the surgery. She took care of the baby in her womb until it reached full-term, as if everything was normal. As expected, the baby died a few hours after birth. God had a plan and it is always according to His will, but as in the beginning and in the end, it was my friend’s choice. It was not the state’s even if medical abortion is legal there.

Section 3 (j) of the RH Bill provides “While this Act recognizes that abortion is illegal and punishable by law, the government shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner;”

How clearer can this be? Abortion is illegal and is punishable by law in the Philippines. The law has not been changed and it doesn’t distinguish either whether it is medically necessary or not.

I tried to find other questionable provisions and yet, I couldn’t find any. Could it be the compulsory sex education in schools? Or is it the access to what the bill calls “modern family planning methods”?

The bill does not even enumerate the available “modern family planning methods”. When we were in Grade 7, we were shown pictures and diagrams, including the purpose of each.

In truth, the bill doesn’t impose, enforce or establish any program, policy or rule that takes away our freedom of choice. In fact, the bill repeatedly emphasizes on the right to choose without discriminating against sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, political affiliation and ethnicity. The bill doesn’t likewise mention poverty alleviation nor does it say it is a population control measure. It strongly stresses on the right to life, particularly of the mother and her child.

As a Catholic, I don’t understand what pushed the Church to summon its resources to oppose the RH bill. If the teachers and nuns of my alma mater were able to instill in me and my classmates the value of life from conception to birth, why can’t other Catholic institutions such as parishes, religious orders and organizations do the same? Are we as Catholics unsure, insecure & uncertain of our teachings? Are we lacking in confidence our own church laws which prohibit the use of artificial contraceptive methods are heeded by the faithful? Don’t we trust ourselves and our fellow Catholics to do what we believe and are taught is the right thing to do?

Sen. Pia Cayetano said, “The RH Bill can’t be drafted to adhere to one religion.” She is correct. We are a predominantly Catholic country but I don’t think this gives us [Catholics] the authority to dictate our beliefs on others. If I can give my unsolicited and humble advice, let us (Catholics) strengthen our faith and those of our brethren, instead of obstructing the state in the performance of its responsibilities, which is to look after the benefit of everyone — Catholics or not.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/368805/house-no-palace-pressure-on-rh\">http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/368805/house-no-palace-pressure-on-rh\">http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/368805/house-no-palace-pressure-on-rh\


House: No Palace Pressure On RH
By CHARISSA M. LUCI
August 6, 2012, 7:03pm
MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno S. Aquino III summoned at least 160 congressmen to a meeting on Monday morning in Malacañang and urged them to finally determine the fate of the highly divisive Reproductive Health (RH) bill without giving the marching order for them to vote in favor of the proposal.
Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, one of the 160 lawmakers who attended yesterday’s meeting with President Aquino, revealed that following the President’s call, congressmen arrived at a consensus to schedule the voting on Monday afternoon. As of press time on Monday, at least 200 congressmen have already confirmed they will vote in favor of the RH bill.
“The President only asked us to terminate the debates. He did not pressure us to vote in favor of the bill,” Castelo said.
He said that even the RH oppositors agreed on the termination of the more than one year of discussions on House Bill (HB) 4244 or the Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011 and put it to a vote.
“The termination of the period of debate on the RH bill will be voted this afternoon. That was the consensus here. Let us see at plenary later if they will abide,” Castelo said.
HB 4244 has been subject to plenary interpellations since May 17 last year.
Castelo said the meeting was attended by all representatives of different political parties and the House opposition bloc.
House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali M. Gonzales II said the President had invited all 284 House members to share his thoughts on the RH bill.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the bill’s principal authors, said they expect that HB 4244 would gain the nod of at least 140 congressmen during the plenary voting.
The Akbayan party-list, whose representative Walden Bello authored the RH measure, said the plenary voting “is the final push that will precede the birth of the RH law.”
“This is akin to the highs and lows experienced by mothers during childbirth. While, Reproductive Health advocates and their allies have borne with such a gruelling process, in the end however, at the time most critical, it is Congress that must act now as a midwife to the RH law,” Akbayan vice chairperson Marie Chris Cabreros said in a statement.
Gonzales said they would push for “nominal voting” so that it would set the line who voted for or against the RH measure.
The Mandaluyong lawmaker sees that no compromise agreement would be reached between the government and the Catholic Church on the bill, since the Catholic Church hierarchy maintained that using funds for their contraceptives is against the Catholic dogma.
When asked if they are just wasting their time pushing for the bill, which faces an uphill climb in the Senate, he said, “Hindi pwedeng itigil na namin dahil ayaw ng Senado. At the end of the day, kailangan gawin namin ang trabaho namin.”
The House has yet to pass on second reading the RH bill, while the Senate has endorsed for plenary discussions its own version of responsible parenthood measure.
As this developed, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), Makati Business Club (MBC), Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), and the Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) called for the passage of the RH bill.
“We call on our legislators to end the debates and to vote for its approval. We wholeheartedly support Pres. (Benigno) Aquino’s statement that ‘Perhaps the debates should end and Congress can decide, once and for all, on the responsible parenthood bill’,” Bishop Efraim Tendero, PCEC national director, said.
In Iloilo City, all six lawmakers in the city and province of Iloilo publicly declared support for the passage of RH bill.
However, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo asked the Catholic faithful to pray for President Aquino and lawmakers to junk the RH bill.
“Let’s pray for our President. Let’s pray for members of Congress and Senate,” said Lagdameo at the prayer rally against House Bill No. 4244 (HB 4244) in Iloilo City last August 4
At the Senate, Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said he is contemplating on resigning as Senate Majority Leader so he can campaign full-time against the RH bill.
Sotto, who had been a vocal adversary of the Aquino-backed measure, said he might consider such moves so he would have more leeway as an ordinary senator to openly fight the passage of the controversial measure into law.
Once he does this, Sotto said it would be his way of declaring an “all-out war” against the bill which the Aquino administration has declared a priority measure.
The Liberal Party (LP), meanwhile, kept mum on the party’s caucus amid speculations it was related to the RH measure.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda declined to talk about the details of the LP caucus. —with reports from Leslie Ann G. Aquino, Tara Yao, Anna Liza T. Villas, Madel R. Sabater and Hannah L. Torregoza


http://mb.pressmart.com/manilabulletin/publications/ManilaBulletin/MB/2012/08/07/articlehtmls/POPULATION-GROWTH-AFFECTS-GDP-EXPANSION-07082012101051.shtml


Population growth affects Philippine economic expansion and the labor force must increase at a faster pace, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told lawmakers in a budget hearing yesterday “We need to provide the same level of access to the poor,“ Balisacan said when asked about providing birth control to those who can't afford it. (Bloomberg)

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.