Advice for the President

From today's Manila Times editorial, Popularity and Trust Ratings:

Another effort that will surely help restore the President’s top-of-the-heap image and win back the 18 percent decline in popularity from his highest ratings a year ago, is for him to make it clear once and for all that he is no longer behind the work to pass the so-called Reproductive Health Bill. 

The RHB does not address any urgent problem. By placing himself in a position opposed to the Roman Catholic Church and to those of the evangelical churches that are also against abortion and contraception (because no contraceptive medicine or devise except the condom has been shown to not have an abortifacient effect), he has only gained a strong enemy. It is largely because of his RHB stand that some bishops have become nasty (they shouldn’t be!) toward him. These bishops still have a large and loyal flock. 

Instead, the President should be seen to be zealously working to mitigate the effects of inflation on the poor and to revive both our comatose industrialization and crippled agriculture.