There's a shortage of sharing, not of food

Personal Recess

I will be on "recess" from this blog until after November 10, unless there are extremely important developments in the debate over the RH bill. 

I am aware of the essays and commentaries versus the RH bill that have been published in the newspapers or on the Internet in the past several weeks, but none of these contain any point that had not been brought up earlier. 

In the meantime, I invite you, dear readers, to peruse the archives of this blog, which contain enough material to debunk and bury the claims of the supporters of the RH bill. I also suggest that you visit the websites of CBCP for Life and Filipinos for Life.

The New Archbishop of Manila and the RH Bill

The Catholic Position on the RH Bill congratulates His Excellency, Luis Antonio G. Tagle DD, Bishop of Imus, on his appointment to the See of Manila as its 32nd Archbishop by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. 

On this occasion, it is important to recall that the Archbishop-elect has spoken out repeatedly versus the RH bill. This blog's posts on Archbishop-elect Tagle's statements versus the bill can be found here. 

The CBCP for Life Youtube channel has all of Archbishop-elect Tagle's videos versus the RH bill in one page: The Word Exposed - RH Bill Series. 

Call to Prayer

(I will maintain this post as the lead post of this blog until October 10, 2011. Newer articles below. CAP)

In the face of the onslaught of secularism and pansexualist ideologies throughout the world, the call to prayer must be sounded more insistently than ever before.

I invite all my Catholic readers of Filipino heritage to take part in the following prayer crusade:

A million roses for the world: A Filipino campaign of prayer for the whole world

How NOT to help women

From Bobit Avila's latest column for the Philippine Star, published on October 6, 2011:

Finally, despite his problem in communicating in the English language, Sen. Lito Lapid entered the controversial debate in the Senate on the controversial issue of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, coming up with a stinging question directed to its principal sponsor Sen. Pia Cayetano about the possible side effects of contraceptives. Sen. Lapid apparently revealed that his wife took such pills after she gave birth to their second child. Yet she still got pregnant and bore a baby with a heart disease who later died at the tender age of nine years old. What a tragedy for Sen. Lapid. 

Speaking in the Tagalog (they sometimes call this Filipino) language, Sen. Lapid asked his wife if she was taking birth control pills and she answered him with a “yes.” By some divine revelation, suddenly, the pro-RH Senators were faced with someone among their peers who took contraceptives in the hope that it can stop pregnancy. But this totally failed and worse of all, the baby was born with a birth defect, thanks to that contraceptive. 

When she was asked by Sen. Lapid whether contraceptives can cause physical deformities, Sen. Pia Cayetano dismissed them, saying that no research shows that contraceptives can cause birth defects. Come now Sen. Cayetano, there are countless research studies that prove that contraceptives do not only kill (as in the case of the baby of Sen. Lapid), it also causes birth defects, and yes for mothers they cause breast cancer. 

Incidentally, the month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. If Sen. Pia Cayetano truly wants to help our womenfolk, she must instead warn them of the dangers of the use of contraceptives as they are not a guarantee that it prevents pregnancy, but also maim babies if they get born. Worse of all, they can cause breast cancer to women or mothers who use them. If Sen. Pia Cayetano truly cares for our womenfolk, she should instead warn them of the dangers in the use of abortifacient contraceptives.

Money that could be better spent elsewhere...

From CBCP for Life, two articles on the massive price tag of the RH bill:

New revelation: RH bill price tag = P13.7 billion

MANILA, Oct. 5, 2011–It took a Lito Lapid to finally reveal one of the pro-RH lobby’s well-kept secrets: the gargantuan price tag of the proposed contraceptive welfare program.

The Pampango senator, ridiculed by the pro-RH side for his inability to debate the “reproductive health” (RH) bill’s proponents in English, managed to eke out the figure Tuesday from one of the measure’s sponsors, Sen. Pia Cayetano.

After hemming and hawing, Cayetano admitted during interpellations on Senate Bill 2865 that the Department of Health (DOH) had asked for P13.7 billion to implement the RH bill for the year 2012 alone – an amount bigger than the individual budgets of the departments of energy, finance, foreign affairs, justice, labor, science, tourism, and trade. The figure also dwarfs the budgets proposed for the Office of the President and Congress, as well as for the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The revelation of the huge RH budget is the latest in the string of exposes to hound the pro-RH lobby, which had earlier been found to be using outdated data on maternal deaths and abortion. RH proponents had long been saying that the budget would only be P3 billion annually.

Lapid pointed out that even at P3 billion per year, slum dwellers could already be sent back to the provinces and given their own land over a 10-year period.

“[Iyan ay] sapat na halaga para bigyan ng lupa ang squatter sa probinsya,” he told Cayetano.

The gargantuan RH budget prompted Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to interject, asking why DOH officials did not mention the amount in budget hearings.

Enrile blasted RH proponents for not being transparent on the real purposes of the bill, pointing out that billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money could go only to artificial birth control and that this could all boil down to “tawaran” or haggling.

“This now suggests to me that at the bottom of this bill this is a measure to control the population of the country. Why is DOH not telling us that it is anticipating that it will involve such a huge amount of funding coming from tax money? We have to scrutinize this bill very carefully. This might be a trap for the country.”

Enrile recalled that the Marcos regime did not entirely implement a US-funded population control program, as it was a US foreign policy dictate. True enough, the declassification in the 1990s of the National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests, written by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1974, showed that the Philippines was among 13 countries targeted for depopulation to protect American commercial interests.

“This bill is unfair to the Senate. It does not tell us what it wants to do. Maybe I’m dense or not as intelligent as the sponsors of the bill but my impression is this bill is not candid enough on what is its real purpose,” he said.

In response, Cayetano again resorted to appeals to emotion, nearly shedding tears in describing the situation of poor families and mothers dying of childbirth – ignoring recent studies that maternal deaths have gone down by more than 80% since the 1980s.

Cayetano said part of the funding would go to “basic” and “comprehensive” facilities, or birthing centers at the community level.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, however, said such facilities have long been put up in the communities, even without an RH bill. (CBCP for Life)

****

RH funding could lead to more taxes, higher health premiums – Recto

MANILA, Oct. 6, 2011–Brace for higher taxes, more expensive healthcare premiums.

This scenario was raised by Sen. Ralph G. Recto on Wednesday, citing provisions in the controversial “reproductive health” (RH) bill that would require billions in taxpayers’ money.

Interpellating one of the Senate sponsors, Sen. Pia Cayetano, Recto pointed to Sections 9 and 10 of Senate Bill 2865, concerning state subsidies for contraceptives.

Section 9, which declares family planning supplies as “essential medicines,” requires that hormonal contraceptives, intrauterine devices, and injectables, among others, “be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and local hospitals, provincial, city, and municipal health offices, including rural health units.”

Meanwhile, Section 10 mandates the Department of Health (DoH) to lead in the procurement and distribution of family planning supplies for the whole country. The section prescribes a formula for determining budget allotments: “(a) the number of women of reproductive age and couples who want to space or limit their children; (b) contraceptive prevalence rate, by type of method used; and (c) cost of family planning supplies.”

Reading the two sections together, Recto said the bill would require the government to pay for the contraceptives of as much as 44 million people.

On Tuesday, Cayetano admitted that the DoH had sought P13.7 billion in funding for the RH bill for 2012 alone. On Wednesday, Cayetano said P7.5 billion would be needed yearly to pay for 22,000 nurses and 4,500 midwives.

Such huge funding requirement would take away resources needed to combat the leading causes of deaths in the country, which are heart disease, cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, tuberculosis, respiratory diseases, and diabetes, Recto argued.

“Are you going take it from these? It’s a zero sum game, unless you ask people to contribute more payroll tax or through PhilHealth,” he said.

Recto added: “We’re promising too much and you can’t deliver … And is this the best way to help the poor?”

Cayetano offered to delete Section 10. (Dominic Francisco)

To solve poverty...

...the following should be given to the poor.

Philippine Daily Inquirer Editorial Cartoon, October 3, 2011

The PDI webpage for this particular cartoon has the following comment by a certain "bgcorg" as well, which deserves to be published on this and other blogs dedicated to the pro-life crusade against the RH bill.

The Editorial Cartoon today, October 3, 2011, eloquently paints in "a thousand words," the pressing needs of most people in the country today just surviving in a deluge [what a wet, floody day!] of poverty. Jobs, education, basic health care [hi, senior citizens!], livelihood opportunities, timely government aid [read: prospective efforts to anticipate climate change calamities or at least mitigate their devastating consequences included], government support to absorb the impact of high prices in fuel and transportation, basic and prime commodities and essential needs, if salaries do not cope up with inflation [as it happens now], affordable housing and a better quality of life worthy of human dignity to spread the blessings of democracy. The life saving device thrown to the almost drowning constituents of this country would give them HOPE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE symbolized by jobs, education and basic health care, among others that are directly what they would need under the circumstances, not condoms or artificial contraceptive methods, devices and procedures (mechanical, surgical/medical, chemical) that would only be devastating to achieve zero or negative population growth in 40 years. Advocates of the rh bill surprisingly are looking at canned solutions foisted by interest groups greedy for profit, not the overall national interest in the long-term perspective. In pursuit of hope and social justice, eminently stand the keywords of JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES, especially for those who have less in life. Level the playing field! 

The people are asking for "bread" and the cute proponents of the rh bill are giving them "cake." We should, instead, apply to the problem of poverty what is the correct and proper solution as true patriots of this country: GIVE THE PEOPLE FISHING RODS so that they can earn fishing for a lifetime, not just food on the table for a day, as the old proverb goes. We would be used, against our true national interest and our cherished patrimony by giving in to the subtle campaign of international assistance in exchange for 40 years of commercial domination and colonialization not only in the billions of pesos annually for the purchase of "essential medicines" such as condoms and artificial contraceptive methods, devices and procedures. This is giving the people cake when they ask for bread. On the other hand, if this government works for the full human development of its constituents so that social justice is restored in Christ in this country, seeing hope and preoccupied with gainful livelihood or employment opportunities, less pre-occupation in sex during reproductive age could result, for a more healthy and sound population growth rate that allows for a "replacement rate in population growth. Proponents of the rh bill are silent about the evil consequences of a zero or negative growth rate, deliberately, or feigning innocence, just to satisfy their hidden agenda! No patriotic vision for our country, caring nothing about the future of the youth of our Fatherland, its cultural values and positive core values of life, love, sex, marriage and the family. 

I congratulate the Editorial Cartoon of the Inquirer today. In a nutshell, you have picturesquely captured the message against the legalization of condoms and artificial contraceptive practices. While information is good leading to an informed choice, it would be mental dishonesty to disparage the use of modern Natural Family Planning Methods in favor of artificial contraception and condoms, injecting the wrong idea to those "needing the information" that modern Natural Family Planning Methods are expensive, unsafe and not reliable [the very contrary is true and statistically proven by research to be so] while supplying them with a liberal stock of contraceptive devices with the assurance that they are now "legal" and not against one's conscience to use, all at the expense of public funds and with the full force of the "Daang matuwid." Thinking Filipinos should really now say, "NO TO THE RH BILL!!!!"