"If we fall from grace, we have only ourselves to blame..."

Form the Philippine Star:

RH bill passage: A humbling moment!
Bobit S. Avila (December 20, 2012)

I look at the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in both legislative houses in the Senate and Congress last Monday as a watershed in Philippine history as it gives us a not-so-true-picture of the kind of people who represent the Filipino people in the Legislature. I have always looked at these people as nothing but greedy politicians who feed on the poverty of our people, blaming even the poor for having too many children, but never blaming themselves for feasting in the pork paid for by the taxpayers of this country. They call our overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as heroes, but even in honoring the OFW, they mostly get lip service from our politicians.

I look at this RH incident as a “humbling moment” especially for the Catholic Church and the realization that we Filipinos despite the millions that troop to the Feast of the Nazarene in Quiapo or during the Sinulog Week in Cebu City have become mere Catholics in name. I spent a huge part of Tuesday afternoon before the Blessed Sacrament, asking our Lord, “O Lord, have thou forsaken our nation?” I’m sure that God himself was disappointed and I can only ask the Lord to forgive our Congressmen and Senators for they know not what they do!

At this point, it is time for the Catholic Church to get its act together. In this spiritual battle, we have encountered priests and even Bishops who send confusing signals to the Laity about the RH bill. Perhaps the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should seriously consider ways to strengthen our Catholic faith, and openly support the recent moves to create the Catholic Vote Movement so politicians will take notice.

Meanwhile, allow me to take a post RH bill comment from Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen, Dagupan who said “The Reproductive Health bill has been passed by the Senate and Congress through a majority vote. They might have won through the tyranny of numbers but it does not mean that they are right. It is only a matter of time and then we will see more violations of “Thou shall not kill” and “Thou shall not commit adultery” among our families, our youth and children. If the President will sign this into law, he will give us a moral time bomb wrapped as a gift to celebrate Christmas. This law will open more doors to abortion and more crimes against women.” We are recording these arguments for future use.

At this point, allow me to congratulate the brave Senators and Congressmen and women who fought long and hard and more importantly, kept the faith and voted against the RH bill. They have fought a good fight, but history will judge their actions whether they are right and we are wrong. One thing is sure… Filipinos nowadays are no longer as religious as they were 25 years ago and if we fall from grace, we only have ourselves to blame.

The Greatest Commandment taught by our Lord Jesus Christ is to Love God with all your heart, your strength and your soul… and your neighbor as thyself. But the approval of the RH bill has tipped the scales away from God, whom we should love first, but greed, lust for power and materialism have overcome the people’s Representatives and I’m sure there are many Filipinos out there who are just as disappointed as we are.

In an article by Michael Voris, entitled “Suicide by Heresy” emailed to me, Voris says “When a heresy is left unchecked… people’s minds are poisoned. When their minds are poisoned… they actually lose the ability to perceive the truth any longer and they begin to live a lie.” I used this quote because in order to have this bill passed, the pro-RH Congressmen and their supporters used all kinds of squid tactics and even outright falsehood just to have this bill passed and it saddens me that their venom succeeded.

Where do we go from here? Divorce? Enough already! Even the Liberal Party issued a statement thanking the Senators and Congressmen “for engaging each other to forge a law that truly reflects the will of the people they represent. We thank an active citizenry that engaged our legislators in discourse as regards the merits of the bill. Through it all, the Liberal Party stood firm in its bedrock principles.” It makes you wonder what those bedrock principles are… the lying, the cheating even during the Congressional vote?

How far will the Liberal Party go in its pursuit to keep its power? In Cebu City, the Liberal Party isn’t really a huge party as it has to rely on the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) of Rep. Tomas Osmeña. In the Province of Cebu, it is the One Cebu Party that is dominant. But the Liberal Party has something up their sleeves… they can count on the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend Governor Gwen F. Garcia. Hmmm, no wonder the LP’s are not even campaigning in Cebu… not only will they get rid of Gov. Gwen courtesy of the Ombudsman… they also have the PCOS machine!

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mo-pzcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

United Youth Alliance Against RH in Cebu - Shooting Straight Show with Bobit Avila - Full Video

Where did the money come from? And more on population control.

From Valeriano "Bobit" Avila's column on May 21, 2012, titled Will NEDA now push for the RH bill?

There is no doubt that just like the Senate Impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, PNoy has literally used all the instrumentalities of the Philippine government in order to pin down CJ Corona… even with lies and innuendoes. I can only second-guess that the same thing is happening in his pushing for the RH bill.

A case in point is the report by newly-appointed Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan (last week, he took over from NEDA Sec. Cayetano Paderanga who quit due to health reasons) who got his marching orders from the President to fast track the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects, which after almost two years as President has failed to take off. But his other Presidential order is to support the RH bill. Come now…will NEDA and the Regional Development Council Region 7 be pushing for the RH bill?

For sure, Sec. Balisacan is getting international help in promoting the RH bill, when the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that their Philippine Office raised US28.5 Million in one year and that this money will be used to promote reproductive and maternal health, one of the country’s Millennium Development Goals.

My question is… where did that US$28.5 Million come from? Are they the foreign lobby money for the RH bill that has been used to pay for expensive one-page advertisements by leftist students organizations purportedly supporting the RH bill? Let’s see if the Aquino regime will show some kind of transparency and tell the Filipino people where the money to support the RH bill came from.

As the nation’s top economist, Sec. Balisacan ought to listen to Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew who, as we already wrote that last May 7, came up with an article entitled “Warning Bell for Developed Countries: Declining Birth Rates” that came out in Forbes Magazine.

Lee Kuan Yew said, “There will be a shift in power unless birth rates increase in the developed world.” The old world thinking that fewer people mean a better economy is already passé’. Sec. Balisacan should be advised that his economic policies should look further after the Aquino government where they boasted that the economy would be much better. But then if we cut down our population, then please don’t expect a rosy future ahead for our country, thanks to PNoy’s RH bill that he will pass very soon.

Even without an RH Bill, the Philippines' population growth rate is still declining

Phl population on a decline w/o an RH Bill

SHOOTING STRAIGHT

Valeriano Avila 

The BusinessWorld’s Monday edition headline entitled “Population Count at P92.34M” is something that we’ve already known and written intensely. Allow me to quote the opening statement of that article, “The country’s population ballooned to 92.34 million in 2010 even as the pace of growth has slowed, latest official estimates show.” This is what we’ve been harping about in the last two years under the Aquino Regime that continues to insist that we need a Reproductive Health (RH) Bill to cull our purportedly “runaway” population growth.

This was the report that came from the 2010 Census of Population and Housing by the National Statistics Office (NSO) which proves that our annual population growth rate is only 1.9% when it should be at least 2.1%. This means our population is now declining, to think we don’t even have an RH Bill yet, as it is still being debated in the Congress floor. We have already more than emphasized that when populations go on a decline, it will take at least 3 or 4 generations before the decline can be arrested.

Our best example to date is Japan, whose population peaked after World War II, but then because of the remarkable economic growth that Japan experienced after the war, her population started to decline in the last 60 years. Today, so many kindergarten schools have shut down. Middle or high school campuses are almost empty and there are more old people walking the streets than young people.

By the time the Japanese government realized their serious mistake, it was already too late for them. Just a couple of years ago, at least two major Japanese multinational companies urged their employees to go home early and make babies. I don’t know if that program had an effect on Japan’s economic growth. Another country is Singapore, which, due to their being a small country, had no choice but to build high rise tenement housing for their people. Thus, with limited room, they could ill-afford to have more children because of their cramp spaces.

Now, Singapore is trying to attract an expat population so they could hire the best and the brightest from other nations. Without this, Singapore’s economy would ground to a halt. We are so blessed here in the Philippines because we have a robust population growth. Look at all the nations experiencing a robust economic growth in these times… China, India. I rest my case.

Without a doubt, the Philippines does not need an RH Bill. If there is anything that we direly need, it is to stop the imbalance in our money or wealth distribution. The rich continues to thrive, while the poor remains in that vicious cycle of poverty with no prospect of getting out of it. If the lot of the poor in our society can be elevated to become the middle class, it would mean a balanced distribution of wealth.

There’s a book entitled “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty” written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, which syndicated columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about recently. I already ordered this book in FullyBook as I don’t want to get it in e-books. Anyway, the present system of governance in this country, where the ruling political and business elite have all but excluded the poor from our nation’s development, only tells you what we’ve been saying all along… we need a total overhaul of our current centralized system. If we don’t, someday Myanmar will overtake us and this is a reality we could face in the future.

Meanwhile, there’s that phenomenon whereby so many people living in the rural areas are migrating to live in urban centers. This is something that the Philippine government ought to look into. Manila based commentators insist that we are overpopulated because, like what the last Census has shown, the CALABARZON area is now the most populous with 12.61 million people living in the outskirts of Metro Manila, which is has become the second placer with 11.86 million people. Cebu with 2.62 million is not bad.

Once more we appeal to our readers, especially those Catholics whose hearts are close to our Lord Jesus Christ to come out in the open and help expose this despicable crime that would fall upon our nation under the guise of being a health program to protect women, when the reality is, the RH Bill is merely aimed to legalize the killing of the unborn.

Incidentally, I was at the drugstore the other day getting my prescription medicines and saw condoms, which you could buy over the counter in all drugstores. So if condoms are freely available (not only in drugstores but even in convenience stores), why is there a need to legislate this? Clearly the aim is to let corporations pay for the condoms or other contraceptive needs of its employees… something that unfortunately even the Cebu Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (CCCI) are totally unaware of.

Not the kind of foreign aid we need

From Bobit Avila's January 5, 2012 column entitled "Is the UN sneaking an RH program in Mindanao?"

If you lost family or children due to the flash floods that devastated Cagayan de Oro City, Iligan City and Dumaguete City and are still able to have children, chances are, you will have more children to replace the ones who perished in that flood. I’m writing this because of the thousands that perished in that flood, many of them small children. Of course, we know well enough that making babies is not a priority for the victims as of now. 

This is why I was appalled by a report that came from another paper last Monday that the Manila office of the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) proposed an allocation of $1.76 million (P77 million) to address the “Reproductive health needs of displaced populations, as well as the monitoring, prevention and containment of possible outbreak of disease.” Say what? 

This only proves to you that the UN attached agencies just want to pursue their own abortion agenda even if the Philippines has not yet approved the RH bill. This should trigger the question: can this UN agency pursue its own RH agenda whether the host country allows it or not? 

Perhaps a bigger question we ought to ask is, “whether or not this program has the blessings of the Aquino regime.” Knowing how badly P-Noy wants to pass the RH bill, I wouldn’t be surprised if what Ocha is doing in Mindanao has the President’s imprimatur. Could this be the President’s way of shortcutting the Legislative process? 

Perhaps the UN Ocha does not realize (but I think they know this too well) that the priority of the displaced people now living in evacuation centers is not to have sex with their partners and make babies... rather their priority is to put a roof on their heads. We already heard on TV many victims being interviewed that most of their basic needs have already been addressed by the tons of donations given by the Filipino people. Most complain about not having a house to return to. Many are asking if they can find work. The priorities of the calamity victims are very clear to us and we should help them get back on their feet as soon as possible. 

But obviously the Manila office of Ocha has a hidden agenda when it launched the “Philippines (Mindanao) Humanitarian Action Plan 2012” purportedly to raise $28 million (P1.26 billion) to help the hundreds of thousands of victims of Sendong... supposedly to give them drinking water, food and an emergency shelter. But in truth, they are mere smokescreen for their real objective, and that is to distribute reproductive health kits and cull the population in Northern Mindanao.

I dare say that the UN Ocha office should back down with their sinister plans. They should use that money to help the victims get back on their feet. At this point, we ought to ask Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) to conduct a Senate investigation as to whether or not this UN agency is implementing an RH program even if the Philippines has not yet approved the law on RH. What does the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) say about sneaking this RH program into the country?

Why the hurry to pass the RH Bill?

From Bobit Avila's latest column entitled Foreign agents funding the RH bill? Hmmmm (December 13, 2011)

A very impatient Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III has tasked House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. to push harder for the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, but the House Speaker pointed out that there are still a lot of people who want to interpellate this in the plenary hall. 

Now why is the President so much in a hurry to push the RH bill? Is he under some kind of outside pressure? If so, who is pressuring him? Surely, it is not the Americans pressuring him because last week I met with US Ambassador Harry Thomas at the Cebu Country Club and he told me in no uncertain terms, “The United States does not have a policy regarding the RH bill in the Philippines.” With that statement, then there must be others who are pressuring the President to speed up the passage of this bill. 

P-Noy should also show some kind of respect to House Speaker Belmonte; after all, he is also the head of a co-equal branch of the government, which should not be subservient with the Executive Branch. Having said that, I can understand why Speaker Belmonte told the President that there are still many Congressmen who have questions in their minds to ask especially who are the foreign backers of the RH bill? 

Does the President even know that there is a law dubbed Batas Pambansa Bilang 39, An Act Regulating the Activities and Requiring the Registration of Foreign Agents in the Philippines” or the Foreign Agents Act of 1979? Why am I mentioning this? Well, I gathered that there’s a group called the Forum for Family Planning Development who I heard was trying to recruit prominent or celebrity Catholics to back the RH bill. 

Just a week ago, I saw a vehicle with a loudspeaker going around the streets of Cebu espousing the need for an RH bill. Where did this people get the funding for this? Come on guys, we were not born yesterday, someone is paying the tab for this and it surely isn’t the Catholic Church! So could they very well be funded by those so-called “foreign agents?” 

In section 3 of BP No. 39, a “foreign agent” refers to any person who acts or agrees to act as political consultant, public relations counsel, publicity agent, information representative, or as agent, servant, representative, or attorney for a foreign principal or for any domestic organization subsidized directly or indirectly in whole or in part by a foreign principal. The term “foreign agent” shall not include a duly accredited diplomatic or consular officer of a foreign country or officials of the United Nations and its agencies and of other international organizations recognized by the Republic of the Philippines. Ask where is the headquarters of the Forum for Family Planning Development and you will know if they are foreign agents or not. 

So now that we are clear on this, we should allow our Congressmen and Women to interpellate in the plenary session as to who are the principal backers of the RH bill and why there’s so much money being poured into this controversy and this country, Gads, even ABS-CBN came up with its own RH promo. So now let’s ask them who paid the bill for that promo? 

There’s also a group called the Wallace Global Fund or the Catholics For Choice that gave $75,000 in the year 2009 for a pilot program dubbed “Translating Research into Action” in support of the advocacy for Reproductive Health Rights in the Philippines. Is this group registered under BP No. 39 or the Foreign Agents Act? There are many other such organizations that have apparently targeted the Philippines for funding in support of the RH bill and I shudder to think that some members of the House of Representatives could have gotten a piece of this fund, which is why they are so rabidly promoting the passage of the RH bill.

Tidbits from Bobit Avila

From his October 6, 2011 column entitled, Now it can be told: Contraceptives kill!

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.

From his October 25, 2011 column, Coming soon: A city region called Mega Cebu

While the Senate already decided to move the debate on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill to next year in January, this elicited a reaction from Sen. Pia Cayetano who wanted to close the period of interpellation and proceed to the period of amendments and the eventual passage of the bill. But like it or not, there are still a lot of Senators who wanted to interpolate this on the session floor after they resume their session. As Senate Majority Leader Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto pointed out, “Anyone who wishes to interpolate this bill can do so; hence we cannot close the period of interpellation.” 

As expected, Sen. Pia Cayetano wants the debate closed because the truth about the RH bill is just coming out of the woodwork and the public needs to know whether this bill should be passed or junked on the Senate floor. The RH bill entails the use of billions of pesos to dole out contraceptives to the poor, when this same money could very well be used for other more important issues like poverty alleviation or the like. 

The Senate also needs to unmask the international groups strongly lobbying for the RH bill, which seek funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Little do Filipinos know that this is the group behind China’s “One Child” Policy? How many times do we have to remind those pushing for the RH bill that they are proposing something against the 1987 Constitution that protects the unborn. If on a worse case scenario this bill gets passed into a law, I guarantee you that cases will be filed for its unconstitutionality. In short, this money-making venture (after all, this law benefits foreign pharmaceuticals) is a waste of our time and resources and worse it is divisive.

Respect for life must never be sacrificed for anything else

From Bobit Avila's September 10, 2011 column for the Philippine Star:

“Dear Bobit, Thank you for your column in the Philippine STAR Sep. 3, 2011. I particularly take into focus the subject matter of Sen. Miriam Santiago. It is very clear she covets this position as an international judge in The Hague. It is also obvious she wants to cap her career in this institution. One wonders what principles one has to sacrifice to obtain a prize for one’s self. Is she sacrificing respect for life as enshrined in our Constitution by supporting the RH bill because this position is being dangled to her? 

The new revelations in the Senate on the RH debate show the extent of foreign lobbying for the passage of this RH bill. Lobby groups who were once hidden from the public eye are now exposed with their policies promoting abortion to the world as rights. I shudder to think the good Senator doesn’t have an inkling on this scenario. She is too intelligent to miss this point. Or is she closing her eyes because she desires the position so much? May God help our country. Douglas Gacasan.” 

At this point, there is some good news that Sen. Santiago has publicly admitted that the RH Bill still needs to be cleaned up of all references to population control. During last Monday’s interpellation she even said “The United States dictated policy on population control was ‘anathema’ to herself and the other RH bill sponsor Sen. Pia Cayetano.” Perhaps our prayers and rosaries for those supporting the RH bill have given them a new enlightenment that the RH bill is unnecessary, anti-life and anti-God!

On Sen. Defensor-Santiago's appeal to "the right to privacy": a reminder from Bobit Avila

From Bobit Avila's most recent column:

In her “Right to privacy” statement more than a week ago, Sen. Santiago quoted two known US cases, Griswold vs. Connecticut and the famous Roe v. Wade ruling in the early ’70s that allowed abortion rights in the United States. But what she did not clarify to the public is that Justice Harry Blackmum who declared that abortion is a “fundamental right” under the US constitution said very clearly, “Abortion is a fundamental right because if falls under the ‘penumbra’ of the right to privacy.” So in the end, we can see that Sen. Miriam is pushing for the Philippines to adopt laws on abortion! 

What Sen. Santiago also failed to inform us is that Norma McCovey, the original litigant of Roe vs. Wade (she used the pseudonym, Jane Roe) confessed to the grievous mistake she had committed and has since joined the Pro-Life Movement in the US since 1995 and has been working to overturn Roe vs. Wade with no success as evil had finally taken its roots in the US.

All about money

A new RH bill angle exposed! It's about money!

SHOOTING STRAIGHT By Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star) 

Updated May 20, 2011 12:00 AM 

The debate on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill resumed in Congress this week, where the pros and the antis debate once more on this highly-toxic issue, often with those supporting the RH bill (notice they have dropped their new name Responsible Parenthood and returned to using once again the term Reproductive Health) peddling lies in order to sell their proposed bill. I fully agree with pundits that this controversy has polarized the Filipino people. I would even dare say that something good has come out of this debate because it allowed the Filipino people to totally look at the RH bill from different angles... from the moral, the legal to the economic issue - whether our large population is the cause of our poverty.

Yes, those supporting the RH Bill would dare, misinform, cajole or even lie to the Filipino so that they could have this bill passed, while those that are against the RH bill can only tell you one story... the truth!

We’ve so often quoted the world’s foremost liar, Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Propaganda Minister (who at the end of the German Reich killed his own family and committed suicide) who made this most quoted quotation, “A lie repeated a thousand times, assumes the substance of truth.”

The RH bill has been peddled in Congress since the year 1999 in so many different House Bill numbers, selling us all sorts of lies, like for instance, contraceptives are not abortifacient. The latest that was revealed no less than by the former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral is that contraceptives can cause breast cancer, though it reduces the risk of cervical cancer.

But one good news out of this debate comes from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who expressed his opposition to the RH bill saying, “As far as we are concerned here, I don’t think it is a priority. I’ll be very frank with you. As far as I’m concerned, I am not ready to tinker with anything that is an act of God.” Thank God for Sen. Enrile, but what about Sen. Ed Angara and Sen. Miriam Santiago, who recently attacked the Pacman? Ah, that’s what we shall tackle in our column tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there’s that alleged anomaly that Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III exposed during his privilege speech concerning a P2.6 billion allocation for Family Health Programs during the time of Health Sec. Cabral dubbed the Maternal Neonatal and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) program of the local government units (LGU) which some LGUs say they never got. Sen. Sotto is right in asking for an investigation into this potential mess before the Senate would tackle the RH Bill, which also earmarks a large amount of government funds.

There’s more to the corruption issue now plaguing the RH controversy and it’s about money, money and more money from faceless pharmaceutical lobbyists who no doubt are funding Congressmen and women who support the RH Bill. Here’s a letter that reveals this reality.

“Dear Bobit, I have always wondered why the RH Bill is being pushed through even though with or without it, the consumer is free to purchase contraceptives in the counter. So I made some analysis. Based on National Census Statistics Board data 2000, about 24 percent of the Philippine population is above 20 years old. Based on the same statistics, about 50 percent of that are females.

“Considering we have a total population of about 90 million that means the total population of Filipinos above 20 years old is about 22 million. Half of that would be 11 million females. This is the present target market for contraceptives. If I am not mistaken, based on what I have found out from the internet, the cost of using birth control pills is about P1,000 a month.

“The total potential value of the market in the Philippines is therefore computed to be: 11 million x P1,000 per month x 12 months or a total of P132 billion per year. The problem for the contraceptive manufacturers is that 90 percent of the market belongs to the lower income who cannot afford to spend P1,000 per month. So in order to give this market purchasing power, the RH Bill is now being pushed to enable the government to use taxpayer’s money to subsidize these contraceptives.

“To further expand the market, the 10 to 15 years old will be given sex education in school and they will be allowed to purchase contraceptives even without the consent of their parents. That could mean another 4,000,000 potential users. The value of this additional market is calculated to be another P48 billion. Adding the two markets gives us a whooping valuation of P180 billion per year. Now I understand why the RH Bill is being pushed very hard. God bless! - Bobby Tordesillas.” No bill in Congress has been so thoroughly debated, dissected and discussed by the pros and the cons of various sectors of society. I have read and heard most if not all the comments for and against the RH Bill, but this angle has never been presented in this manner.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

The RH Bill and Cancer

From Bobit Avila's latest column: Contraceptives cause Breast Cancer!

The ripple effect of the “Harapan” debate by ABS-CBN last Sunday continues to spread throughout the country, not only because that show proved to many of us that the Filipino people do not support the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, but also in the heat of that debate, certain truths were revealed. This brings me to what our Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 12: 11-13: “When they bring you before the Synagogues and the Rulers and the Authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

One such truth was revealed by no less than pro RH former Health Secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral who in debating with Rep. Roilo Golez admitted that contraceptives cause breast cancer, but she qualified it by saying, “it lessens the risk of ovarian cancer.” This brought a retort from Rep. Golez who said, “What good is the cure of ovarian cancer if you are already dead of breast cancer. It sounds funny but it is horrifying to know you are taking in what will eventually kill you?” I have no doubt that this exchange was prompted by the Holy Spirit... and I’m sure that Dr. Cabral must be in remorse for admitting this on nationwide TV.

In her time, Dr. Cabral’s supported the RH bill and she openly supported the use of artificial contraception, which the pro-life groups say is abortifacient. Her public revelation only shows that she is willing to kill the unborn, or allow mothers to take the risk of getting breast cancer when she asks them to take contraceptives. Perhaps Dr. Cabral should take a second look at her Hippocratic Oath because doctors of medicine are supposed to protect life, not terminate it, even if they are not yet born.

Incidentally friends emailed me the statistics on the Harapan or ABS-CBN survey that the Short Message Service (SMS) voting had a total of 6, 356 respondents or 30,42% voted for “Ipasa” or voted to support the RH bill, while a whooping 14,535 respondents or 69.58% voted for “Ibasura” or voted against the passing of the RH bill. This brings a total of 20,891 responding to the ABS-CBN survey.

As we pointed out clearly, these figures only proves that between the ABS-CBN surveys which totaled 20,891 respondents and the SWS Surveys collated from 1,200 respondents. The ABS-CBN “Harapan” survey on whether the Filipino people support the RH Bill or not was undoubtedly a more accurate sampling about this issue. Hence SWS ought to reconfigure their so-called “Scientific survey” which supposedly showed that 80% of Filipinos support the RH Bill.

Incidentally the bottom line why Pres. PNoy is supporting the RH bill is simply because he is kowtowing to US Foreign policy when he got our $454 Millennium Fund. There were American strings attached to that aid and the most important to the Americans is our passing the RH Bill.

The RH Bill: An Imposition from a Foreign Power?

RH or RP bill: Kowtowing to US interest?

SHOOTING STRAIGHT 

By Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star) 

Updated April 29, 2011 12:00 AM 

(An excerpt):

Disturbing questions are being asked by the public and in the coffee houses of Cebu as to why the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill was all of a sudden renamed Responsible Parenthood (RP) Bill, which is supported by Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III? I would like to believe that deep inside, PNoy knows that the RH Bill was just too controversial and too uncomfortable even for his taste. But since he did not want to back out of his promise to the Americans, he has asked the RH to be renamed RP… which in effect is the same dog with a different collar! 

Talking about the bottom line, We proud Filipinos finally had the guts to free ourselves from the bondage of American colonialism or as the Communists would say, American Imperialism by taking the US military bases in Clark and Subic away from American control. But let’s ask ourselves, have we really gotten away from US influence? If you look at the controversy of the RH or RP Bill, we are in effect kowtowing to American interests. 

All this stems from a report from former US State Secretary Henry Kissinger who in April 24, 1974 (that’s 37 years and five days ago) came up with a report on “Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security and Overseas Interests.” This report outlined the need for a study of the impact of world population growth on US Security concerns, especially from poor countries like the Philippines. That Kissinger memo resulted in the Kissinger Report 2004 which reveals that the US Government funded the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the leading advocate of abortion in the US.

It is a fact that a couple of weeks ago, the US Government nearly ground to a halt because the Republicans that control Congress and the Democrats that control the Senate were deadlock because pro-life Republicans no longer wanted to fund abortions to the tune of $980 million annually. I can’t put in all of what’s written on this report, but if you’re interested you can Google Kissinger Report 2004 and you will get the truth about this controversy that has embroiled our nation. 

The recent report on this issues is that the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and almost all the Protestant Churches that have separated from the Catholic Church are now pushing for the RH-RP bill. There is no doubt that an unseen hand is trying to forge and shift the RH-RP debate with the Catholic Church against these other churches in order to get the heat out of PNoy. But all this is being foisted on the unsuspecting Filipino Catholics that in the end, passing the RH-RP bill will eventually lead to a law supporting abortion which has happened to all nations that embraced their own RH bills. This is why we must fight and kill it now before it’s too late and we shall be cursed with the wrath of God. PNoy ought to look at this more clearly or else.

"The more people you have, the more power you wield"

Our readers' comments on RH bill

SHOOTING STRAIGHT By Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star) 

Updated January 08, 2011 12:00 AM

Next week is already the Sinulog Week for Cebu (how time flies, indeed) and I asked Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to be my special guest on our talk show “Straight from the Sky” so we did the taping in the new mayor’s office in Cebu City, which is now located at the ground floor of the executive building. During the term of then Mayor Tomas Osmeña, his office was at the top floor of this edifice and one can see the stark differences in the management style of the two Cebu City mayors.

When we started the interview, Mayor Rama gave me a pleasant surprise when he publicly declared that he was against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. While the issue of the RH bill is being waged in Congress, some local government officials already intimated which side they are taking. In the case of former Cebu City mayor, now Rep. Tomas Osmeña, he never categorically stated that he was for or against the RH bill, but he clearly said that he would distribute condoms to the poor. So more or less, you have an idea of where his thoughts are on this issue.

In making that public declaration, Mayor Rama joins the ranks of Rep. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia and former Rep. Raul del Mar who were the pillars in this fight against the RH bill. I reckon that the case of Mayor Rama is akin to the case of Rep. Pabling Garcia, who comes from a large family. Mike Rama, too, comes from a large family and he said, “My parents would say that by God’s grace, we were able to raise a good family and obedient children and we all succeeded in life.”

With Cebu celebrating the fiesta of Señor Sto. Niño next week, the declaration of Mayor Rama is quite timely and a great boost to the pro-life movement which is hell-bent on stopping that evil called the RH bill which is being forced upon our unwary people all in the name of following what’s happening in Western countries which are now suffering a serious decline in their respective populations.

For the articles about the RH bill that we’ve written at the start of this new year, we have a lot of comments from our readers. Here are a couple of them:

From Dioscoro Vallejos (atty_vallejos @yahoo.com): “Population control says it all. The more people you have, the more power you wield. That is why foreign governments are pouring money into population control programs in the underdeveloped countries. The Philippines’ growing population is power into the future. That is really it. Even now, by necessity and not by discernment, our OFWs are opening paths to the conquering power of our population.

“England, Japan, China and the US need us. The more Filipinos we deploy to these countries, the more powerful the Philippines will become. Filipinos will be necessary in policy-making and maintaining concerns of these developed countries. So, it is plainly stupid to control our population when our burgeoning population is our sole asset well into the future. We Filipinos will conquer the world economy by necessity. We will be one of the biggest number of people running the world!

“So why control the rapid growth of our greatest asset? Can’t people see? The South Koreans, growing too many in their own country, have been deliberately deployed to the Philippines, for their growing population to survive. Filipinos are most welcome in most developed countries because of our education and affinity to the English language. Why support the RH bill? The reason against it is not moral. The RH bill is the instrument of the foreign governments to subjugate us, making us number less, so we won’t overrun them. This is the real reason.”

From elon.sison@gmail.com: “Yes, Bobit, Thank you for your column. As I told Senator Mechai of Thailand during a Senate hearing last year – our country is not poor! It is rich in both natural and human resources. We are not overpopulated! We are underdeveloped!! We need our children to be educated and become skilled so our vast natural resources can become more productive. According to Senator Mechai in reply to my comment, because their birth rate has been only .5 since 2005, they will welcome Filipinos to their country who will work there and pay taxes so they will be able to support their aging population. See what I mean?

“The RH bill is a misnomer. The lobbyists only want us to buy from pharmaceuticals abroad the contraceptive pills (also abortifacient really), which cannot be sold anymore in their own country. If we wish mothers and babies to be healthy, let us have more public lying-in clinics and skilled midwives and health centers with developmental pediatricians who can advise pregnant women to eat more malunggay and tulya so that their babies can be breastfed as long as possible and not bottle-fed. The RH bill should be called Maternal and Child Care and concern itself with mothers and children, not men who want safe sex with women!” Thanks guys for your very positive comments.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. Avila’s columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

Asia's baby bust: is this what we want to import into our country?

From Valeriano "Bobit" Avila's column in the Philippine Star for today, January 5, 2010, entitled "Fewer babies for the Asian tiger economies":

One of the first stories to be headlined in this New Year, 2011 was a report from the National Statistics Office (NSO) that the population of the Philippines could reach 95.8 million people, which puts our population rate at 2.04 percent. But someone (obviously pro-RH Bill) always interjects that the ideal growth rate to accelerate economic growth is 1.04 percent. This is what is known as Total Fertility Rate (TFR). What few people know or understand is that, the ideal TFR of 2.1 children per woman is necessary to replace a country’s population, so we’re not so far off from that figure.

Incidentally my good friend, Rev. Fr. Gregory Gaston, SThD came up with his research in a booklet called “World Population Collapse: Lessons for the Philippines” and by using statistics from the United Nations, it shows that there is a general decline in the TFR of many countries, notably in Europe. Fr. Gaston even quotes a Newsweek cover story last Sept. 27, 2004 entitled “Baby Bust. For more and more Countries. The Problem isn’t having too many people, but having too few.”

Just a week ago, European Union (EU) Ambassador Alistair MacDonald was expressing his support for the RH bill, saying publicly that this was good for the Philippines. Excuse me your Excellency, but isn’t your comment a direct foreign interference on what we believe is a purely domestic affair? It makes me wonder why the EU Ambassador would support the RH bill when the French government pays 800 Euros for every child that is born? If you didn’t know, the City of Naples offers 10,000 Euros for each new baby! The same is true in Sweden, where pregnant mothers are paid salaries but asked to stay home to ensure that the baby is born.

There are more reports on this, which has nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Just a day before Christmas, the Agence France-Presse came up with a stunning report entitled “Asia’s Baby shortage sets Demographic time bomb ticking”. This report gave us a glimpse of the world’s lowest birth rates, which is taking a toll on their ballooning health care and pension costs. The article refers to countries like Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. The article suggests, “East Asia’s booming economies have for years been the envy of the world, but a shortfall in one crucial area — babies — threatens to render yesterday’s tigers toothless!”

As I’ve been saying all along, the best birth control method is a successful economy, where citizens enjoy new found wealth, which they don’t want to be spoiled by having babies. In short, the success of the Tiger economies resulted in fewer babies born in these Asian countries. This is what the Hawaii-based East-West Centre found out when it reported, “Over the past 50 years, economic and social modernization of Asia has been accompanied by a remarkable drop in birth rates.” So logic dictates that the Philippines should not push through with the RH Bill because we have the advantage of seeing what will happen in the future for our people if we pass this bill.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

Making the womb a "ferocious threat" to unborn children

A new twist vs RH Bill: Terror in the womb!

SHOOTING STRAIGHT 

By Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star) 

Updated December 31, 2010 12:00 AM

Last Tuesday was the Holy Innocents Day, when King Herod ordered the killing of all the children in Bethlehem because the Magi did not return to him to inform him where the Messiah was in Bethlehem. The poor innocent little children of Bethlehem became the first Martyrs who died in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, executed by a blood thirsty king who thought that since he ruled the land, no one should be a threat to his authority, not even the Messiah whose coming was foretold by the Prophets. Alas, it is the poor and innocent children who died in the hands of kings and in today’s times, presidents or prime ministers.

But that story was 2,000 years ago and King Herod and the kingdom of Israel have long vanished, replaced by a democratic form of government. But today, we live in a time where there are so many types of Herods, who still kill the poor innocents. One of them is Rep. Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill. If this bill passes, it would allow abortifacient contraceptives to flood our nation and kill a lot more innocent lives, more than King Herod could kill in 50 lifetimes! This is why we are asking Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III not to support the RH Bill as the deaths of those poor innocent children would be on his hands.

We have been fighting the RH Bill from its former versions for many years now and I would like to believe that the advocacy of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) this year to educate our faithful flock have begun to make good inroads in this struggle for our people to better understand the dangers of supporting the RH bill.

In his Christmas message, CBCP President Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag did not mince his words when he said “The passage of the RH Bill would lead to the womb becoming a “ferocious threat” to the unborn children.” He equated the RH Bill to extrajudicial killings, the insurgency and terrorism. These are strong words indeed, especially coming from the CBCP President… but on the other hand, I do concur that killing a defenseless child, like that nine-year-old boy who was killed together with the 10 soldiers is an act of terrorism or an extra-judicial killing. What else could it be?

What Bishop Odchimar said was, “In our country, acquiring peace in Muslim Mindanao seems almost hopeless while insurgency, coup attempts, and crimes such as extrajudicial killings, terrorism and the like continue to interrupt the smooth progress of national affairs.” Bishop Odchimar further said, “There is “unpeace in the womb.” I submit that in this sick nation of ours, there’s just too much killings, which is why we are under what people call a culture of death! Should we add the RH Bill in this cauldron of more death and destruction of innocent lives? I think not!

As expected of him, Rep. Lagman chastised the CBCP calling their statements as “The height of antediluvian hyperbole”. To be perfectly honest, this word sent me scrambling to my dictionary, which means, “as one belonging to the biblical flood, antiquated or prehistoric.” He can call the Catholic Church any names he wants, but whether he likes it or not, as our Lord Jesus Christ prophesied, “The gates of Gehenna shall not prevail upon her.”

In my book, Rep. Lagman is one fellow who thinks he can destroy the Catholic Church… unfortunately others who are more powerful than him have tried, Then Lagman went on haranguing the Catholic Church saying “The history of Christianity is so engulfed in terrorism from the persecution of early Christians to the counter-persecution of both heretics and believers to preserve the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church particularly during the Inquisitions. These acts of church terrorism extended to the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period which was dominated by the Church and are perpetuated today with threats of excommunication against perceived religious dissenters like RH and pro-women advocates.”

As a Catholic, we do not deny that those things happened in the past, which sent the late Great Pope John Paul II asking for forgiveness for the past sins that the Catholic Church has committed. But that’s in the past now. The Catholic Church is a different one from what Lagman detailed to us.

In his defense of the RH bill, Rep Lagman said, “The RH bill is far from being ‘terroristic’ since it is pro-quality of life. It saves lives by greatly reducing the incidence of abortions and decreases maternal and infant mortality even as it welcomes the wanted and properly-timed birth of children.”

Rep. Lagman’s statement only reveals that all unwanted pregnancies are unwelcome! No doubt, Rep. Lagman would lie, cajole or con anyone who listens to get support for the RH Bill. But his response to the CBCP proves that he is desperate, despite all the propaganda he has spent to say that Filipinos support the RH Bill, which is sheer and unabashed falsehood!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

Our people are our greatest asset!

Anti-RH: Our people are our greatest asset!

SHOOTING STRAIGHT By Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star)

Updated December 01, 2010 12:00 AM

After the Reproductive Health (RH) bill advocates, including their media friends virtually mangled the statement of his holiness Pope Benedict XVI, now the Pope has called upon all politicians and the media to show more respect for human life at its earliest stages, pointing out clearly that embryos aren’t just biological material, they are human beings. Let me add that the difference between animals and human beings is that, humans have a soul… and if you didn’t know it, only God can give a soul!

Pope Benedict made this statement at the start of Advent in the wake of the controversy that followed his interview, which many RH advocates, including Malacañang officials and the media, shouted with joy that the Pope finally changed this Catholic Doctrine… when that was farthest from the truth. Clearly, the truth in this case was mangled!

If you didn’t know, the Pope is only a human being and can say things before anyone, even during an interview with the media. But when he says things, it is not changing the doctrines of the Catholic Church. He only does this when he sits Ex-Cathedra and issues a new doctrine, which was not the case here. At this point, the Vatican already issued its clarifications and we hope that this issue is already settled, especially when his holiness said, “Condoms aren’t a real or moral solution to the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

If you don’t want to hear it from the Pope, then maybe you should hear it from our own living boxing legend and World Super Boxing hero Rep. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao who clearly pointed out that he is against the RH bill and stressed that the Catholic Church teaches us the sacredness of human life…. Hence he is against condoms.

Incidentally, I did get a lot of emailed messages supporting our advocacy to fight the RH bill, simply because some people believe that you do not need to legislate this and others say that the only reason why Congress wants this to become a law is due to the funds that would be appropriated to make this bill work and if there are funds available, you can bet that many in Congress would like their hands on the till.

Meanwhile, here is a letter that was emailed to me by Mrs. Marsha Kwiecinski, who also emailed me her thoughts on the two issues we’ve been writing here. Here’s her letter in full; “Dear Mr. Avila… We had a brief correspondence some time ago, regarding your column about the gold transported from the Philippines just before the fall of Corregidor. I currently reside in Corregidor with my husband in an agreement with the Corregidor Foundation, Inc. volunteering our support to their mission here.

I’m writing today to commend you on both of these current opinion columns, feeling like you have cut to the heart of the matter regarding both topics. You remarks about the Dept. of Tourism logo/icon as well as the ‘cover-the-behind’ backpedaling by Lim and his office are right on target. The lack of original art is one issue, the use of Tagalog for an international marketing promotion is a second, and the expense put out to replace an existing effective and attractive slogan is yet another. Keep addressing this and we’ll hope people are paying attention.

Today, your comments on the RH Bill are also very well-stated. My husband worked for EDS in the years when Ross Perot was still at the helm and through the transitional years. Mr. Perot was often heard to say, “Our employees are our greatest asset.” In the years after he sold the corporation (which still retained the EDS name) to GM, the management-thinking stated by Dick Brown (the second CEO following Mr. Perot) became, “Our employees are our greatest cost.” Both of these statements were true.

EDS was a service providing company, offering software, training, and support. It had no hardware to sell, only the services of its employees who were indeed both valuable and expensive. The Philippines truly does have a wealth of population rather than a population problem, but are those in national and local leadership with the vision and integrity to educate and direct the population, to maximize the potential?

So much easier to blame the Catholic Church (of which we are members, and which values every individual) rather than corrupted leadership at all levels, and for the ‘elite’ to make disparaging remarks about those who struggle to survive and enjoy life in spite of the poverty in their lives due to corruption. Thanks for your good work. Marcia Kwiecinski.”

I printed this letter because this was really a great letter especially about how the EDS thought of their employees as their greatest asset, then when EDS was sold and there was a new CEO, the thinking suddenly changed that their employees was their greatest cost! This gives me an idea that those who are against the RH Bill believe that the Filipino people are our greatest asset, while those who are supporting the RH Bill believe that our people are our greatest cost, which is why they want our population culled.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.