The Philippines and the realiites of depopulation

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

THE RH BILL

Why an aging population is not good for economy

By: Ma. Esther Salcedo - Posadas

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Saturday, November 19th, 2011

Imagine this scenario: The only child of two aging and sickly parents faces deep pressure to provide for all their needs since there are no siblings to help carry the burden.

The same thing happens in an aging economy where few workers support a bigger number of dependent retirees.

Demographers call it an inverted pyramid. It’s an economy that has declining population growth, where there are more old people than younger ones.

It is the situation currently faced by many European nations plus a few Asian examples such as Japan amd Singapore.

This scenario causes a strain on businesses and their workforce because it also means fewer people to join the action, especially as seniors start to retire.

According to one population study posted on a United Nations website: “Fertility in the Philippines has experienced continuous decline from the 1950s to the present.”

From total fertility rates (TFR) of more than six births per woman in the 60s, the TFR has declined to excess of 3.5 births in the mid-nineties. The CIA Factbook estimates more than three births per woman in 2011.

The above data points to the fact that the country is actually already approaching the replacement fertility rate of more than two births that is essential to ensure the survival of the race.

In certain developed economies, births have fallen below the replacement ratio and certain so-called developed nations are now trying to reverse the population trend. If the Philippines will follow their lead, the consequences can also happen here.

An aging economy is a problem for government because it usually means that there are lesser workers earning a living to support or take care of older people.

In a 2004 discussion paper entitled “Australia’s Demographic Challenges,” the Australian Government’s Treasurer released the following information: “In 2002 there were more than five people of working age to support every person aged over 65. By 2042, there will only be 2.5 people of working age supporting each person aged over 65.”

An economy starts to age when there are fewer people capable of replacing those who are getting older, also in consideration of present health trends that have allowed more people to live longer. Usually, there is also reference to people who still have the capacity to work vs those who are retired and are in need of care. Government pensions systems are usually based on worker contributions that are later redeemed upon retirement.

So if there are fewer people and lesser monetary contributions to the fund, it means that there will be a smaller pot to divide when the retired seniors start claiming their pensions. It could lead to fund bankruptcy if the claims are not met.

Demographers calculate what is known as the “replacement fertility rate” to estimate how many daughters it would take to replace the previous generation of women.

A 1998 paper written by John Bongaarts of the Population Council in New York explains, “Currently, replacement fertility equals 2.36 births per woman (bpw) in the developing world. This level exceeds two because children who die before reaching the reproductive ages have to be replaced with additional births, and because the sex ratio at birth slightly exceeds one (typically 1.05 male for every female birth).”

For economies like the Philippines who still have a positive (albeit declining) fertility ratio, it is important to learn from the experience of developed economies with shrinking populations.

A 2007 study entitled “Global Aging: The New New Thing” by Dr. Adele Hayutin of Stanford Center on Longevity projected that by the year 2030-50 both Japan and Italy will have negative working age population growth rates at -16.9 percent and -5.4 percent, respectively. The data suggests that in order to regain more workers, the economy would need to rely on immigration or other corrective measures to encourage more births. While negative growth may be hard to imagine, the frail figure of aging populations already haunts many economies today.

Ed’s note: Currently on Congress’ drawing board is the passage of the RH bill which aims to promote women health care and teach contrapection to students. The pro-RH bill advocates believe that the Philippines is over populated and the growth of babies should be limited. The anti-RH contends on the other hand that the growth of PH population is already declining and what is needed is better education for Filipinos.

A bill we can't afford - literally

RH is unreasonably expensive!

By Fr. ROY CIMAGALA

October 6, 2011

NOW it can be told. And it needed Senator Lito Lapid who is supposed to be not known for his speaking prowess to get this data. The budget for the implementation of RH for the year 2012 alone is – hold your breath – P13.7B!

According to experts, that figure is even higher than the individual budgets of the departments of energy, finance, foreign affairs, justice, labor, science, tourism and trade. It’s even bigger than those proposed for the Office of the President and Congress, and the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

OMG! What a waste of tax money that would be! What distorted sense of priority! And to think that the RH Bill does not even pass the preliminary smell test of morality, and the fact that many of its provisions are redundant since they are already covered in many other laws of the land!

We cannot help but suspect there’s something serious that is hidden under the beautiful features with which the RH is marketed to the public. We have to look more closely at this initiative now forcefully pushed by women senators with radical feminist agendas.

We already know that US Secretary Hillary Clinton admitted that RH by definition includes abortion. So even if our version does not include abortion yet, we can suspect that it would just be a matter of time before this evil gets legalized under RH. In fact, there are now many people in the country openly voicing their support for abortion.

We also know from some declassified document that the US has been eyeing the Philippines for quite sometime now for birth control. It’s part of the geo-political game that the US is playing.

That’s why our Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is suspicious about the RH Bill as being not so much for reproductive health as a tool to effect birth and population control.

And under the current American leadership, there is also a strong lobby for RH not only in the US but also all over the world. In the US alone, part of the Obamacare program forces everyone to get medical insurance that includes paying for sterilization, contraception and even abortion – all against Catholic moral teaching.

This has led American bishops to call this Obamacare provision as an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty.” It is forcing Catholics to support something that is against their religion. It is not anymore tolerating people to do what they like, even if it is against religion. It is forcing them to support what is against their religion.

The current American scene seems to be drifting toward creating a welfare state, with the government taking a bigger role in people’s lives, clearly going against the social principles of common good, solidarity and subsidiarity. It is not only spoiling people. It is forcing people to get spoiled.

And to think that the American political leaders pride themselves of being the first promoters of democracy and religious freedom and teach other countries to follow them! They have to be clear about these in their own country first.

The Philippines would be in a funny situation if it would just blindly follow the American model of RH. That is why, we need to closely monitor the proceedings of the proposed legalization of the RH Bill. This issue has gone beyond the field of group advocacy. It has become a concern for all of us.

I would suggest that the true picture of the RH Bill be shown, discussed and, if need be, debated upon in schools, parishes, offices and even in families. We have to be warned about a subtle but persistent campaign to change the concept of morality itself and to recast the social principles that should govern our national life.

We are now entering a stage of world history where the issues that we need to resolve are not anymore strictly social, economic or political in nature. They now have a fundamentally moral character and they call for a fundamentally moral resolution.

We need to stop and reverse this slippery slope to a deeper secularized world culture that tackles human affairs from a restrictive frame of economics and politics alone, and ignoring the most basic aspect of religion and our inner beliefs.

I must say that we have been had for a long time by this questionable kind of culture that tends to separate reason from faith, science from religion, our human affairs from God. The state is made to conflict with the Church.

While there is distinction, there is also inherent connection between them!

The duty of women senators to fight the RH Bill

A letter to the editor published by Philippine Daily Inquirer on October 12, 2011:

Safest place for babies to become most dangerous

This refers to the news item titled “RH backers warn of Senate plot to derail bill” (Inquirer, 9/25/11), which reported on the views of RH supporters, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, author and principal sponsor of the RH bill, and Sen. Pia Cayetano, co-sponsor and chair of the Senate committee on women, children and the family.

It is sad to note that these women-senators themselves are rooting for the bill. They are mothers themselves who know the uncontainable joy of bringing forth a baby into the world! And yet now they want to disregard this and deprive others of the wonderful experience of beholding and cuddling a baby in their arms?

The mother’s womb is the safest place for a baby to live but now, with the women senators and congresswomen eagerly working to pass the RH bill, alas, it will become the most dangerous place for a baby. This is a gross disservice to women, children and the family whom these women-senators and congresswomen have vowed to protect.

These recent findings should be wake-up calls for Filipinos: A recent study of the University of Washington in 181 countries disclosed that maternal mortality rate in the Philippines had dropped by 81 percent from 1980 to 2008. Moreover, the World Health Organization has confirmed anew that oral contraceptives can directly cause cancer.

Our women senators and congresswomen are duty-bound to take the lead in protecting women, children and the family.

—CHING D. AUNARIO

MA. CIEFREL TUBALE, LICHELLE SALENDREZ, MARIA ANA PAULE, CAROL DAVID, MICHELLE EVANGELISTA, JESS HUTALLA, JOYCE DOFELIZ, ELENA MAULLON

The Varsitarian Editorial on the misunderstood PMA position paper

For more information on the PMA position that is referenced here, please read this post: 

Setting the record straight on the Philippine Medical Association's stance on the RH Bill

RH bill medically fallacious, dangerous, unconscionable

The Varsitarian, October 4, 2011

WHILE staunch supporters of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill naively rejoice over the Philippine Medical Association’s (PMA) position paper that they seem to have misunderstood, they have been overwhelmed with the first clause of the first sentence without reading the entire passage.

The PMA expressed its support in the RH bill, but only because “it is founded strongly on the principle that ‘life begins at fertilization’”—a pro-life stance. Furthermore, the group of doctors said it “abhors any procedure, machination or scheme or medication that will interrupt any stage of fertilization and prevents its normal growth to adulthood until the stage of natural death.”

Dr. Bu Castro, chairman of the PMA Commission on Legislation and a signatory of the statement, confirmed the pro-life position himself, and said that the problem arises with the inclusion of contraceptives in the bill.

RH bill supporters have always said that contraceptives—particularly morning-after pill, IUD, and the like—are not abortifacients, and that this matter should be left to health experts. Castro himself confirmed that these contraceptives may indeed cause early abortion.

There are three things why the argument on abortion in contraception continues up to date: Either people do not know that life begins at fertilization, they don’t know what fertilization is, or they pretend to be health experts that they create their own definition of fertilization.

Of course, who would not want to support a health or family planning program? Every family desires a particular family size, but what pro-life groups say is that family planning could be achieved within moral grounds.

Like the PMA, we will support the RH bill if and only if its authors will remove its immoral, inhumane, and unjust ideas.

Immoral, in a sense that, as mentioned in previous Varsitarian editorials, RH bill makes us look like sex-starved rabbits; inhumane that it kills human life, and unjust that it is highly against other people’s rights.

It is not enough that provisions be altered. As long as the core principle of the RH bill is anti-life, it will never get any support from us.

In fact, the PMA fights for the rights of doctors because the RH bill impinges on physicians’ conscience and professional and ethical practice.

Doctors do what they think is best for their patients, but the RH bill dictates that if a doctor refuses to give RH services to his patients, he will be penalized.

It is even more stupid for the RH bill, which we may now call an “anti-doctor bill,” to say that in such case a physician cannot give RH services, he must refer his patients to another physician. Conscience-wise, asking someone to do it is like taking part of the action yourself as the mastermind.

This reminds us of a related issue in the Senate, wherein Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago lectured about conscience alongside with her efforts to promote the RH bill last August 1. Not only that, she also lectured on Theology.

The senator, who discussed as if she is an expert in Theology, said one could follow his conscience even if it is against the moral teachings of the Church.

If that is so, then where would someone base his conscience? In pop culture? In fascist ideologies? What is wrong remains wrong even if everybody does it.

Santiago also classified Theology into two: “traditional,” which sees the Church as a superstate governed by the Pope, and “progressive,” which looks at the Church as a fellowship of spiritual communities who recognize Papal primacy.

With these naïve ideas that she has, no doubt that she presents misinformation. “A little learning is dangerous,” poet Alexander Pope said.

Former senator Francisco Tatad, on the other hand, said Santiago’s classification is political.

“Theology is either good or bad, [or] sound or unsound,” Tatad said in an open letter to Santiago.

We see the words “traditional” and “progressive” in a different perspective. Traditional as being timeless and timely in keeping the values the Church has, while progressive as a state of development. In this sense, the pro-life position against the RH bill is founded on traditional values, but the intention of the opposition is progressive.

For the record, contradictory to Santiago’s claim that the Catholic Church is not the only religion opposing the bill, Muslim and Evangelical groups were also present at the State of the Soul of the Nation Address last July 25 to show their opposition to the said bill.

Also, non-Catholic religions acknowledge the fact that contraceptives being promoted by the RH bill kill life and violate their religious convictions.

Last Sept. 26, nine young congressmen expressed their opposition to the RH bill in a statement, saying that the proposed P3-billion fund for contraceptives could be better used for education, livelihood, and healthcare services. One of the young congressmen is Lanao del Norte, second district Rep. Fatima Aliah Dimaporo, a Muslim who stands firm against the RH bill.

It is odd that the national government underspends on more important services, but is willing to spend billions in buying contraceptives. The PMA statement says that “providing adequate facilities and qualified staff for maternity and pediatric cases” is needed to address the problem of maternal and child deaths in the country.

Being pro-life is not only a Catholic belief, but a Filipino value as well. Blessed John Paul II himself had said without specifying it to Catholics alone: “The Filipino family is pro-life.”

Says a lot.

WET AND HORNY FOR THE RH BILL! That was the code name for a pa-cute protest action held for the RH Bill by a bunch of Student Councils in front of the Ateneo De Manila University sometime in November of this year. 

Promoters of the RH Bill are forever telling us that the RH Bill is not about promoting sexual promiscuity. That it is not about encouraging the young to act on their incipient lusts. That it is not about importing into this country the culture of mindless sexual hedonism that has ravaged the moral fiber of the much of what was Western Christendom. Oh, no, it's not about these!

AND YET, they just HAD to call this action, this single-mindedly and intentionally pro-RH action, WET AND HORNY FOR THE RH BILL. 

Really. 

Emil Jurado on why the RH bill is unnecessary

From Emil Jurado's November 22, 2011 column, What scares me most:

There’s a lot of truth in the position of Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto that there may be no longer any need for Congress to pass the controversial reproductive health bill in the wake of the fact that the Aquino administration has already earmarked P7.7 billion for reproductive health programs in the 2012 national budget. 

The P7.7 billion appropriated for reproductive health programs for next year could well be implemented without Congress enacting the controversial RH bill that has divided the country. 

Logically, as Senator Loren Legarda asked: “If the resources are available anyway to fund the RH bill, why would we need to enact a bill? This was in answer to Senator Franklin Drilon’s comment that the allocation for reproductive health in 2012 would only benefit 50 percent of the women belonging to the lowest quintile of our economic strata. 

What is important to consider is that if the budget for 2012 already included reproductive health programs contained in the controversial RH bill, it would be foolish to enact the latter, isn’t it? 

Note that the allocation of P7.7 billion for reproductive health programs would include the DoH giving away condoms and intrauterine devices, which the RH bill intends to do.

See as well the following news article: RH bill duplicates health program

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.

A former Filipino anti-Catholic on young Filipino anti-Catholic netizens

From Pepe Alas' article on the appointment of Msgr. Luis Antonio Tagle as the Archbishop-elect of Manila: A famous theologian will be Manila's next Archbishop:

Catholic theologians such as the new Manila Archbishop should deftly explain that the Church’s stand against the RH Bill is not solely rooted in faith and morals alone. In the end, it all boils down to logic. And this is one of the first challenges that the latest Prince-Cardinal should tackle. 

Speaking of logic… 

Many young Filipino “intellectuals” today who love to make a punching bag out of the local Catholic Church claim to be “lovers” of ideologies and “champions” of liberalism. And that the Church is “out of logic”. They love to “philosophize” and display the many witty quips that they learn from tomes of books they claim to have read. They proclaim themselves as “the new Rizals”. They claim a hatred for mediocrity and “religious superstition”, clamoring for a more intelligent and “freethinking” Filipino. But many of them do all this for the mere heck of it, and not for the purpose of a better society. And now we have social networking. Through these new media they rant and multiply and increase, and they spend hours upon hours in front of their PCs than they do with their pet lizards because they could not get a real job nor could they maintain contact with physical friends (but to them, the words “contact” and “physical” could mean something else). Unfortunately, these kids, for all their intellectual hogwash, have already revealed their characters and self-worth by the choice of words that they use in various online forums. Wittingly or unwittingly, what these bunch of “sucks-to-be-you” kids are doing will only lead this country to anarchy. If they ever win, within a decade or two we will certainly have a transsexual president who will legitimize pole dancing as a school subject. I dare say all of this because I used to think like them — been there, done that. I’ve mingled with so many of these book-toting crybabies back in the 90s. And just thinking about it makes me supersick. 

What these “lemme-give-y’all-an-iota-of-my-superb-brain” jactanciosos claim to know about the Catholic Church is so superficial to say the least. All I can say is this: looking back at my brief anti-Catholic self, I just couldn’t believe how stupid I was (a long story that I’ll share one day). 

I’m glad that I dealt a lot with logic whenever I flip a page out of a dusty book. Gracias a Dios por este regalo de sabiduría. 

So here’s hoping that Manila’s new archbishop will also tackle the increasing number of “pseudo intellectuals” from elsewhere. Not for the Church’s sake actually, but for these proud but hapless kids’.

Remarkably enough, the author of these lines began his return to Catholicism from agnosticism as he struggled against the temptation of aborting his second child. As he relates in a blog post he made more than two years ago:

I was brought back to the Catholic fold last 2003 due mainly to personal researches about my country’s Spanish past. Along the way, I was able to discover and realize the leyenda negra (black legend) being hurled against the Spanish clergy. Ironically, I ended up defending the Spanish friars against everyone attacking them although I was still an atheist! Little by little, my “reconversion” was on its way. I soon became an agnostic. And one September night of that year, as I was pondering whether to have my wife abort our second child or not, God gave me a sign. 

You see, 2003 was the worst and arguably one of the best and memorable years of my life. I was jobless, disowned by my folks and various relatives, living in a decrepit bodega, penniless, you name it. It was during this year when I did nothing but read, write, ponder, steal books, ponder some more, dream. And since I was (surprisingly) having difficulty in getting employed, I thought that having another baby was too much (I was already then an agnostic during this time). I was goading my wife for days to give up the baby. I was giving her horrible scenarios of what might happen to us if she doesn’t accept abortion as a solution: poverty, poverty, and lotsa poverty. Finally, I was able to make her say yes. We planned of going to Quiapò to buy an infamous pill (Cytotec) to kill the fetus. 

I admit, however, that I felt uncertain and very afraid of doing it. So before committing the crime, I prayed to God for the very first time in years. While walking desolately along Chino Roces Avenue one night on my way home, I muttered, “Lord, if you are indeed real, show me a sign —any sign— that you disapprove of this abortion”. 

The sign came that very night. Upon arriving home, I talked again to my wife (without telling her that I prayed). I told her that we have to abort the fetus soon, the next day, while the it is not yet in human form (an infamous argument by “pro-choice” advocates). Quietly, she agreed. And as we slept together, I thought of my prayer – I had no idea what kind of sign I would receive… if God were ever real. After a few minutes, we drifted to sleep. 

But moments later, my wife woke me up. I was surprised — she was crying! In between sobs, she said she’d rather not have an abortion. She said she’s willing to face anything —EVERYTHING— just to keep the baby. I embraced her, and broke into tears as well. 

It was no coincidence or anything like that. It couldn’t have been any clearer: that was the sign I’ve been waiting for… 

GOD IS REAL. 

And so a few months later, a very handsome José Mario Guillermo II P. Alas —Momay— was born. And my stupid fear of poverty-ridden-days-ahead was just that: plain stupid. Because now our kids are four, and we’ve never been better than before!

The urgency of pro-life advocacy

Bishop Gabriel Reyes gave this talk during the second day of the National "Philippines for Life" Congress in Cebu held from November 16 to 18 of this year. CBCP for Life has a news article summarizing the talk: Choices must be based on correct conscience, bishop reminds faithful.

The full text is taken from the website of the Diocese of Antipolo:

Pro-Life Advocacy: Its Urgency in Our Present Society

Msgr. Gabriel Reyes DD, Bishop of Antipolo

My talk will not be long. In this talk I will focus on why it is urgent that we work hard so that the House Bill 4244 or the so called Reproductive Health Bill will not be passed by Congress and the Senate. I will also explain and refute the ideas on which those who are in favor of the HB 4244 base themselves.

Before anything else I would like to remind ourselves of the broader or complete meaning of pro-life advocacy. We should defend and promote life from the womb to the tomb in all stages of life. Here I would like to quote lengthily from the encyclical letter of Blessed John Paul II, “Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life, No. 3”

“Every individual, precisely by reason of the mystery of the Word of God who was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14), is entrusted to the maternal care of the Church. Therefore every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church's very heart; it cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the world and to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).

What we've been saying all along: foreign money funds pro-RH activities

A pro-lifer's speculation on what the people in this anti-Catholic protest might actually have been thinking. 

An article published on December 2 of this year by Philippine Daily Inquirer brought to a wider audience some of the details of a state of affairs that has been known for a long time to the pro-life movement, and which many activists of the "pro-RH camp" have been denying without success. I am, of course, referring to the continued infusion into our country of money from foreign countries and institutions, earmarked for the propagation of the RH Bill and of other similar bills that espouse the Culture of Death and the anti-values of sexual anarchy.

In particular, the Inquirer article "No delay but RH bill won't be passed this year - Enrile" showed that the pro-RH camp has been practicing the age-old tactic of corrupt politicians: the "hakot" (paid) crowd:

Early this year, the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) received P4.4 million from the United Nations Population Fund to push for the passage of the RH bill before the end of 2011. Dr. Junice Melgar, RHAN secretary general, admitted that her group solicited the amount because it “has no ongoing funding.” 

Based on RHAN’s budget proposal, the amount was to be spent on activities such as “education and mobilization” program. One item worth P2,837,500 was to go to organize “two nationally coordinated (and) high-profile mobs.” 

The group scheduled the “peak” of its pro-RH rally for September and set aside P1,750,000 to organize a rally of “at least 5,000 people.” Each participant was supposed to receive P350

In response to this report, Filipinos for Life has published an official statement delving in greater detail and with many proofs into the foreign funding that has been propping up numerous anti-life initiatives in the Philippines:

Official Statement: Documents bare millions of dollars in funding for RH lobbyists

***

CBCP for Life also published the following article regarding the Filipinos for Life statement linked above:

Documents bare millions of dollars in funding for RH lobbyists 

MANILA, Dec. 2, 2011–Pro-abortion groups have been showering “reproductive health” (RH) lobbyists with millions of dollars in funding for years to promote the Western agenda of contraception and population control, documents showed. 

Funders include Planned Parenthood and its international arm, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Marie Stopes International, the Packard Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

In a statement, the group Filipinos for Life (F4L) said the paper trail of multimillion-dollar lobby funds reveal the hand of foreign interest groups out to dictate what policy the Philippine government should follow. 

“Nearly a decade ago, lawmakers condemned the presence of the American lobby group AGILE in Congress. This time, however, the RH lobby is apparently succeeding, thanks to a formidable war chest from pro-abortion groups,” it said. 

Documents revealed the following financial grants for RH lobby groups: 

* $90,000 to the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) for promotion, from the UN Population Fund or UNFPA (2011);

* $6.6 million to Planned Parenthood arm Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) from UNFPA (2009);

* $1.6 million to FPOP from IPPF for the years 2005, 2009, and 2010;

* $1.2 million to PSPI from Marie Stopes (2009);

* $39,000 to Likhaan from Planned Parenthood (2007);

* $88,000 to FPOP in 2009 from Marie Stopes for RH kits; and

* $75,000 to “Catholics” for Choice to promote RH, from the Wallace Global Fund (2009). 

This was aside from $6.8 million from the Packard Foundation for the years 2006-2008; $18.4 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from 1997 to 2008; $8.86 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2004 for a “social acceptance” project; and $239.5 million from the World Bank for 2010-2012.These amounts could have better been used for direct poverty alleviation programs, F4L said. 

F4L said pro-RH lobbyists cannot deny the overt abortion agenda of most of their financial backers, notably Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider, and UNFPA, which has been condemned for its coercive abortion programs. 

“Abortion was not legalized in the US overnight. It started with the birth control movement founded by Margaret Sanger, which today is called Planned Parenthood,” F4L pointed out. 

Where are the millions going? 

Meanwhile, the Philippine Daily Inquirer today ran a story containing a more detailed breakdown of RHAN’s budget earmarked for a more aggressive push for RH. According to the article, the millions in pesos provided by the UNFPA were to be spent on “education and mobilization.” Based on the same document, nearly P3 million was allocated for “two nationally coordinated (and) high-profile mobs.” 

“The group scheduled the ‘peak’ of its pro-RH rally for September and set aside P1,750,000 to organize a rally of ‘at least 5,000 people.’ Each participant was supposed to receive P350,” the article further stated. 

F4L called on lawmakers to examine further the lobby groups behind the RH bill, saying interpellations should be exhausted to unmask the real intentions of those promoting it. 

“Pro-RH groups and Malacañang spokesmen are being irresponsible by calling for a vote and an abrupt end to debates,” the group said. (CBCP for Life)

Filipinos have dignity and moral values!

A letter to the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Senator underestimates sensitivity of Filipinos

On TV news last Nov. 25, our very assertive senator dished out sex like she were giving out lollipops to little kids. In that one minute or so coverage, her message must have sunk deep into the nation’s viewing audience.

What was very alarming was her sweeping statement that if you do not like sex, you’ve got to see a doctor because you are abnormal. What for? Because of a brain damage or something? Isn’t she aware that there are many people who opt out of sex for higher dimensions of spirituality? Surely priests and nuns, bishops and cardinals and, above all, the pope are not abnormal people, considering the responsibilities they are holding.

By endorsing a piece of legislation like the RH bill, this senator was expected by the people to do a candid but dignified handling of the topic because controversy over this issue has been raging for months. But no, she seemed to be taking it lightly, somewhat jokingly without regard to the repercussions of her pronouncements.

And to think that it was a lady-senator who could have been our president telling university students to buy condoms if they could no longer suppress their sexual urges. It sounds like she was encouraging the indiscriminate use of condoms. No, madam senator, not that easy, not that fast. You have to be married first and, in a Christian society, we follow rules. Rules that preserve life, and rules that do not kill.

You have overlooked the fact that Filipinos have dignity and moral values. They don’t copulate like dogs by the roadside to satisfy a sexual urge. You underestimate the sensitivity of Filipino society. Please do not bark this way or the big bone will fall from your mouth.

—ESPERANZA M. SAGRA,

retired principal,

Surallah, South Cotabato

Apologies

Sorry for not posting much. My health has not been good since the end of October. Hopefully I can return to the fray in the first days of December.

Bishop Leonardo Medroso: 7 billion people + Jesus Christ = still the best possible world

Faith and the World of 7 Billion Humans

Msgr. Leonardo Medroso DD

October 29, 2011

Just some days ago the 'Philippine Daily Inquirer’ carried a banner article on its front page anent the world population which is to hit 7 billion anytime these days. Relative to this is the account that while the number of children in the family has been reduced to 2.5, the infant mortality has substantially dropped and life expectancy has soared to 68 years. Released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the statistic was received with differing reactions. Some take it as an alarming news for it augurs the threat of overpopulation with its concomitant problems in the area of economy, such as the equitable distribution of wealth and services, the creation of new jobs , housing and other necessary facilities; of the environment, such as the rise of carbon emissions, garbage management and proper disposals; of social concerns as migration of rural folks to the cities, the rising gap between the haves and the have-nots. Others take the UN report with optimism and a bit of a swagger for it bespeaks of man’s triumph on this earth: human spirit over dense matter, science over superstitions, knowledge over darkness and ignorance, modern technology over man’s limitations, confidence over the forces that ever threaten man’s life.

The true Christian welcomes the United Nations statistical data regarding population, for he is convinced that the report is a statement of fact. After all, Christian faith is about reality, flesh and blood truths. It is not a religion of the imagination, but of facts; it does not teach man what is apparently good, but what is really good. Reality is the locus of Christian faith for it is in reality where the man of faith meets his God. The God of the Christian is the God who listens to the cries of the poor, the God who deigned to take up the human flesh, and lived out his story with us, giving it up as a ransom for all.

Hence, reality has to be faced squarely. That man has survived and increased to a staggering number of 7 billion in spite of the negative factors that have so often threatened his survival, that his life span has expanded to almost 70, and that mortality rate of his children has plunged, is a good news. He has faithfully responded to what God has enjoined him to do with this world when He said: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the things that move on the earth” (Gn 1:28). The report on the reduction of the number of children in the family to 2.5 is objectively a good news. But it does not stop the man of faith to probe with the question: in what way was the number of children reduced?

The man of faith believes that the world and everything in it is a creation of God. He knows that the world did not just pop out from a big explosion, for he believes in the existence of a Transcendental One who created everything out of nothing and breathed into man’s nostril the breath of life. He knows too that this Creator of his is a personal God, a God of the living. He knows that God came into this earth and declared to His creation: “Do not be concerned for your life, what you are to eat, or for your body, what you are to wear. Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap, they have neither cellar nor barn – yet God feeds them. How much more important you are than the birds. Which of you by worrying can add a moment to his life span? … Stop worrying. The unbelievers of this world are always running after these things. Your Father knows that you need such things. Seek out instead his kingship over you, and the rest will follow in turn” (Lk 12:22-25; 29-31). The man of faith therefore walks this earth with confidence and poise no matter the forces that threaten him.

It is for this reason too that the Holy Father having perceived the many fears that have hounded modern man came out with a Letter “Porta Fidei” announcing a year long celebration of Faith by 2012. He knows that man has gone astray because of these fears that he has forgotten to hope and to love. He knows that left to himself man can easily be swamped by thousand and one existential problems and death threatening events. The proclamation of the content of Faith should bring man to a personal encounter with Christ, know His ways, understand a little his plans. Or it should bring God into the consciousness of man so that he can realize that God’s hands made him and shaped him in his mother’s womb, that God’s Law is always right, governing the world in perfect harmony.

Through the celebration of the Year of Faith we are hopeful that the world alarmed by its 7 billion citizens would soon realize that God is more powerful than all our problems. The Holy Father put it this way: “To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth” (Porta Fidei).

Christ being with us this earth of 7 billion warm bodies is still our best possible world.

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!!!!"