For the record: Carmen Pedrosa on the RH bill, December 2012

For the record, I would like to note on this blog the six articles written this month by Carmen N. Pedrosa of the Philippine Star versus the RH bill. Mrs. Pedrosa is by no means in full agreement with orthodox Catholics who are opposed to the RH bill, which makes her opposition all the more interesting.

The freedom to choose is for all  (December 1)

RH is about depopulation; Filipinos to Canada, Canadians to Philippines (December 9)

The meaning of the word quisling and the RH bill (December 15)

RH bill: How to destroy our country’s future (December 16)

‘Pro-RH’ may have won the battle, but ‘Anti-RH’ won the war (December 22) 

The unkindest cut of all  (December 23)

World Youth Alliance on the Passage of the RH Bill

From the website of World Youth Alliance Int'l: 

Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Third and Final Reading

December 18, 2012

Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Third and Final Reading in Congress and Senate

On December 17, after almost 14 years of discussion and debate, the reproductive health bill (the RH bill) was passed during its third and final reading in the House of Representatives, with a vote of 133 in favor and 79 against, and in the Senate, with a vote of 13 in favor and 8 against. Philippine President Benigno Aquino had designated passing the RH bill an urgent matter and called on Congress to vote on it before Christmas, prompting late-night congressional sessions that led to the passage of the bill. The bicameral conference committee is now set to consolidate the two versions of the bill, and then both chambers of Congress will need to ratify the consolidated version before it goes before the President for his final signature.

The World Youth Alliance laments the passage of the RH bill. For over four years, WYA has opposed the bill because it relies on the false premise that a government-run population management program is necessary for development.  It also lacks adequate protections for freedom of conscience, pays inadequate attention to maternal and child health, and does not reaffirm commitment to protecting the unborn.  The bill does not properly address the needs of Filipinos, who want measures to address sustainable development concerns that fully respect their cultures, religious beliefs, and values while promoting the health of mothers and children.

As the bill takes effect and is implemented over the coming years, we will continue to work with those legislators and advocates who fought against the measure to push for long-term solutions that actually respect the rights of conscience of Filipino health care workers and that stimulate the innovation needed for sustainable development in the Philippines.   We will push for increased skilled birth attendants so that every mother has access to care during childbirth and maternal mortality drastically decreases.  We will push for increased access to education so that every young person can be equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognize his or her own potential and to contribute to the development of our society and our economy.  We will push for freedom of conscience for all Filipinos, allowing all to act according to the dictates of their own consciences and not to the commands of the government.

We call on young people in the Philippines to join us in this fight.  We call on young people to be aware about issues related to the RH bill—population, development, and women’s health—and to continue to work together to safeguard our local communities from any threats to family and to human dignity. The passage of the bill and the years of debate leading up to it have shown us that our values and priorities as Filipinos continue to be threatened on different fronts. Young people must take a more vigilant and active role in monitoring the implementation of the bill in the next few years and in directing its impact on society, aiming to prevent the violation of dignity that the bill’s provisions threaten to do.

The World Youth Alliance would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people, especially the legislators, who selflessly devoted their time, talent and treasure to fighting a bill that does not adequately provide for the needs of Filipinos. The journey is not over, as we continue to work toward improving the health and education opportunities of Filipinos. We invite you to join us at WYA as we aim to improve the lives of our fellow Filipinos—and people around the world—through promoting the dignity of the human person and through educating youth about positive solutions to the problems facing our world, such as sustainable development, maternal and child health, and access to education and employment.

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World Youth Alliance's statement on the passage of the RH bill on second reading can be found here: Philippine Reproductive Health Bill Passed on Second Reading in Congress

More on media bias for the RH bill

The Spin Busters has a report on the open bias shown by some journalists in the past two days while reporting the deliberations on the RH bill:

Dear journo, your slip is showing

Two recent statements by Bishop Gabriel Reyes on the RH bill and the Culture of Life (Updated)

(Update 15/11/12: I've uploaded an image of the ECFL statement on the revised RH bill)

Originally posted Nov. 12, 2012: 

Bishop Gabriel Reyes, Ordinary of the Diocese of Antipolo, is the current head of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL).

1. Statement of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life on the revised RH bill, November 6, 2012 (LINK)

A picture of the same statement, courtesy of Pro-Life Philippines: 

2. Lecture on the Blessed Virgin Mary in connection with the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death, June 21, 2012:

Mary and the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death

By Most Rev. Gabriel V. Reyes, D.D., Bishop of Antipolo

Culture of Life

Before talking about Mary in connection with the culture of life and the culture of death, let me review with you the meaning of the culture of life. in short, the culture of life is a way of thinking, a way of living that is in accordance with the Gospel of Life. To explain the gospel of life, I will depend much on the encyclical letter of Blessed John Paul II, "Evangelium Vitae" the Gospel of Life.

Basically the Gospel of Life teaches that human life has to be respected, promoted, and protected because of the human person. According to Vatican II, "man is the only creature on earth which God willed for its own sake." Because of the transcendent dignity of man "he is the subject of rights which no one may violate – no individual, group, class, nation or state." ("Centesimus Annus", 44) Human rights are rights inherent in every person and prior to any Constitution and State Legislation. The right to life is a primary right of the human person.

The dignity of the human person is based on my things.

First, man has been crated in the image and likeness of God. He is an image of God through his intellect and will. "You have made him little less than a god and crown him with glory and honor. (Ps. 8:5) The glory of God shines on the face of man.

Second, he has been redeemed by Christ, the Son of God, through His suffering and death. Furthermore, Vatican II says: "By his incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every human being." This saving event reveals to humanity not only the boundless love of God who "so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn. 3:16) but also the incomparable value of every human person (Evangelium Vitae, 2).

Third, man is called to share in God's own life, in divine life. "Man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimension of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase. (EV, 2). Through the redemption wrought by Christ, God shared his divine life with man making him his son.

"We see here a clear affirmation of the primacy of man over things; these are made subject to him and entrusted to his responsible care, whereas for no reason can he be made subject to other men and almost reduced to the level of a thing." (EV, 34)

Life is not only God's gift to man but is also a sacred reality entrusted to man. He has to take care of it and protect it. He has to bring it to perfection through love and through the gift of himself to God and to his brothers and sisters.

A NonFAQtual FAQ?

There's an "RH Bill FAQ" penned by a certain Donna Malangit that is currently being circulated on Facebook and elsewhere. Catholic apologist and blogger Ricardo Boncan has penned a comprehensive rebuttal for his blog, The Struggling Dad:


The Deeply Misleading and Erroneous RH Bill FAQ of Donna Malangit, A Response

The RH Bill and the Law, 1: A Critique by Atty. Marwil Llasos J.D.

The Reproductive Health Bill is Unconstitutional
Atty. Marwil N. Llasos J.D.

The Reproductive Health Bill (House Bill No. 4244) in its entirety is unconstitutional because its very premise is at war with the philosophy embodying the 1987 Constitution, dubbed as the Pro-Life Constitution.

The RH Bill proponents hail it as a solution to poverty in our country. They insist that the RH Bill will spare children, especially those who are unwanted, from a life of poverty. The RH Bill will save mothers from emotional trauma brought about by child bearing. These arguments are not new. They were already discussed and voted on the floor of the 1986 Constitutional Commission. The result is the present Article II, Section 12 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution:

“Section 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception. The natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.”

Constitutionalist Rev. Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., in his annotation on the 1987 Philippine Constitution, expresses the sense of Article II, Section 12 that it “denies that the life of the unborn may be sacrificed merely to save the mother from emotional suffering or to spare the child from a life of poverty.”[1] The commonsensical and constitutional solution to the problem was stated by Fr. Bernas, thus: “The emotional trauma of a mother as well as the welfare of the child after birth can be attended through other means such as availing of the resources of welfare agencies.”[2]

What does Article II, Section 12 seek to achieve? Fr. Bernas answers that the provision was intended “primarily to prevent the state from adopting the doctrine in the United States Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade which liberalized abortion at the discretion of the mother any time during the first six months when it can be done without danger to the mother.”[3]

Clearly, the provision constitutionally outlaws abortion. There’s no chance that abortion can ever be legal in this country as long as the 1987 Philippine Constitution stands.

***

To read more, click HERE.

A UP Diliman Professor's Campaign for Life and Against the RH Bill

(NEWER ARTICLES BELOW. THIS ARTICLE WILL STAY HERE UNTIL AUGUST 1)

The Catholic Position on the RH Bill congratulates Dr. Aliza Racelis, Associate Professor in UP Diliman, whose speech at the UP Diliman University Council meeting earlier this month, we are told, dealt a setback to the plans of pro-RH professors to get the Council to issue an official statement supporting the RH Bill. It was sent back to the drafters, and it is not yet clear if it will be issued at all. 

Apparently, during her speech Dr. Racelis focused on the following arguments: 1) the RH bill is anti-women and 2) the lack of moral consciousness exemplified by the RH Bill

The first point was already elaborated by Dr. Racelis on the following webpage:

RH Bill: Hindi Para sa Kababaihan

And the second point in the following:

Comprehensive RH Bill Action Forum

*************************

Other webpages featured on Dr. Racelis' page that have a bearing on the RH bill are:

On Population and Development: Family, Human Capital and Sustainable Economic Development

Positive Dimensions of Population Growth

Natural Law arguments against the 'RH Bill"

Suggested Modules for RH Bill Orientations

Finally, the Truth about the RH Bill

**************************

These webpages feature useful slides, data and illustrations. 

For the record: Fr. Gregory Gaston on World Population Collapse

World Population Collapse: Lessons for the Philippines

Gregory D. Gaston 

Reproduced with Permission 

Original WORD file and charts 

Original PDF file

A hundred countries today face increasing economic, socio-cultural, political and security problems while their populations age and start to decline, a result of Total Fertility Rates (TFR´s) falling below replacement levels since the 1960´s. As their population pyramid gradually becomes inverted, their ageing workforce, which foresees little replacement, needs to support a growing number of elderly. To resolve these difficulties, their governments desperately encourage their citizens to raise more children. If ever they succeed, their few working people in the future will be doubly burdened, as they must support not only the many elderly they already have, but also the many children they wish to have.

All this the Philippines will also have to experience after its fertility rate sinks to levels below replacement by 2025, brought about by today´s general trend of parents bearing less children, coupled with increasing emigration of individuals and families. It would be pointless to abandon the normal population pyramid we still have today, and then, like rich countries at present, wish to regain it by all means.

A serious study of the latest world demographic data will reject population control as a quick-fix solution to poverty in the Philippines, and hopefully encourage efforts towards good governance, both in the public and the private sectors: steps that will allow the Philippines to take full advantage of its rich human resources, which it can share to ageing countries desperately in need of them. 


(CLICK HERE TO READ MORE)

A simple question

The study that is referred to in this picture can be accessed here: COMBINED ESTROGEN PROGESTOGEN CONTRACEPTIVES

More on Muslim opposition to birth control

Dear Senator, Why Did You Have to Deceive Us?
Rowell Alan Rocaberte

Dear Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago,

Why did you have to deceive the Filipino people? Why were you misleading us?

You publicly said, last August 1, 2011, in your sponsorship speech for the RH Bill, that the Assembly of Darul-Iftah of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the most authoritative body of Islamic clerics in the Philippines, supports the RH Bill as endorsed by some Christian churches. This is not so.

(Read more HERE).

See also: Dear Senator, Why Did You Have to LIE?

NB: Mr. Rocaberte is not Muslim. His post discusses the actual position of the Assembly of Darul-Iftah of the ARMM regarding birth control; it is not his personal confession of faith. 

"Colorful Rag" versus Pro-RH Rag

And YET ANOTHER response to the "Salve" controversy stirred up by the PDI.

LARGE POOR FAMILIES: ‘STRONG CASE’ FOR RH BILL?

From the "Colorful Rag" blog.

For a news article, the Inquirer’s ‘Salve’s life: A strong case for RH bill’ is sure opinionated. Sa title pa lang. And there’s nothing logical about it too.

If we’re going to be pilosopo about it, how would education on contraception and providing contraceptives help Salve now? As far as I know, the bill contains no provisions involving time travel, that would allow Salve to never conceive some of her eight kids. Nor does the bill provide a ‘Salve’s choice’ where she is burdened with deciding which of her spawn to have obliterated (RH bill advocates are implicitly saying that poor kids are of little value and better off never being born).

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE.

David versus Goliath: "People for Media"' versus Philippine Daily Inquirer on the "Salve" issue

Salve's life, according to the Inquirer

Jun Daryl Zamora

I shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts or to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognise the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly. -- The Journalist’s Code of Ethics, No. 1

THE Inquirer steps up its campaign for the passage of the RH bill — this time, in a front-page “news” article.

Kristine Felisse Mangunay’s article “Salve’s life: A strong case for the RH bill” (5/26/11) is an account of the woes of a 37-year-old woman living with her 64-year-old partner: her eight children. Generously sprinkled with vivid descriptions of Salve’s destitution, the article appears as a heart-rending argument against those who oppose the passage of the RH bill. “RH services would have prevented Salve’s poverty,” the article seems to cry.

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE

UPDATED VERSION: Do you need the government to tell you that you should be a responsible parent?

This article was posted by Noynoy Oplas in his blog on April 5, 2011 and originally reposted on this blog (The Catholic Position on the RH Bill) on April 25, 2011. I see that Mr. Oplas has extended his article, and thus I am updating this post. 

Responsible Parenthood Cannot Be Legislated -- Part 1
Nonoy Oplas.

Question: If you are a parent, has one or more kids, do you need the government to tell you that you should be a responsible parent?

Think quick. Yes or No?

….

….

….

If you answer Yes, then I believe there is something wrong with your personal values. If you answer No, then I congratulate you. You know your role as an individual and as a parent.

But now, we in the Philippines are faced with a congressional proposal with an ugly title called “Responsible Parenthood” bill. Parental responsibility is a non-issue. It’s a given. If you are a parent, you HAVE responsibilities to your kids, to your family, no alibis.

So how come that a supposedly non-issue has become a big national issue?

I think the quick and simple answer is: Government. The government wants to impose another round of coercion and mandatory actions. And there are penalties and fines for non-obedience to such new round of coercion.

This highly controversial, highly divisive, highly emotional congressional bill, will require long discussions. Section by section if necessary.

(Read more HERE)


Responsible Parenthood Cannot Be Legislated - Part 2


Responsible Parenthood Cannot Be Legislated - Part 3

"The RH Bill is Evil and Stupid"

10 Reasons Why We Should Kill RH Bill

Posted: May 16, 2011 by Joanne E. Constantino

Today, May 16, 2011, six days before the public debate about Reproductive Health (RH) Bill will be set on national television. This controversial bill has divided the nation- those who were pro and anti has already presented their sides: Iglesia Ni Cristo have come out with its decision in support of the RH Bill. Government officials (e.g. Duterte), celebrities (e.g. Dingdong Dantes and Lea Salonga), academic professors (e.g. UP and Ateneo), ex- Cabinet members, and P-Noy, himself, were also in favour of the said bill. While the Catholic Church and other Christian sectors stood firm against it.

Upon reading blogs, news and other sources of information about RH bill, I have come out a position paper- to go against it. I have realised that this has many loopholes and lawmakers must be very careful in pursuing for its passage. That any supporter must also look the other side of the coin and think the many possibilities that will happen if this bill will become a law.

(Read more HERE)

Yes, the bishops do have a point!

So it's our crucifixes against their condoms

by "gaiuspaxflorius"

Apparently, I have to take the side of the Church when it comes to the controversial Reproductive Health Bill (H.B. 5043), mainly because:

1. The Church (via the CBCP) are only doing their responsibility. Though the bishops and clergy are being wrongfully labelled as “bigots”, they have a point. 

(Read more HERE)

Filipinos for Life responds to Cayetano, Cabral and Salonga on Contraception and Breast Cancer

Here it is:

Cayetano/Cabral/Salonga vs the RH Bill

Two things you need to know about the RH Bill

From a Protestant Christian blog that courageously resists the RH Bill despite the support given to it by a number of other Protestant Christian churches:

The RH Bill does not uphold that life starts from the moment of conception

The RH Bill promotes contraceptives that are harmful to women

Protect the health and lives of mothers!

From FILIPINOS FOR LIFE:

Into the Light: Protecting Health and Lives of Mothers

This series seeks to bring to the light the lies and half-truths that Likhaan, RHAN, FPOP, Remedios and other agencies and organizations disseminate, in their quest to pass the RH bill without it being fully understood by the Filipino people nor even by the lawmakers that support it. Filipinos for Life will address pro-RH claims to show our readers the TRUTH that they need to know and share with others.

To read the whole series, click HERE.

"The Filipino people should not tolerate, under any circumstances, any sort of government policy for population reduction"

The Philippines: Underdeveloped, but not Overpopulated

by Michael J. Rowland

March 18, 2011

A great deal of controversy has been made of the proposed “reproductive health” legislation that is currently being debated in the Philippine Congress. The general argument is usually portrayed as such: those representing the Catholic Church are fighting against the bill because of their opposition to artificial contraception; and they are concerned that a government initiative to promote the usage of such devices will lead to an acceptance of a sexually immoral culture. Conversely, those individuals and groups supporting such legislation claim that it will alleviate problems such as the increase in illegal abortions and the rapid growth in the numbers of poor Filipinos—which, they seem to allege, mainly stems from the fact that these unfortunate and uneducated people are simply having too much unprotected sex. They see the Church’s stance as not only archaic, but also overreaching into the state affairs of the only major nation in an “overpopulated” Asia where it has considerable social and political influence.

I have no intention at this time to entertain a theological debate about the immorality of artificial contraception, to investigate the charges that some types can be used as abortifacients, or to discourse on whether or not the Church is justified in influencing government policy regarding this issue. The legitimate concerns about the providing of adequate health care for women or aiding them in dealing with unintended pregnancies, about fighting infant mortality and caring for abandoned babies and homeless children, about the eradication of sexually transmitted diseases, and about all other societal ills related to sex and pregnancy—all of these should be seriously addressed and dealt with by state, church, and citizenry. But the firm stance I do wish to take in regards to the RH Bill and related matters is that the Filipino people should not tolerate, under any circumstances, any sort of government policy for population reduction.

[Read the rest of the article here]

Three essays by Carlos Legaspi Jr.

Mr. Carlos Legaspi Jr. is a columnist for Sun Star Bacolod whose work against the RH Bill recently came to my attention. Here are three of his articles versus the RH Bill, starting with the most recent. 

I've been hearing that the media in the provinces, especially in Bicol, is more friendly to the anti-RH side than the so-called "mainstream media" in Metro Manila. I hope to be able to help publicize the work of more anti-RH writers and media people from the provinces.

The RH Law and the Caravan (April 7, 2011)

RH Bill? (March 3, 2011)

RH Bill, EDSA and March (March 1, 2011)