An important document on the link between abortion and the RH Law

Urgent Joint Manifestation vs RH by CBCP for Life

For the record: Benny Abante after the RH vote on December 12-13, 2012

From the Facebook page of Pro-Life Philippines:

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Furnishing you some of my postings in my FB account. Feel free to share.

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ABSCBN News: "President Aquino has decided to certify the reproductive health or responsible parenthood bill as urgent. Aguino told reporters that he would like to see an end to congressional deliberations on what he called as a divisive issue before the year ends."

As the RH Bill is now certified as urgent, may I cite the following with urgency...

Art XV, Sec 2 of our Constitution says, “Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family AND SHALL BE PROTECTED BY THE STATE.” The Constitution acknowledges that Marriage is a SOCIAL institution. It is therefore not the property of any religious group. However the Roman Catholics are majority in the society, they do not own marriage. The State takes it upon itself as stated in the Constitution to PROTECT marriage. Marriage is NOT a matter of the church but of society - as acknowledged by the Constitution... "it is a SOCIAL institution." Any law therefore, or bill for that matter, in this case the RH Bill, should be consistent with the Constitution. In essence, there should be a clear indication that the RH BILL must PROTECT marriage, especially since the RH Bill claims to deal with parenthood, family and sexual relationship/health. All these things are issues of the family AND THE CONSTITUTION SAYS, MARRIAGE IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE FAMILY. THE WORD OF GOD ALSO TEACHES THE SAME THING. MARRIAGE CAME FROM GOD. HE HIMSELF OFFICIATED THE FIRST WEDDING IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

For the record: Pro-Life Philippines signature campaign reached 174,778 signatures

For the record: Pro-Life Philippines versus the revised RH bill

Other position papers versus the revised RH bill:

1) CBCP - ECFL (see first document in this post)
2) CFC-FFL on the Revised RH Bill
3) World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific on the Amended RH Bill

Pro Life Philippines Foundation, Inc.

Position Paper on the New RH Bill Version

Filed at the House of Representatives

                

Greetings of Peace!

We have received a copy of the new RH bill version which was filed at the House of Representative  last October 23, 2012. For the education and information of our friends and all those who support us, we are releasing this statement in order to shed light on this new proposed RH Bill and it’s implications.

1. There simple is no need for an RH Law. As Senator Tito Sotto has mentioned in his Turno en Contra speech, there are 23 existing laws that mimic the RH bill, and close to 8 billion pesos given to the DOH by the government to fund RH-like programs and projects. Then there is the Magna Carta of Women. The RH bill is simply redundant and unnecessary.

2. The RH bill is a population control measure that masquerades as a bill that will empower women. True women empowerment happens when there are enough jobs for women to support their families as well as education for their children. The funds to be used in purchasing contraceptives can be utilized in projects that directly alleviate poverty and empower women, like building classrooms and schools, roads, bridges, ports, and other infrastructure.

3. The provisions that will allow adolescents to have access to contraceptives are still present. Not that taking them off will convince us to accept this bill, but the presence of these provisions only reinforce our convictions that the RH bill is for population control. Aside from this fact, adolescents should not be given contraceptives as this would only reinforce teen-age sexual activities and lead to teen-age pregnancies.

4. The provision for sex education of adolescents is still present. The important points in sex education are already included in our present curriculum via our biology classes; what the youth need is education and formation geared towards the discovery and enrichment of their talents and skills, and personality development and self-mastery, which are all necessary in preparing them to be efficient members of the workforce. A student who is prepared both physically and emotionally for work will be an asset in any workplace, and if he is poor, he has more chances to bring himself and his family out of poverty.

5. The bill propagates the misconception of poor women needing contraception because they want to limit the number of children born to them, but are too poor to afford contraceptives. Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government professor Lant Pritchett says parents who have large families want large families, meaning parents want the children that they beget. It is also a misconception that poor women cannot afford contraceptives, hence the need for the RH Bill. According to the 2008 National Demographic Health Survey, only less than 1% of women cannot afford contraception.

6. The RH Bill has been a highly divisive issue, with both sides hardly yielding any ground. However, there are certain bills that are not as divisive as the RH bill but will also help this country move forward by curbing graft and corruption. We are referring to the Freedom of Information bill, and the Anti-Dynasty bill. Both the congress and senate would have taken the country a step forward in the right direction had they passed these two bills. Instead they chose to dwell on the RH bill, and because of this our politicians look like they are only after their own selfish interests.

The framers of the RH Bill presented this revised version of the RH bill hoping that they could pass it with the amendments in place. They are sadly mistaken. We still oppose the RH bill, and there shall be no compromise. We value life and the true dignity of women. No to the RH Bill!

Sincerely

Mr. Eric Manalang

President, Pro Life Philippines

(SOURCE) 

This paper was originally posted last week (November 7, 2012) on the website of Pro-Life Philippines

A request for prayers for Sr. Pilar Verzosa

UPDATE: Sr. Pilar has died. She passed away at 4:44 A.M. on September 9, 2012.

Let us pray for her eternal repose.

Requiem æternam dona ea, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ea. 



Originally posted on September 7, 2012:

Pro-Life Philippines on the "deluge of misinformation" from the pro-RH side

From the website of Pro-Life Philippines:

Top 5 Pro-RH Fallacies

Repeat a lie often enough, according to Joseph Goebbels, and it becomes a truth. Ironically, during these times, this rings true very often, especially because there has been a deluge of misinformation that has been circulated by RH backers. Here are the top 5 most outrageous fallacies that have made the rounds in forums and in debates.

1. False: The country needs to slow down its population growth rate/lower fertility rate/lessen the number of people because too many people cause poverty.

Truth: The country’s growth rate have been going down since the 60s and according to the NSO, our growth rate is at a measly 1.94%. This is without the benefit of an rh bill. On the other hand, according to the country’s premier economist, Dr. Bernardo Villegas, 200 billion pesos are lost annually due to tax evasion, and another 200 billion lost due to graft and corruption. Given these numbers, should we lessen the number of people, or curb corruption?

Truth: The Malthusian way of thinking – that too many people in a country causes poverty – has been long debunked by people like Simon Kuznets, who was a Nobel Prize winner for Economics. There has never been a clear connection between economic growth and population growth. However, in an article from the Asean Economic Bulletin entitled “The Relationship Between Population and Economic Growth in Asian Economies,” written by Wong Hock Tsen and Fumitaka Furuoka, “For China, Singapore, and the Philippines, population is found to Granger cause (or directly cause) economic growth and not vice versa. “ Similarly, reports coming from HSBC says: ““The Philippines looks set for a multi-decade run of strong growth,” and BSP Governor Amando Tetangco mentions that “the Philippine economy will get additional boost from its citizens by 2015 as it enters the demographic “sweet spot” or average age of Filipinos 22.2 years.” He cited a recent United Nations study which showed that the Philippines is the last major economy in Asia that will benefit from a period wherein bulk of the population is of working age and has the capacity to spend.

2. False: Contraceptives are safe.

Truth: In a test conducted by scientists simulating the sexual act, as much as 29 out of 89 condoms leaked. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1411838)

The IARC and the WHO have declared that combined oral contraceptives are group 1 carcinogens – meaning that they are known to cause cancer to humans, and that they, along with other materials like cigarettes and asbestos, are the most cancer-causing. Most pro-RH proponents are quick to either deny or downplay this fact. One common excuse is that even Paracetamol is cancerous (but are not taken off the shelves of pharmacies). That is just a very ignorant way of downplaying the risk. The fact remains: combined oral contraceptives cause cancer, like breast cancer. Besides, you do not take Paracetamol 21 days straight like you do with OCPs.

3. False: There are 11 mothers dying daily because the RH bill hasn’t passed yet.

Truth: Turns out that their rallying cry of 11 mothers dying daily is outdated information. According to this article from filipinosforlife.com:

“The issue at hand is the pro-RH lobby’s emotional and exclusive use of “11 maternal deaths a day” to scare lawmakers into spending billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money for its contraception and sterilization agenda.

The pro-RH statistic is clearly outdated as attested by not one, not two, but three sets of data. If RHAN-Likhaan-DSWP cared to look elsewhere, they would have found that we had also cited the September 2010 report of the World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Bank, which estimated annual maternal deaths in the Philippines at 2,100 in 2008. That is equivalent to 5.75 deaths a day, a completely different level than “11 a day.” This was clearly down from the 2000 level of 4,100, or 11.2 a day, which was published in a report seven years ago by the same international agencies.

We are astounded that the pro-RH lobby had to go to great lengths to justify the excessive and exclusive use of “11 a day.” We wonder why the figure is now attributed to government statistical agencies, when before, credit was given to the UNFPA and other international bodies. Did the lobbyists misrepresent old data as current? There is a word for that: disingenuous.

That is the plain, ugly truth: the RH camp lied, and continues to lie, about their own data. If they can be dishonest with this and appeal to emotions by using bloated numbers, I believe they are capable of more dishonesty. Like the next one.

4. False: The Church is against the RH Bill; ergo the Church is against women’s health.

Truth: You might have heard this before. And a whole lot of other baseless accusations like “the Church is the enemy of progress,” or “the Church is against science.”  I do not know how that applies as an educated comment, because historians would attribute things like the scientific method and the university system to the Catholic Church. Why is the Church against the RH bill? Precisely because it wants to safeguard women. The prophecies of Pope Paul VI about what would happen if the Church’s teaching on contraception were ignored come to mind:

- Infidelity and moral decline

The Pope first noted that the widespread use of contraception would “lead to conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality.” That there has been a widespread decline in morality, especially sexual morality, in the last 25 years, is very difficult to deny. The increase in the number of divorces, abortion, our-of-wedlock pregnancies, and venereal diseases should convince any skeptic that sexual morality is not the strong suit of our age.

- Lost Respect for Women

The Pope realized that the Church’s teaching on contraception is designed to protect the good of conjugal love. When spouses violate this good, they do not act in accord with their innate dignity and thus they endanger their own happiness. Treating their bodies as mechanical instruments to be manipulated for their own purposes, they risk treating each other as objects of pleasure.

- Abuse of Power

Paul VI also observed that the widespread acceptance of contraception would place a “dangerous weapon… in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral exigencies.” The history of the family-planning programs in the Third World is a sobering testimony to this reality. Moreover, few people are willing to recognize the growing evidence that many parts of the world face not overpopulation, but underpopulation. It will take years to reverse the “anti-child” mentality now entrenched in many societies.

- Unlimited Dominion

Pope Paul’s final warning was that contraception would lead man to think that he had unlimited dominion over his own body. Sterilization is now the most widely used form of contraception in the U.S.; individuals are so convinced of their rights to control their own bodies that they do not hesitate to alter even their own physical make-up.

5. False: The RH Bill will uplift the lives of the poor.

Truth: The only way to uplift the lives of the poor is through education. People may ask, why not do both – give contraceptives and educate? Because in a world where governments are asking their citizens to bear more children because of the effects of demographic winter, we cannot afford to follow their example.

Truth: We have yet to see someone who became rich because he wore condoms. The poor who use the contraceptives given to them remain poor; the educated child, however, has a real fighting chance to uplift himself and his family from poverty.

How's this for real change and development?

Pro-Life Philippines: 500 million Pesos wasted on condoms and pills.

For more on the background to this article, see That's a whole lot of money!

From the website of Pro-Life Philippines:

RH Bill Education

Section 10, Family Planning Supplies as Essential Medicines

¨      Products and supplies for modern family planning methods shall be part of the National Drug Formulary and the same shall be included in the regular purchase of essential medicines and supplies of all national and local hospitals and other government health units.

The World Health Organization defines essential medicines as “those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population.” In short, what makes medicines classified as essential is that the population needs it in order to be healthy.

Under this section, however, products and supplies like condoms and pills are to be considered essential medicines and are to be part of the National Drug Formulary. This means that your tax goes to the purchase of someone else’s condom, and your hard-earned money goes to the immoral lifestyle of certain people. If condoms and pills are to be classified as essential medicines, it is necessary to ask the question: what illness do they treat?

http://business.inquirer.net/65955/doh-to-distribute-p500m-worth-of-pills-condoms

So the government has money to improve maternal health after all, but it spends it on condoms and pills! Shame! RH proponents even have the guts to evoke memories of women who have died because of complications in pregnancy – and yet here they are spending this money on condoms.

The way to prevent maternal deaths is not to prevent pregnancy! 500 million can be spent on better things: to invest on training more medical professionals and midwives, modernize hospitals and birthing centers, to provide vitamins for pregnant women, etc.

500 million Pesos wasted on condoms and pills. And we haven’t even passed the RH bill yet. If anything, this is a foretaste of what is to come if they do pass the RH bill.

"If I am to call myself 'pro-life,' then I should be willing to give at least a few hours of my time to the 'fight for life.'"

A testimony by the Catholic blogger Tina Santiago-Rodriguez

Save the babies in their mommies' tummies!

An edited version on the website of the Philippines Star can be read here.

Michael Voris versus the RH bill: Round 2

Last year, renowned lay Catholic speaker and commentator Michael Voris visited the Philippines and came up with two videos attacking the RH bill (Thrilla' in Manila and Liberal Tyrants).

This past February he came back to the Philippines for an extended tour and filmed the following videos, all of which touch on the RH bill one way or another:

Obama and the Philippines




Obama's Gay Ambassador




Even in the Philippines




The Church is Right!




Bishop Chat

The following article from the CBCP for Life website summarizes Voris' exhortations to his Filipino listeners to defend the Catholic faith and its stance on matters of doctrine and morals:

Int’l speaker urges Catholics to understand pro-life issues

MANILA, Feb. 22, 2012—Catholics should see to it that they translate their faith into concrete everyday actions instead of merely paying lip service and staying on the level of being a “Sunday Catholic,” an international speaker said during his recent visit to the Philippines.

“One can’t say ‘I’m a Catholic, I love Jesus,’ then goes home and pretends that none of the other stuff matters. There are threats against the true, good and beautiful so intense that this demands a certain response from us. Everything we do needs to be dedicated to the advancement of the Faith, whether we’re evangelizing someone we know, carrying out a devotion, fighting abortion in the Philippines, the RH bill… Whatever it is, we simply don’t escape,” Michael Voris of RealCatholicTv.com reminded the crowd at St. Francis of Assisi Parish during a recent talk he gave as part of activities being conducted by Pro-Life Philippines for Respect and Care for Life Month.

Voris, known for his online episodes of The Vortex which delves on various issues pertaining to culture and the Catholic faith, emphasized the call to every Catholic to deepen his understanding of the Faith and urged all to be pro-active in defending the Church especially nowadays.

Not to be timid about Catholicism

“You cannot be… quiet, afraid, timid, shy about Catholicism. The Church is under attack from every possible avenue you can imagine,” he said.

The Catholic Church is being criticized for its unwavering position on contraception and abortion, and Church officials and groups have been leading the opposition to anti-life legislation, such as the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. Lately, however, Filipinos of various persuasions and religious affiliations have become more vocal in rejecting the population control measure.

Voris pointed out the need to understand issues regarding the culture of life and know how to explain their stand on matters like the RH bill, even when talking with self-proclaimed “independent thinkers.”

“Oftentimes Catholics do sound uninformed, uneducated, just like we’re parroting back some party line, some script to read, that we don’t understand. That’s wrong; that has to change, the 50-year-old speaker observed.

“And for some it’s ‘I’m gonna vote against the RH if it comes up’ or ‘I’m gonna oppose it and I’m gonna go out in the streets and protest against it because the bishop told me to.’ You sound like a total moron to somebody who doesn’t understand what the Church teaches. You need to be able to say, ‘I’m protesting this because… blah blah. And I’m happy that the Church and I are in agreement on this because this is the truth, and I live according to the truth.’ That’s how you’re going to have to answer that,” he urged.

Genuine love leads to studying the Faith

Voris, who went on a week-long tour speaking to groups in Manila, Bacolod, Cebu and Davao accompanied by Pro-Life Philippines’ officers, explained that the desire to know more is a natural consequence of a genuine love for Christ and his Bride, the Church. And if there is genuine love, a Catholic would want to understand the Church’s teachings and position regarding life issues.

“In order for Catholics to really, really love the faith, and love all the teachings that come out of it, not just the theological, dogmatic or sacramental teachings but also moral teachings, you’ve got to know the faith. There’s a basic principle of philosophy — you can’t love what you don’t know. And the opposite of that is true also: Why would you not want to know everything that you can possibly know about something that you love, or someone that you love?” the speaker stressed.

Voris is known for his direct and sometimes scathing approach to tackling issues, and here he minced no words in getting his points across to jolt his audiences into a more dynamic practice of the Catholic faith.

“When Catholics are accused of being like mindless sheep and can’t think for themselves, that argument against Catholics has a little bit of truth in it… Why? Because Catholics don’t know their faith enough.”

For a Catholic not to know his faith means he doesn’t love it enough, he said, but enthused that authentic love for God and the Church he established will change that.

“The faith… always comes down to a simple relationship between me and my God. Now do I love this God the way I should? And if I don’t then shame on me,” Voris continued.

“When you love somebody you want to know everything about them that you can possibly know. You wanna know everything about the person. You ask a lot of questions. Why? Because you love them or think about them and you wanna know everything about them. “

Earlier in the day, Voris paid a visit to Adamson University to speak with the students as part of his Manila itinerary. He visibly captivated his young audience, driving home the message about the need for young people to seek friends, and eventually a future spouse, who will bring them closer to God first and foremost. He also underscored the importance of finding someone whom they can be proud to call as the father or mother of their children. He concluded by urging the young students to be true to their calling to live a Catholic way of life and to be true to their identities as Catholics.

(...)

Tagalog Pamphlet: Ibasura ang RH Bill!

How to act according to the CBCP's pastoral letter, "Choosing Life, Rejecting the RH Bill"

The text of Choosing Life, Rejecting the RH Bill can be found HERE.

This chart is from the January - February 2011 issue of "For Your Info", the newsletter of Pro-Life Philippines.

Answers to common questions on the RH bill

Q& A on the Reproductive Health Bill 4244
From Ed Sorreta of Pro-Life Philippines

1. Will the RH bill adversely affect my family?

The bill provides: “SEC. 16. Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education. - … shall be taught by adequately trained teachers in formal and non-formal education system starting from Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School…to both public and private schools…and shall include, but not limited to, the following topics: … i. Family planning methods; and j. Proscription and hazards of abortion.” In other words, our elemntary and HS children will be taught contraceptives, condoms and abortion!

If these topics should be taught, let the parents take the responsibilty because they know the temperament and maturity of their children, which a classroom setting does not consider. Moreover, these should be taught in the context of Christian values. Therefore, the government should educate the parents instead of bypassing them and going directly to their children. Section Art. XV, Sec. 3 (1) provides: “The State shall defend: The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood…” This right and duty of parents is usurped by government by teaching the use of contraceptives and Safe Sex to our children inspite of many Catholic parents’ objection since these are against the teachings of the Catholic Church.

2. Does the RH bill force people to use contraceptives and/or legalize abortion?

No, it does not penalize people for not using contraceptives. However, it forces some sectors of society to submit to provisions that may be against their faith and parental rights. This is answered in nos. 1, 9a, 9c, 9d, and 10.

In addition, the bill does not legalize abortion, but it is silent on the abortifacient effect of contraceptives and IUDs.

In very simple words: Contraceptives as Abortifacients

From the Multiply account of Pro-Life Philippines:

LIES & DECEIT ON CONTRACEPTION

Portia Sy

Let us tackle the word itself - CONTRACEPTION - and the history of the contraceptive pill. Decades ago, my ob-gyne told me that the first contraceptive pills that pharmaceutical companies manufactured were really effective on preventing conception, hence they were called contraceptives. However, the pregnant women who took them complained of so many awful side-effects - nausea, ulcer-like stomach aches, pimples, increased desire to eat leading to overeating, etc. - that the pharma companies decided to reconstitute the pills. They came out with pills that were "weaker" - thus succeeding in eliminating the mentioned complaints - but...because they were weaker, the "new" pills, the pills now in the market - are less successful in its purpose of preventing conception, the union of sperm and egg. So, they are no longer contraceptives, YET THE WORD CONTRACEPTIVE CONTINUED TO BE USED!

My ob-gyne continued to explain: because the embryo which succeeded in becoming alive (so there is life!) is weakened by the chemicals still remaining in the "new" pill, it is unable to implant itself in the mother's endometrium (lining of the uterus) where the embryo get its nourishment, and thus dies away and gets ejected in the mother's next menstruation. The mother thinks she did not conceive when she did! The pharmaceutical companies should instead use the word CONTRA-IMPLANTATION! which KILLS! Until they do, they are engaged in DECEIT! They are promoting ABORTION!

Radio Veritas and Pro-Life Philippines radio ads versus the RH Bill

Information Ad # 1: "Ano, pinipilit nila ang paggamit ng contraceptives?"

Information Ad # 2: "Hindi sakit ang pagbubuntis!"

Information Ad # 3: "Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, hindi condom ang kailangan!"

Information Ad # 4: Nagsalita na ang Simbahan!

Tagalog Primer on the RH Bill

In PDF format:

BAKIT AYAW NAMIN SA RH BILL