On keeping the Church out of the bedroom

An article written earlier this year by Teresa Tunay OCDS

'Ma, keep out of my bed!'

Quite a number of parents I know who have a good relationship with their children throw their hands up in frustration when it comes to the issue of the RH Bill.  A dear friend sounds weary telling me, “Hay naku, that subject is taboo in our home!  Mia is pro-RH.  She’s 22, studies at UP, and tells me, ‘Ma, you can tell me anything you want except go against RH.  Case closed!’ Imagine!  It makes me sooo sad!”

Another mother who is so passionately against RH Bill declined my offer of a pro-life car sticker, saying, “We have only one family car; my son will never use that sticker!”  She says that her 23-year old single, pro-RH son once and for all squelched her pro-life explanations with, “Ma, keep out of my bed!”  

Both mothers are devoted and practising Catholics, faithful to Church teachings, raised their children well, and have the sympathy and support of their husbands—typical of the happy middle class Filipino family.  And now, in their frustration, both are asking themselves, “Where did we go wrong?  They used to be such nice, obedient kids!” 

When a couple of my own nieces, in their late 20s, openly told me they were for the passage of the RH Bill, all I replied was, “Your are intelligent girls.  If you knew everything about that bill, you yourselves would fight it.”  They countered, “What’s wrong with giving maternal health services to poor people?”  Then the husband of one asked, “What else is there to know?”  I said, “Just think—if that bill were so perfect, why is it taking years to be passed?”  Long story short, he asked that I email him all background information I have about it.

So why would otherwise good and intelligent young people support such a damaging and misleading bill?  How do proponents of the bill lure to their camp well-meaning celebrities like Lea Salonga who herself admitted on TV during a debate that she does not contracept because she’d rather “leave it to God”, nor does she take the pill because “it’s bad for my voice”?  By the way, she was cut off the air at that point.

Young, supposedly smart people who openly and even loudly support the RH bill’s passage do so because they are misinformed—they are given limited information (usually about the “good side” of the bill) to tug at their heartstrings and make them believe they are doing the Filipino people some service by fighting anti-RH folks.

Others who tolerate RH Bill’s passage merely pick up information from the media—where the louder voices, as we know, are more commonly and easily heard and believed.  Few are convinced that the issue is important enough for them to read the bill, to follow the interpellation sessions, or to obtain more information from people in the know.

Worse, there is a malicious misinformation campaign aimed at establishing in the minds of the young that the RH Bill case is simply a Catholic Church vs. State issue: CBCP vs. Noynoy, Old vs. Modern, natural family planning vs. artificial, etc.  As a result many anti-Catholics, Catholics but anti-Church, and those who think themselves “cool” and avant-garde automatically judge the RH bill as commendable and put down the Church as a bunch of old fogeys and narrow-minded hypocrites who are woefully out of touch with reality. 

Enemies of the truth scheme to discredit the Church in the eyes of the young because the Church is the only institution potent enough to expose lies, defend the truth, and perpetuate the good.  The question is: how well are we arming our young people with the love of truth?      

Upcoming event: NCR Youth Day for Life

(THIS WILL REMAIN ON TOP OF THE BLOG UNTIL JULY 22. NEWER POSTS BELOW)

UPDATE July 17, 2012: Newer article on CBCP regarding this event: Young people gear up for NCR Youth Day for Life


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From CBCP News (June 15, 2012):

NCR youth day highlights RH bill as lead problem among young people

MANILA, June 15, 2012—Young people from the 10 ecclesiastical territories of the National Capital Region are set to gather for the 1st National Capital Region (NCR) youth day that will highlight a discussion on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill as the leading problem of today’s Filipino youth.

Slated on July 22, the youth event is dubbed “The National Capital Region Youth Day for Life! Live. Love. Learn.” The theme is taken from 1 Timothy 4:12 (“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”)

Aside from getting together the young crowd, the event is also aiming to gather different leaders of the parish youth ministries or commissions, the leaders of different campus ministries of parochial, private and public school in the region, as well as the leaders of the different transparochial groups or organizations to reflect on the NCR youth’s stand regarding the RH bill.

The NCR youth ministry believes the gathering will serve as a venue for the youth to discuss in depth the content of the consolidated statement of the region on the issue of RH bill and the effects of the controversial measure on the lives of the youth

Aside from that, they will also provide the youth an opportunity to share their inputs and to better understand their statement as well as recommit themselves in the efforts of educating the young people on the region regarding the issue.

According to Peter Eric Pardo, regional youth coordinator of NCR, there will be three talks and three workshops that will be scheduled during the event.

Pardo will be one of the speakers together with Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, country director of the Human Life International and Ms. Renelyn Tan, regional director for Asia of World Youth Alliance.

For the workshops, speakers and facilitators will be Mr. Peter Capistrano, former NCR Youth Leader and Coordinator of the Diocese of Pasig Youth Ministry; Ms. Ann Rosselle Cortes, diocesan youth coordinator of Novaliches and Mr. Dani Villanueva, diocesan youth coordinator of Antipolo.

Scheduled talks are “RH bill, saan ka nanggaling?,” “RH bill, ano ka ba talaga?,” and “RH bill, bakit di kita ma-take?,”. The workshops are about “Live, Love and Learn.”

Pardo added that they are targeting 200 young people ages 15-39 from each ecclesiastical territories of NCR. No venue yet has been announced by the organizers at the moment.

NCR is comprised of Archdiocese of Manila, Dioceses of Parañaque, Pasig, Antipolo, Novaliches, Cubao, Kalookan, Imus and Apostolic Vicariates of Puerto Princesa and Taytay in Palawan. (Jandel Posion)

For the record: UP for Life's statement versus the RH bill

(Originally published on May 7, 2012):


UP4L Statement

For the record: NCR Youth Ministry Statement Against the RH Bill

NCR Youth Ministry Statement Against RH Bill

For the record: Students Choose Life statement versus the RH bill

Originally published on May 7, 2012Students Choose Life Stand on the Rh Bill

For the record: Catholic youth from Iloilo versus the RH bill

(Published May 4, 2012 but one in spirit with the statements published on May 7, 2012 by pro-life youth groups):


RH BILL STATEMENT of the Vicariate of St. Peter-Archdiocese of Jaro

Videos of the RH Bill Forum in St. Peter's Church, Fairview (May 7, 2012)

Talk by Dr. Rene Bullecer:


Talk by Anna Cosio, a registered nurse:

 

 Talk by Atty. Marwil Llasos Ll.M, legal expert and Catholic apologist:

 

Full Video of the June 4, 2012 Press Conference in Cebu of the United Youth Alliance Against RH

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

Youth Manifesto for Life and versus the RH Bill: "In solidarity, we declare our opposition to the RH Bill. This is our voice. This is our vote."

For the background to this Manifesto, see the following CBCP for Life article: Youth alliance rejects RH bill, declares support for pro-life solons. 

Our Voice Our Vote Youth Manifesto

UP Student Catholic Action versus the RH Bill

UP Student Catholic Action Stand on RH Bill 

A call for Truth, Freedom, Justice and Love 

As both houses of the Philippine Congress convene for the resumption of sessions, our (75 years of) undaunted vigilance as (the University of the Philippines Student Catholic Action) calls us to proclaim and defend the values attacked by the Reproductive Health Bill in its various facets. 

WE CALL FOR TRUTH. Let the fiction of Reproductive Health needs be exposed for the fabrication that it is. Let there be an end to the safe sex myth that covers up the harms caused by contraceptives, ranging from carcinogenic to abortifacient effects. Let the underlying fear-mongering due to the population explosion hoax be stopped. Let the scientific, medical, economic, demographic, and constitutional facts – that life begins at conception, that our population size is an asset, that our state enshrines protection of the unborn, that not people but corruption and improper government priorities are the main causes of our economic problems – bring finality once and for all to the verbal engineering used to decorate the redundant population control deception. 

WE CALL FOR FREEDOM. Let the liberty that is enshrined in the constitution and which is fundamental in every human being be respected and protected. Let parents have, by virtue of their being proper guardians, the primary and decisive role in the formation of their children, free from unwanted intrusion of sex agendas integrated in school formation by the state. Let couples be not constrained from receiving marriage licenses shall they not comply with reception of contraceptive instruction that may be against their personal beliefs. Let homes decide and not be meddled with in determining their ideal family size. Let schools, especially the religious ones, be not compelled to teach mandatory contraceptive ‘education’ to students. Let medical practitioners, in line with their conscience and promises declared in the Hippocratic Oath, be not coerced into performing or prescribing contraceptive procedures which may result to medical complications of patients. Let employers be not burdened, even if unwilfully, with entitling their employees with contraceptive services. Let the state, rather than penalizing with imprisonments and fines and crippling the rights of its citizens be guided by the principle of Subsidiarity, and not usurp powers and judgments rightfully delegated to parents, students, couples, families, schools, employers, and healthcare practitioners. 

WE CALL FOR JUSTICE. Let human rights be guaranteed for all people, especially the most small, the helpless, and the very young – for that a human being is the size of a pinprick does not take away his or her humanity, and never would be a justification for the injustice of abortifacient murder of most innocent lives. Let distributive justice guide the proper appropriation of resources where such is most needed – education, agricultural reform, employment generation, health – and not for the mere satisfaction of lust through contraceptives which are after all widely available. 

WE CALL FOR LOVE. Let us look at the Filipino as a person of potential and not as a population problem. Let us see every offspring as a blessing to be nurtured and not exterminated. Let us reclaim the sexual faculty for its beautiful nature of procreation and union, and not of mere recreation, that is perverted by the contraceptive culture of the misnomer ‘safe’ or ‘protective’ intercourse. As members of UPSCA, we irrevocably stand for the ultimate foundation of Human Rights – that is the Truth that men are created in the image and likeness of the Almighty. We pray that this dignity be upheld and be not compromised for the sake of purporting economic development. May Love propel us to the realization that through safeguarding Life and Freedom, we practice the virtue of Justice to ourselves and to our fellowmen. Urged on by the beacons of Truth, Freedom, Justice, and Love, we call for the immediate disposal of the Reproductive Health Bills and the prioritization of the pro-life bills HB 19 of Rep. Roilo Golez titled “An Act Providing for the Safety and Protection of the Unborn Child” , SB 2497 of Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile titled “Protection of the Unborn Child Act”, and HB 3667 of Rep. Amado Bagatsing titled “New Anti-Abortion Act of 2010”. Let us not compromise Life and Human Dignity with undaunted liberalism, unsound freethinking, and unbridled modernization. 

NO TO RH BILL! 

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL HUMAN BEINGS! 

UP STUDENT CATHOLIC ACTION- Diliman

Student Catholic Action of the Philippines versus the RH Bill

SCAP+Position+on+RH+Bill

The Filipino youth is not an army of pro-RH robots

From CBCP News and CBCP for Life:


Youth continue to debunk claims of being pro-RH bill 
May 1, 2012

Another member of the youth sector has brushed off the claims of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) that the youth will fiercely campaign against lawmakers who oppose the reproductive health bill currently pending in Congress. 

Aaron Ricardo de Veloso, who recently graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines-Diliman, declared that the claim of SCAP’s representatives is presumptuous. 

SCAP has earlier asserted in a press statement that the youth will fiercely campaign against anti-RH lawmakers in next year’s mid-term elections, but leaders of several student and youth organizations denied the assertion. 

Singles for Christ statement versus the RH Bill

From the website of SFC Global:

We Say `Yes` to Our Future Families, `No` to the RH Bill 

April 26, 2012

Dear fellow Filipinos: 

With the Congress` upcoming opening session, CFC Singles for Christ urgently renews its stand against the RH Bill and its commitment to life. 

The forces that are pushing to have the RH Bill passed into law are blind to the impact of similar bills in other countries. While appealing to a sense of “progressiveness” and modernity, the bill directly attacks values central to the Filipino family and specifically, to womanhood. 

We propose to our fellowmen and to our legislators: 

1.) Champion family planning methods that strengthen Filipino marriages. Contraception destroys the bond of love and trust between couples. Aside from this seemingly intangible effect, research shows that contraceptives cause cancer, irregular bleeding, and depression, among others. At heightened risk to women, the RH Bill ishardly “empowering women” nor is it really looking after “maternal health.” As future mothers and fathers, Singles for Christ, we believe natural family planning methods show true respect and honor, not just for the human body, but for the human person. 

2.) Uphold the right to life of the most powerless person, the unborn. Singles for Christ believes that total human liberation should not be limited to human persons who are able to articulate their own aspirations, but extends to the tiniest human being, whom the RH Bill proposes we should all be “empowered” to annihilate at will. 

3.) Use government funding for poverty alleviation not for contraception. As a community dedicated to working with the poor, we believe that state funding should be given to more pressing national concerns like poverty and corruption and NOT to institutionalize contraceptives as “essential medicines”, as if pregnancy were a disease. 

We may not be parents at present, but we have a huge stake in the future state of the Filipino family. It is for our yet to be born children that we oppose the RH Bill. Again, CFC Singles for Christ reiterates that it has been and will always be on the side of life, and decidedly against the RH Bill. We humbly enjoin our legislators to uphold the interests of their unborn constituents and work so that the best choices are given to the Filipino people. 

Michael Ariola 

International Coordinator 

CFC Singles for Christ

On the courage of pro-life youths in the face of RH propaganda

RH BILL SUPPORTERS DO NOT INTIMIDATE PRO-LIFE YOUTH

In reply to: RH bill foes face the wrath of student groups

The youth, as everyone knows, is a major stakeholder in this RH Bill, and this is the very reason why I find it very important to speak up about it. As a youth and as a concerned citizen of our beloved country, I want my voice to be heard as well by our government officials as I want the best for our nation.

After studying the RH bill’s contents, I fully believe that this should have no place in our country. Its “reproductive health” terminology is a mere disguise for it’s real purpose of indoctrination of the youth and population control. Moreover, the promotion of contraceptives included in this bill actually contradicts its terminology of “health” when studies show countless harmful side effects of these contraceptives. This bill transcends religion, race, and socio-economic status. Those who really study the bill and read between the lines know that this is very divisive and harmful to our country, and we must be extra careful not to be affected by the multi-million dollar monetary pressure from international organizations lobbying for its passage.

Politics have always been very powerful in our Filipino culture. Before elections, we see big improvements and we notice project after project of our leaders. This, apparently, is the same approach used by the author of the article. They are very much free to present their views, but I want to firmly say that they do not represent even close to the majority of those in the youth sector. There are also a lot of youth who are against the passage of the RH bill. It really struck me to see the word “wrath” in the article, as if they’re furious about it not being voted upon. While the pro-RH camp may choose to go with “wrath”, the anti-RH camp will choose the peaceful but strong assertiveness to convince our legislators to take a stand against this divisive bill, and support the pro-life legislators in the next election. The pro-RH individuals noted in the article may be university leaders, but they do not intimidate us, even a little bit. The fight to preserve our nation’s pro-life, pro-family, pro-God culture will continue and will dare not stop until this RH bill is finally trashed.

John Walter Brown Juat

3rd Year Education

University of the Philippines, Diliman

(UPDATED) Are the youth really pro-RH? A UP student's response to the pro-RH "youth leaders" vowing to mobilize the youth to vote against pro-life congressmen

UPDATE 4/3/12: This note has now been published on the website of the Philippine Daily Inquirer: Diño speaking youth’s voice?

Originally published on this blog on March 26, 2012:

A note from Kiboy Sagrado Tabada (PSHS alumnus and currently a student in UP Diliman) in response to the PDI article "RH bill foes face the wrath of student groups.":

Heart Diño’s seat in the USC was favored by a mere 17.02% of UP’s student population. Heart was voted into the council by 3,290 students out of roughly 19,300. Tell me, does Heart Diño speak the voice of UP’s studentry? Ideally, yes. But in reality, no.

Heart was reported to have said that lawmakers “should not belittle the youth vote,” that “they should listen to what the youth are actually saying.” Listen to the youth? Or listen to you? I am part of the youth and I oppose the RH Bill. I believe that a lawmaker’s vote for the RH Bill is a vote against the real welfare of the youth, against the future of the youth. And I speak for the youth who stand against it and for the rest of my generation who do not know that it’s their future that’s at stake. On this matter, Heart Diño does not speak my voice. By what strong mandate can Heart speak the youth’s voice?

TO PRO-LIFE LEGISLATORS, STAND YOUR GROUND. The youth are with you. The youth know that you have our best interests in mind in your opposition to the RH Bill. There is no honor in instilling fear to get you to vote for the measure. There is no honor in ruining someone else’s credibility to forward our own. We from UPD ought to know this. We remain ready to speak for and defend our position by its merits. And we will stand with and campaign for you by your merits as real representatives of the youth’s welfare. There is no reason for you to fear.

I have great respect for Heart Diño and JC Tejano as student leaders, as representatives of the youth. But allow me to remind you that they ought to hear my voice, too; that they ought to speak my voice, too. You may claim that I speak for a mere minority. Don’t they?

More Filipino youth leaders speak out versus the RH Bill

From CBCP for Life:

Notion of youth majority as pro-RH ‘wishful thinking’; student group doesn’t speak for youth sector

MANILA, March 26, 2012—After a group of university student leaders declared its intention to campaign against lawmakers opposed to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, several youth organizations representing an even bigger number of young people blasted the mistaken notion that majority of the youth are easily swayed by pro-RH propaganda.

Noisy minority

As for the statement made by the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) national spokesperson JC Tejano that “we are ready to launch the full force of the youth against anti-RH legislators,” Youth Pinoy! President Eileen Esteban remarked, “To me the statement is irresponsible and very assuming. It’s a hollow threat, propaganda to make them seemingly look huge but the truth is they are just a noisy minority.”

“SCAP is in no position to make wholesale statements about the voice of the youth on the RH issue. They are not even a quarter of the majority of the voting youth that they claimed to be, even if we talk of the numbers game,” she continued.

“You want to talk about the voice of the youth that reckons real numbers? Talk to millions of Catholic youth based in our 86 dioceses, the Catholic schools and the trans-parochial organizations with millions of members that extend globally — then we could talk of a threatening number.”

“In my opinion, the youth are the most intelligent sector in the voting population,” Esteban said, adding that she was at the PPCRV Command Center during the 2010 election, mobilizing millions of young people who wanted to take part in the historic first automated election.

“And their power to move on causes they truly believe in is just so spectacular that it’s almost miraculous. They are the vigilant and idealistic slice of the pie that inquires, critically studies and acts on a sound judgment. What made SCAP think that the youth will just give away their precious votes just because the candidate voted against the bill?! That’s wishful thinking.”

RH bill benefits only a few

“We the members of Federation of National Youth Organization are really standing up against the RH bill because we know that it will only destroy our family, our values, our morality, lalo na ng mga kabataan,” said Federation of National Youth Organizations (FNYO) Council Member Maria Lea Dasigan.

“Kung ‘di pag-aaralan, hindi natin maiintindihan na ang RH bill ay para lamang sa kapakanan ng mga iilan at hindi talaga para sa kapakanan ng mga kabataan.”

“Personally,” she added, “I don’t believe na marami [silang mga pro-RH] na parang nananakot na majority of the voting population are young and for the RH bill. I really don’t think so.”

The FNYO has organizations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and its members have recently come up with a signature campaign, the result of which they intend to send to Congress.

Part of the group’s preparations for the 2013 elections is educating its various organizations on electoral candidates who are true to pro-life legislation.

‘I am part of the youth and I oppose the RH bill’

Even students of the University of the Philippines pointed out that newly elected University Student Council (USC) chair Heart Diño, who expressed support for the RH bill at the SCAP press conference, does not reflect their convictions.

“Heart Diño’s seat in the USC was favored by a mere 17.02% of UP’s student population. Heart was voted into the council by 3,290 students out of roughly 19,300. Tell me, does Heart Diño speak the voice of UP’s studentry? Ideally, yes. But in reality, no,” stated Kiboy Tabada, convenor of UP Against the RH Bill.

“Heart was reported to have said that lawmakers ‘should not belittle the youth vote,’ that ‘they should listen to what the youth are actually saying.’ Listen to the youth? Or listen to you? I am part of the youth and I oppose the RH Bill. I believe that a lawmaker’s vote for the RH Bill is a vote against the real welfare of the youth, against the future of the youth. And I speak for the youth who stand against it and for the rest of my generation who do not know that it’s their future that’s at stake. On this matter, Heart Diño does not speak my voice. By what strong mandate can Heart speak the youth’s voice?”

Pro-life legislators can bank on youth support

The engineering student also reiterated his group’s all-out support for legislators who act on a genuine, life-affirming concern for the youth and for the future of the country.

“To pro-life legislators, stand your ground. The youth are with you. The youth know that you have our best interests in mind in your opposition to the RH Bill. There is no honor in instilling fear to get you to vote for the measure. There is no honor in ruining someone else’s credibility to forward our own. We from UP Diliman ought to know this. We remain ready to speak for and defend our position by its merits. And we will stand with and campaign for you by your merits as real representatives of the youth’s welfare,” Tabada declared.

John Walter Juat, also of UP Against the RH Bill, said that though the pro-RH student group was free to present its views, “I want to firmly say that they do not represent even close to the majority of those in the youth sector.”

‘Peaceful but strong assertiveness’ marks anti-RH campaign

“While the pro-RH camp may choose to go with ‘wrath,’” he continued (referring to the news item’s title ‘RH bill foes face the wrath of student groups’), “the anti-RH camp will choose the peaceful but strong assertiveness to convince our legislators to take a stand against this divisive bill, and support the pro-life legislators in the next election. The pro-RH individuals noted in the article may be university leaders, but they do not intimidate us, even a little bit. The fight to preserve our nation’s pro-life, pro-family, pro-God culture will continue and will not stop until this RH bill is finally trashed.”

World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific (WYAAP) regional director Renelyn Tan blasts the misleading assertion that the RH bill will empower women as well as provide a solution to poverty.

Youth know RH bill is not the answer

“Working with young people in World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific allows me to see the great concern they have on issues relating to women and children. Our members clearly do not want women dying during childbirth or children missing out on opportunities but unfortunately, the current RH bill version does not provide a holistic way of addressing the fundamental causes of poverty and challenges to true women empowerment,” Tan said.

In an earlier statement, Tan explained that she and other young people find it unfortunate that the media often portrays young people as “callous, who don’t know when to stop. But this is not true,” she asserted.

“Kaming mga kabataan, we are all made for excellence and we really hope that our government, our institutions, our leaders and civil society will be able to provide [the necessary conditions] because our lives should be seen as an expression of our intrinsic and inviolable dignity. We would like to reiterate that young people are not only sexual beings.”

“Much has been said about the RH bill, but it cannot be an issue totally conclusive of a young person’s future,” Esteban of Youth Pinoy! added.

“Education comprises the biggest chunk, though we’re not talking about sex education here but good quality education that leads to an individual’s progress.” (CBCP for Life)