Category: church

noli, loren, manny & the RH bill

congress reconvening today.   sana matuloy ang promised testimony of scam & escape artist jocjoc bolante sa senado.  lalo pa, lalo na, sana matuloy ang long-delayed showdown on the reproductive health bill sa konggreso.

kung magkasabay, which one kaya will ANC air: bolante or RH?   sana pareho, one on ANC, the other on channel 2.  and if, by chance or circumstance, isa lang ang puwede i-cover, then let it be RH, parang awa niyo na.   i want to see, we need to see, the world needs to see, which congressmen and congresswomen dare defy the wishes of 7 of 10 filipinos who want, need, deserve, a reproductive health law like the rest of the civilized world.

dr. quasi romualdez, once doh secretary, counts heads in his malaya column:

In the House of Representatives, 114 members have signed up as sponsors of HB 5043 which mandates a government-supported reproductive health program that includes making available to the poor all the possible legal methods of family planning.

Given these numbers, opponents of the measure will likely resort to dilatory tactics that substitute parliamentary tricks for rational discussion.

Working in favor of these tactics is the fact that there are a number of legislative issues that will be competing for congressional attention during the six weeks that remain before the Christmas break.

Among these are agrarian reform extension and the impeachment complaint filed recently. Proponents of HB 5043 are confident however that when it comes to a vote, the RH bill will finally pass.

If the House approves the measure, the situation in the Senate appears to be similar in the sense that the minority members who oppose RH legislation will use all sorts of parliamentary tricks.

By their past statements and recent actuations, advocates of the bill count 14 senators: Angara, Biazon, Pia Cayetano, Enrile, Escudero, Estrada, Gordon, Honasan, Lacson, Madrigal, Pangilinan, Revilla, Santiago, and Zubiri.

Senators Aquino, Arroyo, Alan Cayetano, Legarda, Roxas, and Trillanes are listed as undecided. It is noteworthy that of these six senators, two (Legarda and Roxas) are among those invariably included in surveys for presidentiables, indicating the possibility that Church power may be a consideration in some senators’ decision. The neutral position of Senator Arroyo is noteworthy only becausehe is the only one among the six identified with the administration.

Listed as opposed to reproductive health legislation are Senators Lapid, Pimentel, and Villar. Senator Lapid’s position is clear – he opposes the measure because he perceives Malacañang to be against it. Senator Pimentel’s opposition to any population management or family planning proposals has been consistent for many years – he has always supported the position of the Roman Catholic Church on this issue.

Senate President Villar’s position that is somewhat of a mystery.

As a presidentiable who seems to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor Filipino majority, Senator Villar, more than the other aspirants for higher office, might have been expected to support what is clearly pro-poor legislation. After all, the proposed law is designed to help those who cannot now afford them to use the family planning methods of their choice in order to fulfill their responsible parenthood obligations.

Here again, the factor of Church power in national politics may again be a decisive influence. There are unconfirmed reports that the Senate President has promised a Catholic bishop that he would block reproductive health proposals. Advocates hope that this is just a rumor and that Mr. Villar, just like his political rivals, will in the end decide on the basis the people’s interest rather than political expediency.”

how dismaying that loren legarda, no. 2 presidentiable in the latest SWS survey, is undecided.  and manny villar, no. 3, is unequivocally committedly anti-RH pala.  alam kaya ito ng 7 out of 10 pinoys who want an RH law?   iboto kaya nilang pangulo sa 2010 ang isang indecisive, ehe, undecided?   iboto kaya nilang pangulo sa 2010 ang isang anti-RH/anti-women?  eh si no.1 presidentiable noli de castro kaya — malamang whatever gloria wants, noli wants, ‘no?

suddenly i’m not sure the RH bill is coming to a vote soon.  maybe not until there’s a public outcry for an end to the debates and other delaying tactics.   i hope i’m wrong.

sedition, blackmail, whatever

“In response to the global economic crisis that we are facing today which everybody knows about, and in response to the pitiful state of our country, the time to rebuild our country economically, socially, politically, minus corruption is now. . . .

The time to start radical reforms is now. The time for moral regeneration is now. The time to conquer complacency, cynicism and apathy and to prove that we matured from our political disappointments is now. The time to prepare a new government is now. ”

strong words from cbcp president archbishop angel lagdameo.  strong words too from jaime cardinal sin’s annointed, bishop socrates villegas:

“We are not here to bring you peace. We are here to disturb you. I’m praying to God that after this meeting, may the Lord trouble you because the trouble that comes from the Lord is going to make you a better person and it’s going to make the country a better country.”

lagdameo even went so far as to foretell of reformist “liberators”:

“In spite of the seemingly hopeless and negative prognosis, our liberation may yet serendipitously happen. We are dreaming, praying and hoping that our county may yet have the needed liberators… (who)….will in a courageous peaceful way effectively and uncompromisingly reform our country.”

it’s hard to believe that it’s just the bishops’ way of blackmailing gloria into vetoing the reproductive health bill should it pass congress. gma is said to be all set to wield her veto power precisely to please the church, so why bother antagonizing her at this point?

can it be that the five bishops are really being seditious?  was that a coup alert — precursor of an edsa moment?  are they alerting the public to, priming the public for, some reformist (military, i presume) movements behind-the-scenes that they’ve become privy to, and which meet with their approval, shades of cardinal sin?

if yes, how capable would a divided cbcp be of doing a cardinal sin, with 7 out of 10 filipinos differing and disgusted with the church’s stand on the population, reproductive health, and sex education.  or is this their way na nga of winning back some pogi points kahit papaano.

who knows.  it could be that the cbcp bishops are pretendinglang to be split, hedging their bets as usual, telling white lies, hanggang venial sin lang kaya.

7 of 10 pinoys favor, but gma will veto, RH bill

on the philippine daily inquirer’s “second front page” is a report on the latest social weather stations’ survey re the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Majority of Filipinos across all areas and classes were in favor of the RH bill. Seventy-eight percent in Metro Manila, 72 % in Mindanao, 69 % in Balance Luzon, and 68 % in the Visayas supported the bill, as did 77 % in Class ABC, and 70 % each in both class D and class E.

While prior awareness of the RH bill is slightly higher among women (50 %) than men (42), support for it was equally high among both sexes (70 among men, 71 among women), regardless of marital status.”

ang punchline, sa right bottom corner of the second front page:

But GMA is set to veto measure

Saying her faith as a Roman Catholic influenced her policy decision, President Macapagal-Arroyo virtually indicated that she was set to veto the controversial reproductive health bill currently under consideration at the House of Representatives.

…”I’m pro-life as far as population is concerned,” she said. “I’m pushing for birth spacing, not birth control.”

wow.  she’s going to defy public sentiment?  really?  so it doesn’t matter what happens, pass or fail, in the lower house, it’s doomed?  or is this her way of telling the lower house to get it out of the way na para maka-chacha na.

ano kaya ang ex-deal ni gma with the catholic church?  considering that a veto would lose her plentyof pogi points all around, it must be a mega-ex-deal.  hmmm.  perhaps the church will support, nay, campaign for, charter change?  support the milf and the moa-ad?  agree to u.s. bases in mindanao?  support mikey arroyo for speaker?  gilbert teodoro forpresident?  ano nga kaya.

o baka naman she’s just asking for a lot of prayers and indulgences to pay for her sins and buy her a ticket to heaven, as in the time of noli and fili.  back to the dark ages talaga.  what a drag.