Category: reproductive health

senators holding-up RH bill

RH interpellation cancelled again today.  excuse ni senator sotto last monday, when it was also cancelled, kesyo hindi daw handa ang mga dapat mag-interpellate, so it’s out of his hands, or something to that effect.

ah so, kaya si senate president enrile pa rin ang nakasalang last tuesday and wednesday, kasi siya lang ang handa, at hindi pa raw siya tapos.  ano ba yan.  so bakit hindi itinuloy today as scheduled para matapos na si enrile?  at bakit hindi i-extend ang sessions para matapos na si enrile?  at kung hindi handa ang iba pang senador na naka-sked na mag-interpellate pagkatapos ni enrile, bakit hindi puwedeng they lose their chance, forever keep their silence, and allow the bill to be voted upon finally?  the senate is being run like an old boys’ club, and so openly and shamelessly at that.

reproductive health has been on the agenda of congress since 1998, pero lagi na lang nauudlot, never mind that 7 out of 10 filipinos want it.  bakit nga ba ang minority ang nasusunod?

here’s a facebook exchange with sylvia mayuga a.k.a. sylvia morningstar some minutes ago.

Stuart Santiago via bethangsioco on tweeter. FYI: Senate RH bill interpellation today is cancelled per Tito Sotto’s office. BOO!

Sylvia Morningstar BOO? O BOBO?

Stuart Santiago parang hindi bobo, sylvs, more like deliberately knowingly craftily delaying the progress of interpellations so that it never comes to a vote, so BOO!

Sylvia Morningstar Sige. Sabay tayo – BOO, TITO SOTTO!

Stuart Santiago and BOO, ENRILE! and BOO! to all interpellators na hindi handa kuno (this was sotto’s excuse last monday)!

Sylvia Morningstar Matay ko mang isipin, Angie, hindi ko maintindihan ang trip ng mga senadores na ‘to. Hindi naman sila masasabing maka-relihiyon, at alam din nilang hindi na ganoon kalakas ang mga obispo sa taong bayang pabor sa RH (70% daw ang support). E bakit sila nagpapaka-gago, sa palagay mo?

Stuart Santiago ito ang sey ni senator osmena: “There is definitely a very strong group lobbying against it. I cannot blame those who want to remain under the radar,” he said.

Stuart Santiago para bagang kay mideo, di man ganoong kalaki ang blind followers ng mga obispo, sila pa rin ang nasunod, di ba? it almost seems like the bishops have something on these senators, something unimaginable that does not necessarily have anything to do with RH…

Sylvia Morningstar Ha! Pera o babae? Or both?

Stuart Santiago pera, babae, america?

Sylvia Morningstar Sus, ginoo. Ano naman ang mapapala ng America sa pagdami natin? Labor force? Oversea military cannon fodder in case of a war with China? Or just another stupid unguided missile from the CIA?

Stuart Santiago haha. might not have anything to do with population ek. maybe some trade or debt or ex-deals we know nothing about, kaya rin hindi matuloytuloy ang FOI ?

Sylvia Morningstar Hmm. Makapagtanong nga.

Sylvia Morningstar Matagal nang basket case ang Konggreso. Unti-unting na ring nawawala ang credibility ng Senado. On the defensive na ang Supreme Court. Si Noy, now you believe him, now you don’t. Sa madali’t sabi, the nation is adrift.

Stuart Santiago RH might be tipping point?

Sylvia Morningstar Or a trigger to a series of tipping points…

 

censorship and, uh, karen davila? is that you?

the day after ccp closed the kulo exhibit, the day karen ocampo flores resigned from ccp, a crowing karen davila on teleradyo phoned ccp president raul sunico and said: CLEARLY YOU WILL HAVE TO CENSOR ARTWORK (!)

it would be funny if it didn’t hurt so much… this popular broadcast personality, a u.p. graduate, masscom if i’m not mistaken, obviously doesn’t know that her own freedom of expression should be everyone’s freedom of expression, that the freedom of expression she enjoys was hard-fought and hard-won, that her freedom of expression is contingent on everyone else’s freedom of expression, including, especially, that of artists like mideo cruz, and, yes, works like poleteismo, na hindi pambababoy kundi pagpupukaw ng kaisipan in this very corrupt and catholic country, and not necessarily to the detriment of religion or the undermining of one’s faith.

after all, it could very well be as ust alumnus, now u.p. professor, neil garcia says:

i take issue…with the knee-jerk reaction of some dominican apologists, who are quick to disown mideo cruz with outrageous passion. this artist is indeed a thomasian, for he cares about the church, with which his imagination appears to be slavishly fascinated, even if or precisely as he can only express this care (and this fascination) in disagreeing and disagreeable ways. after all, given the mass reproduction (and reproducibility) of the church’s ubiquitous, habitual and fully habituated images, their willful and disagreeable deformation may in fact be the best way to make them perceptible (and therefore, efficacious) again… this artist may well be an evangelizer of sorts, in which case the philippines’ great thomasian institution should simply revel in this unwitting “accomplishment.”

but i guess that’s all way too high for karen davila who, like imelda and the bishops, simply can’t stand the sight of the penis, can’t see the penis as anything but vulgar and obscene, especially as juxtaposed with images that she holds sacred.  but bong austero, though disgusted and disturbed, too, sees the powerful implications of the images.

There are those who have condemned the art installation for its blasphemous and disgusting images and stop there, dismally failing to see through the powerful implications of the images in terms of preaching morality. Oh please, don’t we all use negative characterizations to preach what is right and moral? Our soap operas, plays, and movies rely on the sheer evil of antagonists to deliver powerful messages of redemption. We tell our kids stories of the big bad wolf and of the evil stepsisters to illustrate the power of positive values by contrast. Why can’t we draw parallels in this particular case? Just because something is disgusting and disturbing doesn’t mean it cannot be moral.

…The art installation takes things to extremes to bring home the message – it is art, for crying out loud, no less different from a play shot through with absurd imagery and over-the-top metaphors and symbolism.

…I have learned by viewing the exhibit that faith is strongest when put to the test. The icons that we revere are mere representations of the Supreme Being that we worship. When one’s faith is strong and resolute, provocation in the form of disgusting images can only strengthen it further rather than weaken it.

The tragedy is that we live in a country where freedom, tolerance and respect for diversity are mere theoretical concepts that are embraced only when these suit one’s comfort zone and never in situations when their application would truly matter.

worse we have a president who, after expressing disapproval of the artwork, now says there’s no censorship.  yeah, right.

the major major question now for karen davila is, paano na ang iyong rh bill advocacy?  and don’t tell me that one has nothing to do with the other.  charlson ong in imelda redux makes the connection, too, especially since anti-rh congressmen and senators have gleefully joined the fray.

Why has Art that has heretofore been the concern of a few gallery-goers, artists, critics, collectors, students and sundry eggheads suddenly become the object of congressional ire?

Might it not be that the Religious Right, gearing up for a final RH fight, and stung by revelations on the “Montero Bishops” are opening up another front in their war against “secularists” and their perceived allies in the Aquino Administration? Your paranoia is as good as mine.

more and more it seems to me this was a test case, the bishops and their anti-rh constituency testing the waters: will scare tactics work, will the media be supportive?  so paano na, karen davila?  you’ve given the bishops an inch, next time they’ll take a foot.  today it’s no to penises on artwork in the ccp, tomorrow it’ll be no to any and all mention of “ari” and “penis” in all media.  paano na ang sex education that young and old alike are in dire need of?

it was a trap, karen davila, and you walked right into it.  so now you’re cleaning up, it would seem.  can’t find your headstart interview with chris millado on you tube, can’t find pinky webb’s xxx either.  good job, girls.  self-censorship after such major major foot-in-mouth disasters?  not that we’ll ever forget.  neither will the bishops who must oh-so-love-you.  i’m sure though that it’s no ticket to any kind of heaven.

the industry of offense, art as sacrificial lamb 
boiling over: Kulo
Kulo full album 

divorce, rh, same banana

listening to rep. rodolfo farinas ranting against a divorce bill is like listening to the golezes and pablo garcias and bagatsings railing against the rh bill, macho fundamentalists all.   puwede ba, referendum na lang?

media complicit in division over RH bill

after ANC’s harapan RH debate last night, i’m really hoping that GMA news and public affairs will rethink its promised “definitive debate” on may 22.  is a debate really the way to go?  we’ve heard them all before, especially the antis like golez and lina, and those priests and their blind believers.  in fact any debate is lopsided in favor of the anti-RH, considering that every sunday for many months now priests and bishops have been ranting against the RH bill from the pulpits.  i wonder what ANC thought they accomplished by even holding an online poll a la american idol that had more than 60 percent voting to “ibasura” the RH bill.  so is that supposed to have reversed SWS survey findings that have 7 out of 10 filipinos in favor of the RH bill?

priests and bishops and their faithful as well as the media should read the latest column of john j. caroll, sj (via flor lacanilao) who dares disagree with the church on the RH bill:

With all due respect for the position of the Philippine bishops, I do not see that total opposition to the bill necessary. First of all, the bill does not legalize contraceptives; they are already legal and may be purchased in any drugstore.

Neither does the bill legalize abortion; on the contrary it reaffirms the constitutional prohibition. It is highly probable in fact that if contraceptives become more available to the poor, the scandalous number of illegal abortions performed annually will be dramatically reduced.

On whether the IUD and some contraceptive pills may prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum and so destroy a human life, the current draft of the bill passes the responsibility to the Food and Drug Administration, which should ban any such “contraceptives” from drugstores throughout the country.

The charge is made that the RH bill will destroy the Filipino family. On the basis of more than 25 years of pastoral and social work in Payatas, and some seven years sponsoring natural family planning programs, I can say that the family is already at great risk—and not because of contraceptives.

These are often one-parent families abandoned by the fathers who have gone on to father second and even third families. Or no-parent families abandoned by both father and mother and being raised by grandparents.

If only the effort and resources being now invested in opposition to the RH bill were being used for serious family-life education and family support services, there might be little reason to oppose the bill.

this is a prime opportunity for GMA news tv do ANC better by scrapping the debate format to level the talking field that is dominated by the anti-RH.  let mel tiangco be the devil’s advocate, raise the arguments of the anti-RH for the pro-RH to respond to without imposed time limits that do not help the discourse any.  this is one of those issues (like the u.s. bases issue in the late 1980s) when the media networks should not stand by as neutral observers but should take a stand, if not expressly pro-RH, at least expressly for a fairer hearing of the pro-RH side.  allow the majority sentiment full expression, for a change.