A big group of Catholics across the country has urged members of their alliance and other voters from various religious sects and organizations not to commit again what they called a “grievous blunder” of electing an “anti-life” President.
“Never Again should the Filipino voters elect a President who is anti-God and anti-Life” Catholic Vote Alliance (CVA) Secretary General Julius Jereza told members of the Catholic faith after prolife groups delivered speeches last July 25 on the “State of the Soul of the Nation”, the groups’ version of the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.
Jereza was referring to President Aquino (P-Noy) who he accused of being “anti-life” following his open endorsement of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill now pending approval in Congress.
The measure has stirred a protracted controversy and has created a wide swath of divisions among several sectors of the citizenry due to its advocacy of compelling the masses to use contraceptives such as condoms, pills and even vasectomy obviously to control the country’s growing population.
Under the RH bill, parents would lose control of their daughters who are victims of rapes and sex education will be part of the school curriculum from Grade 5 to high school, provisions pro-life groups denounced as immoral and anti-Christian. “These will open the floodgates for indiscriminate sexual intercourse even among the young students and lead to pre-marital birth and eventually to the legality of abortion and divorce,” said Jereza.
Jereza warned that if approved, those who violate the “anti-life” RH law would be fined or imprisoned.
The “Never Again” phrase became popular during the post-Marcos dictatorship when P-Noy’s mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino, asked Filipinos never again to tolerate totalitarian rule to prevail in the country. For this feat, President Cory was named “Woman of the Year” by Time magazine for “restoring democracy” in the country.
In asking Filipinos “never again” to elect an “anti-life” president, Jereza said P-Noy’s endorsement and support for the passage of the RH bill is “diametrically opposed” to the Christian Faith of his parents President Cory and the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy Aquino Jr., both devoted Catholics.
“His open campaign for the approval of the RH is an absolute betrayal of his parents’ Catholic faith and even his own claim of being a member of the same faith,” Jereza stressed adding that he is dragging the country to moral ignominy.
He pointed out that the reason why P-Noy skipped mentioning the RH bill in his recent SONA was that he was afraid the RH measure may drew more support from God-fearing, Catholic members of the Congress and the general public.
Jereza revealed that a majority of the Filipinos are increasingly disgusted over P-Noy’s undue interference on church affairs which, he said, is the root cause of his “poor performance ratings.”
He added that P-Noy should better focus his attention to the generations of jobs and income for the poor and to do away with the dole-out mentality as this kills initiative, rather than dip his hands into purely spiritual matters that have nothing to do with his duties and functions.
The Philippine Catholic Herald p.1 & 10, August, 2011