The HHS Mandate and the RH Bill:Lessons on Parallelism

By Anthony Perez, Pro-Life Philippines

American conservatives were up in arms against the HHS mandate (Health and Human Services Mandate) of President Barack Obama, a mandate which will force every employer, including Catholics, to provide contraception and abortifacient pills to their employees. This is, of course, a slap against religious freedom,and the resulting backlash has seen not only Catholics but other denominations as well condemning thismandate. To ask Catholics to go against what their faith teaches is a clear violation of the often-misunderstood separation of Church and State. The US government has no right to prevent Catholics from living their faith nor does it have any right to implement a law or a provision that would go against their religion. All over the country, protests sparked out in defiance of the HHS mandate. Men, women, the young, the old, clergy, and laity, Catholics and even those who aren’t Catholic went out, joined the protests, and spoke their minds about thewhole issue of their religious freedom which is at stake.

The same thing should be happening to our country. Like the Americans, we have a president who thinks he can have his way against the religious, faithful CatholIc, and a pending bill that is set to trample the religious freedom of millions of Catholics around the country. The RH Bill (Reproductive Health Bill) , currently HB 4244 in Congress, has  provisions that go against many of the precepts of the Catholic Church, and this makes Herthe bill’s number one enemy.

Central to the HHS mandate and the RH Bill are the distribution of contraception. The Catholic Church has been consistent in its denunciation of contraception, which it considers as intrinsically evil. She teaches thatthe sexual act, aside from the fact that it is reserved for those who are bound in the sacrament of marriage, has two aspects – the unitive and procreative – and these two aspects must always be present. The denial of theprocreative side of the sexual act, which happens whenever the couple uses contraceptives, means that sex is debased and is made into just an activity for pleasure. It could also mean that the woman is objectified as a thing meant for achieving a sexual high.

In the United States, the mass distribution of contraceptives by the government happened a mere few years before Roe V Wade, which gives you an idea of how things spiral downwards so quickly with a country that adopts a contraceptive mentality. And we all know what Roe V Wade did to American Society: 54 million deaths and counting. To think it all began with a rather innocent but entirely wrong notion of sex: “Look dear, we can now do it without you getting pregnant!”

If everything were a game of chess, then President Obama is now executing his endgame moves, with theHHS mandate and the end of religious freedom as his idea of a checkmate and victory. Game over. Destroy theremaining resistance – the Catholic Church – by forcing them to adopt this lifestyle that the liberals have been living, not to say that many Catholics have been using contraceptives anyway. It was a dangerous gambit, bythe way, and the backlash against Obama’s obvious trampling of religious freedom has been overwhelming. Everything is still hanging in the balance.

Today, the RH Bill, and consequently our country’s future, hang in the balance as well. With everything still to play for, both sides are deadlocked in a slug fest and no one is giving up the fight yet. For us in the pro-life side, we only have to look at the United States in order to be reminded of what we do not want to become: a society filled with modernism and emptiness, a society that for the most part does not respect life, and it all began with the simple use of contraceptives. Pope Paul VI prophesied correctly when he said that the mass distribution of contraceptives will result in a lot of evil, namely: the loss of respect for women, women claiming that their bodies are theirs alone, rise in infidelity and a general decline on morality, and governments’ abuse of power especially in matters where they shouldn’t even be delving into (such as population and family matters). This has been happening on a large scale in countries that disregarded Humanae Vitae; fortunately for us, our bishops decided to be faithful to Pope Paul VI and on the teachings of the Church. This might be the reason why our country holds fast to its Catholic and Filipino values. Nevertheless, like the Americans, who zealously stand guard over their freedoms, we should be eternally vigilant in order to ensure that the RH Bill does not pass.

Because we all know what happens next if the RH Bill passes.

Posted April 24,2012

Miriam Quiambao Stands Up Against the LGBT Community

Fomer Miss Universe runner-up and beauty queen Miriam Quiambao just did the unthinkable by making herself an enemy of the LGBT community. 

She has caught the ire of the LGBT sector when she Tweeted last  Sunday: “Homosexuality is not a sin but it is a lie from the devil. Do not be deceived. God loves gays and wants them to know the truth.” 

This all started when she publicly disagreed with the Miss Universe Organization’s policy of accepting transgenders in the pageant. She fanned the flames further after a guest appearance on Boy Abunda’s talk show “The Bottomline” Saturday night on ABS-CBN in which she was quoted as saying, “Homosexuality is not the one that makes you a sinner. Actually, sexual immorality is what makes you a sinner."

The backlash against Quiambao has been severe but not altogether surprising. Later that same day, Miriam also initially issued a qualified apology with the tweet, “I’m sorry if the truth offends some people…” before tweeting the more categorical, “I'm sorry LGBT. Perhaps I was too harsh with the words I used. Will do my best to be more sensitive.”

Quiambao is a born-again Christian who constantly uses Twitter in order to spread her faith.

No Apologies Necessary

It seems that some people have become so distorted in their view of the truth. Right has become wrong and wrong has become right. We are living in an upside-down world.

Miriam Quiambao has spoken the truth about homosexuality and that truth has hurt a lot of people. But in order to avoid the truth altogether, they take it on the messenger. There is nothing categorically wrong with what Ms. Quiambao said and therefore no apologies were needed, in my opinion. At the very least, all she did was to voice out what she thought of the homosexual lifestyle. In fact, she hit the nail right on its head as her Tweet contained the “love the sinner, hate the sin” message.

We need to rally behind Ms. Quiambao in order to tell her that she is not alone in her belief. To be truly Pro-Life we need to “put to rout all that is not life”, as Thoreau puts it. The Homosexual lifestyle is a direct manifestation of the culture of death and is in direct conflict with God’s plan for humanity.

Double Standard

RH Activist Carlos Celdran has some of the most scathing tweets for Quiambao:  “When did you become a freakshow? Dahell? Didn’t see this one coming. Wow. You need help, woman.”

Celdran and the LGBT community are quick to cry ‘foul’ when it comes to ‘discrimination’ against homosexuals. Almost automatically, they unleash their verbal counter-attack, calling anyone who goes against their lifestyle ‘homophobic’ or ‘bigot’ or ‘hater’.

Herein lies the double standard.

They cry for equality and freedom of speech and expression when they go about their homosexual activities, but when it is our turn to express our disagreement over their lifestyle, we are then called bigots and haters. What they are saying is that we have to tolerate them and the homosexual culture that has already crept its way into the media and entertainment industry, but they cannot tolerate us when we disapprove of their actions.

The LGBT were free to express themselves. But Miriam cannot. Such is the double standard these LGBT communities shove down our throats. 

Weren’t Celdran et al the same guys who cried “freedom of expression” at the Kulo exhibit at the CCP? 

Posted May 2, 2012

Anthony Perez, Pro-Life Philippines

Pag-aralan natin: RH Bill 101

Marami ang sumusuporta sa RH Bill, o ang HB 4244, kahit hindi pa man nila ito nabasa. Layunin ng seryeng ito na ilahad mismo ang HB 4244 at ang kanyang mga probisyong hindi naaayon sa ating pagka-Pilipino at pagka-Kristyano. Ilalahad din ang mga ibang isyung nakapaloob sa HB 4244 upang lalo nating maintindihan kung ano ba talaga ang layon ng saligang batas na ito at kung bakit ito dapat tutulan at ibasura.

Simulan natin sa Section 2, Declaration of Policy.

¨  The State recognizes and guarantees the exercise of the universal basic human right to reproductive health by all persons, particularly of parents, couples and women, consistent with their religious convictions, cultural beliefs and the demands of responsible parenthood. Toward this end, there shall be no discrimination against any person on grounds such as sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, political affiliation and ethnicity.

Ang konsepto ng “Reproductive Health” ay galing sa mga banyagang bansa at ipinapahiwatig nito na ang lahat ng tao ay may karapatan sa “responsible, safe and satisfying sex life”; nakapaloob din sa konsepto ng Reproductive Health na karapatan ng tao na pumili kung paano, kailan at gaano karami sya mag-aanak.

Ang ibig sabihin nito – Walang pinipiling tao ang RH. Kahit sino, may karapatan sa RH:

1. Babae man o Lalaki.

2. Kasal man o hindi

3. Ano man ang kanyang edad. Kahit daw ang bata, may karapatan sa RH.

4. Kahit anong sabihin ng iyong relihyon, ang karapatan mo sa RH ang dapat manaig.

Samakatuwid, sa Section 2 pa lang ng RH bill ay tinuturuan na tayo na ang karapatan sa Reproductive Health ay higit pa sa mga nakagisnan nating mga kabutihang asal at kaugalian, kahit ano pa ang sabihin ng relihiyon o konsensya natin.    

By Anthony Perez, Pro-Life Philippines

Youth Gather at Congress, RH Forum in a Show of Pro-Life Force

By: Anthony Perez, Pro-Life Philippines

True to their promise that their voice will never be silenced, the youth sector has come out and came in droves of hundreds, attending the resumption of Congress after its summer break.

Hundreds of young people from different organizations and parishes attended the opening day of Congress in order to show their support for Pro-Life solons, especially the 9YL or 9 Young Legislators.

Even more young people attended the RH Forum which was held simultaneously at St. Peter’s Church at nearby Commonwealth Avenue, with many of them proceeding to the Congress after the said event.

Youth Manifesto

Earlier that day, a press conference was held at the CBCP conference hall by representatives from the youth sector: present to give their respective group’s position papers on the RH bill were : Kiboy Sagrada (UP for Life), Raymond Ibarrientos (Singles for Christ – Youth for Christ), Eilleen Esteban (Youth Pinoy!), Lea Dasigan (Federation of Nat’l Youth Orgs), Allen Guballa (Columbian Squires), Peter Pardo (NCR Youth Ministry)

Later on, they would sign the historic Youth Manifesto, which enjoins all young people to embrace the culture of life and to reject the RH bill. In effect, they have also declared that they will not vote for anti-life legislators.

“The youth, in defense of our welfare, can and will invest our support in legislators who know how to genuinely invest in us. In solidarity, we declare our opposition to the RH Bill. This is our voice. This is our vote.”

“We are opposing the bill as young people because it is us who will be directly and severely affected by the RH bill, not the congressmen who push it” adds Eileen Esteban of Youth Pinoy!

“We are not only the hope of tomorrow,” says Lea Dasigan of FNYO, “we are also the hope of today.

These youth leaders, along with their groups, would  go to join more young people at the Congress later that day.

RH Forum

While the session in congress was going on, there was a forum on the RH bill held at St. Peter’s Church in Commonwealth Avenue. More than a hundred youth from the Singles for Christ and the Diocese of Novaliches attended the forum.

The Speakers were Atty. Marwil Llasos, OP, Anna Cosio, RN, and Dr. Rene Bullecer, MD, of Human Life International. They all spoke against the RH bill from the point of view of their expertise, Dr. Bullecer and Anna Cosio being medical professionals, and Atty. Llasos being an impeccable lawyer and an outstanding theologian as well.

Young Hearts, Tomorrow’s Heroes

Coming together in order to oppose the RH Bill and proposing concrete solutions, the youth leaders and their respective members deserve much of our respect and admiration. Young as they are, they have shown that they are indeed the worthy inheritors of the torch that is about to be passed on to them in the next few years.

They have all vowed to vote wisely and to vote Pro-Life. They have all vowed to preserve the culture of life. They have all shown their desire to eradicate poverty the right way and not just resort to shortcuts. There is fire in the collective gut of these young people, a fire which may have been long-extinguished inside our anti-life congressmen, who seem to be more into buying contraceptives instead of providing for the basic necessities of the poor like food, housing, and education. The likes of them should never be elected into office again.

Much of our future lies in what we do today, and if our young turn out to be citizens unworthy of her country’s proud heritage, then the blame lies solely on us who failed to raise them properly. Therefore we educate the young not only to oppose the RH bill, but to embrace the culture of life.

Patriotism used to exclusively mean dying for the country. Nowadays, to live one’s life defending life and protecting the small, the helpless, and the weak – that is patriotism, too.

PRO-LIFE FORUM ON SAME-SEX ATTRACTION THIS JULY

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND

PRO-LIFE FORUM SERIES

PRO-LIFE PHILIPPINES FOUNDATION, INC. seeks to educate the general public & Pro-Lifers everything we must know about Same-Sex Attraction: 

• What are the origins of Homosexuality?
• What does the Church say about the “Gay Lifestyle”?
• How does the gay lifestyle injure God’s plan for marriage & family life?
• How should we relate with gays?
• What do we do to help gay love ones?

In this forum we will learn and understand how to deal with people exhibiting same-sex attraction whether male or female. Let us help to make these people understand themselves better. We must understand its implications in our pastoral care, student guidance counseling and classroom management and even to our family. Send your family life volunteers, pastoral workers, guidance counselors, teachers and school administrators. Reserve now.

Resource Speaker: MR. ANSEL BELUSO

Mr. ANSEL BELUSO, former entertainment writer and showbiz talk-show host, now, married with two children and a  pastoral worker in Couples for Christ Foundation for Family & Life, responding to God’s call to start a psycho-spiritual program for the pastoral care and spiritual nourishment of active homosexuals who struggle to step out of the enslavement of their flesh. He is also the host of radio program, “Digma ng Buhay”, Veritas 846 AM Station. 

For reservations or more information, please call Ellen at 7337027 or you may send us a telefax at 7349425; or a text through mobile # 09192337783; or an email at life@prolife.org.ph. Visit our website at www.prolife.org.ph

Posted June 5,2012

PEOPLE POWER

It is quite ironic that for a country that gave the world “People Power”, so many RH advocates are so willing to push the passage of the RH bill primarily to stem the tide of “runaway population growth”, to borrow their own term. How easily these RH proponents forget the lessons of the past: that we were able to overthrow a dictator by our numbers. People Power. Power from the People, and of the People.

Alas, how easily these RH pushers forget. They wish to lessen the number of people.

 

Half-Truths No Better than a Lie

To prove their point about population control, RH proponents would always cite this piece of statistic: 94 million Filipinos, 12th in the world in terms of population. If we base our judgment from this statistic alone, then we would really conclude that population control is necessary and desirable. However, for one to quote this statistic without mentioning the other aspects of demographics is to sell a half-truth whic h is almost no different nor better than a lie.

There are other factors to consider in analyzing a population, namely: Population Density, Population Growth Rate, and Total Fertility Rate.

Population Density refers to how many people you can fit inside given space, most commonly a square kilometer. Population Density tells you that population is relative primarily to the space it occupies; e.g. 50 people occupying a whole mall is not the same scenario as 50 people occupying a small bus. The former tells you that there’s still a lot of space left for more people, the latter tells you the opposite. This is Population Density. It does not only tell you how many people do we have, but how much living space we still have.

Our population density is easily googable: 312 people per km2, 45th in the world. However, the City of Manila is dubious for being the most densely populated city in the world, with more than 27,000 people fitting in a km2. These numbers now give you the realsituation happening in our country; no overpopulation, just an overcrowding in Manila.

Population Growth Rate refers to the annual growth of the population each year. According to both the CIA World Factbook and Indexmundi, our growth rate is at 1.90%. If you ask the World Bank, it’s 1.7%, down from 3.4% in the 60s. Clearly, the population growth rate is going down – without the need of an RH bill.

2.1 Babies

Total Fertility Rate is the average number of babies women are having in a society. This tells you whether their society is having enough babies to replace the older generation. The passing grade here is 2.1 babies – or 21 babies per 100 women, and is also called the Replacement Rate. Any lower than that and you will have a shortage of manpower to replace the old generation of workers, and many countries suffering from this scourge either use immigrants to fill the void, raise the retirement age, or both. However, for developing countries like ours, the Replacement Rate is higher, around 2.4 or 2.5.

The Philippines’ TFR is at 3.19 children per woman. According to the RH bill, the ideal number of children is 2. Since when did the government exert so much control over our lives that it has the gall to determine the ‘ideal’ number of children?

Invest in Filipinos

This has been the case for us echoing the voices of the three youths (Kiboy Tabada, Eileen Esteban, and Peter Pardo) who went to Cebu in order to strengthen the Pro-Life and anti-RH stand of the Cebuanos: Invest in people. Our dear lawmakers, invest in Filipinos. These babies born now may be mouths to feed but they will be excellent  workers who will do the country proud in the future, if we play our cards right.

Invest in the Filipino – for he holds the power to propel this country to a better future.

http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/philippines/population-density

http://www.indexmundi.com/philippines/population_growth_rate.html

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_pop_grow&idim=country:PHL&dl=en&hl=en&q=population+growth+philippines

Posted June 8, 2012
Pro-Life Philippines

Sex Education – Not Just About the Birds and the Bees

A new school year is upon us all, and a new format of schooling at that. Two years added to the number of years a child must spend in school before taking up a course in college. Not all are happy about the new set up, but whether we like it or not, K+12 is upon us now, and the best we can do is to be optimistic about this new program. 

One thing to be pessimistic about is the sex education they are introducing to Catholic Schools this year. Although the RH bill has not been passed yet, anti-lifers may have pulled a fast one on us in the form of a book called PopDevEd – Population and Development Education, a book meant for teaching sex education in Catholic schools. A project by the University of San Carlos in Cebu, this book is also supported by the Philippine Center for Population and Development. The book looks and sounds harmless enough, but when Pro-Life Philippines took a closer look into the contents of the book, it was found that there were anti-life, depopulation, and contraception ideas that were sugarcoated in order to make it appear that the modules do not run counter to the teachings of the Catholic faith. This is a sneaky way to introduce anti-life concepts to our children, and therefore should not be used by Catholic schools. How this book has passed through and gotten the approval of CEAP (Catholic Education Association of the Philippines) still baffles me to this day.

Taking Responsibility Away from Parents

Parents should be the primary teachers of sex education. This responsibility should not be taken away from them, to be substituted by teachers who do not know the students well enough to know if they are ready for sex education or not. Sex education can be compared to a knife – it is useful to those who understand how to use it, but dangerous for those who do not. As parents, would you leave it to someone else to explain something potentially damaging to your children? Just the other day, this was on the news:

Parents Furious After School Teaches Graphic Sex Class

Parents in a small Washington State community are infuriated after their 11-year-old children were given graphic descriptions of oral and anal sex during a sex education class led by an elementary school principal.

Fifth-graders at Onalaska Elementary School were supposed to get a lesson about HIV-AIDS, but the class discussion turned graphic when a child asked about other forms of sexual activity. The principal, who happened to be teaching the class, then told the children about oral and anal sex.

http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/parents-furious-after-school-teaches-graphic-sex-class-i-need-more-duct-tape/

Given that there are parents out there who are neither knowledgeable nor capable enough to teach such a sensitive matter to their own children, they should be given training and education in order to empower them to be their children’s sex ed teacher. Besides, if a parent realizes that teaching about sex is such a sensitive matter, does it make sense that he leaves the matter of teaching it to another person whom you barely know?

Let’s Talk About Sex – And Sexuality

Many people are unaware of this, but the Catholic Church does not oppose  sex education per se. What it opposes is that a secular version of sex education is *mandated* to all schools, private and public alike, that run roughshod on religious norms whether parents like it or not.                          

Monsignor  Pedro Quitorio of the CBCP in fact asserts, in this news report:

“Actually the Church has been teaching sex education to Catholic schools for a long time. These bishops have previously occupied positions as president or owners of Catholic schools,”. He explained that the Church uses a different framework when teaching sex education. “The Church sees sex education as human sexuality and not just for reproductive health,” he said. He said that what some members of the House of Representatives are proposing in the Reproductive Health (RH) bill “is very limited. It should be the whole human sexuality and that is where the difference lies.”

In fact no less than a Vatican Council declaration, Gravissimum Educationis, recommends that “young people should begin as they grow older to receive a positive and prudent education in matters relating to sex.”.                             

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/20/08/cbcp-official-church-has-been-teaching-sex-education

More than Body Parts and Functions

I think that the point of the Church, in teaching sex education, is that we go beyond teaching reproductive parts and how they function. More than those concepts we should be teaching our children true and moral values. These values are not exclusively Catholic nor Christian values per se; we get them from moral law itself, that which holds true regardless of religion. This is why the Church, for example, teaches the inseperability of the procreative and unitive aspects of the sexual union, because she believes that this concept comes from moral law itself. The real goal of sex education is for the youth to understand that the marital act is a precious gift from God himself, and therefore should be used properly and within the bounds of moral law. 

 Pro-Life Philippines

Pro-Life Philippines Position Paper on Rep. Palatino’s HB 6330, or “Religious Freedom in Government Offices Act”

June 19, 2012

Pro-Life Philippines Position Paper on Rep. Palatino’s HB 6330,

or “Religious Freedom in Government Offices Act”

Last weekend Cong. Raymond Palatino of Kabataan Partylist filed HB 6330 entitled “Religious Freedom in Government Offices Act”. Under the measure, the conduct of religious ceremonies and the display of religious symbols should be prohibited within the premises and perimeter of offices, departments and bureaus, including publicly-owned spaces and corridors within such offices, departments and bureaus.

This is, in effect, taking God out of the government and in the public sphere. Therefore, the title of the act is misleading: it should be: Freedom from Religion in Government Offices Act.

Cong. Palatino was quick to add that this bill seeks to ‘empower’ heads of offices and departments to follow strictly the constitutional provision on the freedom of religion, particularly the non-establishment clause,and reminds us that ‘public space is for everybody’ in an interview.

What for?

According to statistics, Christians comprise 81% of the population in the Philippines, with Catholics being 73% of these Christians and about 9% from other Christian denominations. Take away prayers, crosses, religious signs and symbols and portraits, and take away all that remind people of God. How does that make our government officials and employees better public servants?  Would making the public space devoid of religious symbols, a move seen to appease those who do not adhere to the religion be fair for the vast majority who adhere to Christianity?

Cong. Palatino also wishes to do away with the prayer that starts every Congress session. 

This move is viewed by many as taking God away from the public sphere. But as many government workers are also religious people, they would find inspiration, solace, consolation, and strength from the various icons, statues, pictures, and symbols found in their offices. Taking them away will certainly not make them better workers.

Unconstitutional

The very preamble of the Constitution renders this bill unconstitutional:

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of the Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society..."

Although it may initially seem to enforce the Separation of Church and State by citing the non-establishment clause, it goes against the spirit of the Separation of Church and State that is assured by the 1987 constitution.

The framers of the 1987 constitution, fresh from the 1986 EDSA Revolution, realized that religious freedom plays a vital role in the democratic process of the Philippines. This is why they set up the Separation of Church and State patterned after The United States. Their version was crafted and championed by Thomas Jefferson, who made sure that the government will not endorse a state religion in the US. In essence, therefore, this Separation of Church and state was made to protect the people from the government’s interference into their chosen religion – just like what Cong. Palatino is doing by filing this unconstitutional bill.

Senseless Infatuation with Foreign Ideologies

Why are our solons so infatuated with foreign ideologies? They are supposed to represent the people, but it seems that they now represent foreign powers. First it was the RH bill, then the divorce bill, the anti-discrimination bill, and then this. The United States have outlawed the reading of the bible and saying prayers in schools. This bill filed by Cong. Palatino looks eerily the same measure that is being implemented in the US.

We are Filipinos. We live by Filipino values and sentiments and one of those values is religiosity. We never forget God. Catholics make the Sign of the Cross whenever riding a vehicle or passing by a church. Public or private buildings are often blessed by a priest or a pastor. All fiestas are connected to a religious figure or saint, or in thanksgiving to God for a bountiful harvest. Our great schools and universities were brought here by religious congregations.

These bills being brought forth to Congress for passing are all products of foreign ideologies from countries who have long disregarded the sanctity of life and marriage and the true dignity of the human person. Our Congressmen want to start a slow, downward spiral towards the culture of death. Pro-Life Philippines will do its utmost in order to stem this tide.

Turning Away from God

And there was the 1986 EDSA Revolution, whose success is still highly attributed to Divine Intervention. With all those soldiers and tanks deployed, not a single drop of blood was shed. It was a modern-day miracle brought about people who acknowledged that it was God’s greatness that allowed those days of peaceful and bloodless revolution to transpire, a first in the world.

The miracle of EDSA was a lesson that has never been learned nor understood fully by the Filipino people. It was an event so extraordinary that it came and went and left us awestruck by what we can do. Today, nearly 30 years after the said event, the likes of Cong. Palatino turn their back from God and propose a law that will make sure we do the same.

We can only pray that our leaders be guided by the wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit in order to lead us closer towards God, not away from him.

A Call for the Youth’s True Empowerment

Instead of this useless bill, why can’t Cong. Palatino craft laws that would truly empower our young people? Pro-Life Philippines have a few ideas on how this can be done:

·         Encourage the proliferation of Art and Culture among the young, as well as Science and Technology. From these young minds we will produce the next generation of scientists and artists.
·         Curb the high drop-out rate of Filipino students. Out of those who start studying in elementary, only a small fraction ever make it to college because of various reasons, mostly because of poverty. This exacerbates poverty in turn and this endless cycle can only be ended if we can help the young including the out-of-school youth to go back to school and finish their education.
·         Encourage students to take up extra lessons, whether curricular or extra-curricular, that would make use of their talent and creativity in learning a craft they could use in order to generate extra income and at the same time make them eligible for work even if they only manage to finish High School. Examples are: Machine, automotive, and electronics shops, dressmaking, basket weaving, and computer repair.

Pro-Life Philippines therefore denounces this useless bill filed by Kabataan Partylist representative Raymond Palatino. There are more bills that could be filed that can truly empower the young; this is not one of it. 

MR. ERIC MANALANG                                              SR.PILAR VERZOSA, RGS

       President                                                                                  Founder

Pro-Life Phil. Fdtn. Inc.                                                          Pro-Life Phil. Fdtn. Inc.

 

Catholic Talibans

That’s what they call us.

Oppose liberalism and modernism at its core, be up in arms against same sex marriage, contraception and abortion, sex education, and feminism, and you will be called a fundamentalist. A religious zealot.

Corrolary to this issue is the prevalent thought among liberals that religion and faith is against science and common sense, and therefore impede true progress. Liberals and freethinkers will be quick to make the connection between the “hypocrital” Catholic Church and the poverty of this nation. Try to visit comment boxes and internet forums and stand your ground against the liberal tide. As sure as the sun will rise will you be branded either of the following: bigot, hater, ignorant, intolerant, homophobic, backward, medieval, hypocrite, dim-witted, ‘slaves’ of bishops, fanatics, delusional, idiot, moralist, taliban.
More recently I was called a Catholic Taliban (a derogatory term which implies fundamentalism) for protecting the sanctity of marriage and upholding its ONLY definition: that it is between a man and a woman.

Liberal Irony
Contrary to popular belief, there is no conflict between religion and science, between faith and reason. God is not only the author of Truth but THE Truth itself, and so whatever we believe in faith can also be found in reason. Professor Thomas Woods, PhD, says that the Catholic Church was responsible for forging humanity into modern civilization as we know today. In fact, most laws in the civilized world can be taken from the commandments and the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This is very remote from the liberal thinking that the Church suppresses reason and scientific advancements and is anti-progress.
Many freethinkers support the LGBT crowd, thinking that supporting the homosexual agenda is to keep up with the times. Perhaps they don’t realize that in Ancient Rome, homosexuality was commonplace. We can go back further: Sodom and Gomorrah. And we all know what happened to them.
Those who think that women should be given a choice for abortion is being progressive have missed out on their history lessons, as Spartans threw their ‘unfit’ babies down a cliff, to be dashed to their deaths.
There is nothing progressive nor modern about the liberal agenda.

Light of the World
One of the most common complaints of people against us Catholics and Pro-Lifers  is that we should “live and let live”; in essence, what they are asking us to do is to remain quiet in the face of all this evil happening around. Why can’t we Catholics just turn a blind eye on all of these evil? It is because Jesus himself preached that we are the salt of the Earth, and light of the world. No one lights a lamp and hides it under cover. In the same way, we are called to share this light to the rest of the world that has gone half-mad with darkness, and so glorify our Father in Heaven.
Out of the darkness of Ancient Rome rose the light that was Christianity. Today, we Pro-Lifers shine bright in this darkness that the world has plunged itself into.
There is nothing wrong with being a “Catholic Taliban”. If it means preserving the dignity of life from conception to natural death, and bringing hope and comfort to those who have none, then so be it.
If it means being convinced of the true meaning of marriage, saving women from cancer-causing pills and preventing their objectification caused by the contraceptive mentality; If it means the preservation of morality and and upholding of natural law, then so be it.
True progress can only be achieved by a society that respects life at all stages. To give in to abortion, the contraceptive mentality, to the homosexual agenda, to euthanasia, and divorce is to give in to social and moral decline.

By Pro-Life Philippines
Posted May 15, 2012

http://www.prolife.org.ph/news/index.php/2012/05/catholic-talibans/

Sowing Seeds of Dissent

I was asked by Pro-Life Philippines to attend a seminar entitled “Religion, Gender, and Sexuality.” It was sponsored by the University of the Philippines College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and by Health Action Information Network (HAIN). This seminar caught our attention when it was endorsed by Dep Ed and CHED. Why woud government offices endorse a seminar on religion? Why don’t  we hear a single freethinker/atheist/liberal crying out “Separation of Church and State!” in this occasion where the government blatantly steps out of bounds and tries to interpret religion and scripture in its own way?
 
The first of the four-day seminar was spent on trying to set expectations, specifically with being “open-minded” and flexible about the ideas that will be shared in the next few days. It reminded me of the many conversations I had with atheists and agnostics; being open-minded to them means you are free to accept their ideas but they won’t  accept yours, and you will be called a hater or a bigot instead. Day 1 ended peaceably, but nothing could have prepared us for the days ahead. 

The next day’s speaker was Fr. Percy Bacani, MJ. His main argument was that the act-centered morality that the Church preaches should be discarded in favor of a person-centered understanding. This means that we move away from believing that certain actions (e.g. masturbation) are intrinsically evil, to trying to understand the person (why he did such an action). In my opinion, this kind of belief leads to moral ambiguity where right and wrong is no longer the system by which we live by.

And I was right: our speaker tells us that the Church should allow couples to decide if contraception is an option they wish to take, and not preach against it. 

Moreover, what can we deduce from a priest who does not believe in the intrinsic evil of contraception? Yes, he believes that there is nothing wrong with homosexual behavior. He also disagrees with the Church on the issue of women’s ordination. His views are too clouded by New Age beliefs and ecofeminism; he advises people who are low in ‘energy’ to go back to nature and to take the energy that it gives off, like the mountains, the trees, the springs, the hills. In my opinion, he has the responsibility to point his flock to Christ, first and foremost, which he failed to do the whole day he was speaking.

On the 3rd day our speaker was Sr. Genoveva Dumay, RGS. Her main thesis was that there was so much patriarchy in the scriptures especially in the old testament that shaped the way we look at women and their roles today. She spent a good time exposing the oppression of men against women in the Bible which was perpetuated by the patriarchal society of the Israelites back in the Old Testament. Many among the audience reacted to her feminist view of scriptures.

I shall try to summarize the whole seminar in a few sentences:
*  Today we still live in a society that oppresses women, and we should do our utmost to empower women through contraceptives.
* Instead of condemning people who have sinned, let us not be judgmental, nor homophobic. Try to understand why a person did such an act. Therefore right and wrong does not matter any longer.
* No one has monopoloy on the truth. Not even the Catholic Church.

I shudder to think how many people our speakers have reached out to, and how many people have wrongly and erroneously believed them. They shamelessly and proudly sow the seeds of dissent, confusing Catholics and leading them astray. When the clergy themselves show the way to the laity on how to disregard the Catechism and the Magisterium, I think it is time for the laity to take action. It is not fair that we faithful Catholics are bending over backwards just to make disciples as what Christ ordered us to do, only for dissenting priests and nuns to mislead their flock.

http://www.prolife.org.ph/news/index.php/2012/06/sowing-seeds-of-dissent/

Posted June 4, 2012
Pro-Life Philippines

The RH Betrayal

When we had our small prayer march last February, we stopped in front of the office of the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP). There we beheld their signboard, brazen and shameless it read:

“Family Planning Organization of the Philippines: A Local Affiliate of International Planned Parenthood (IPPF)”

IPPF, or International Planned Parenthood Federation, just happens to be the biggest abortion provider in the whole world, responsible for millions of murdered babies every year. FPOP, on the other hand, provides contraceptives in the grassroots ,  and is one of the major supporters of the RH Bill.

The blood of our ancestors and heroes were spilled  to ensure that no other foreign power will ever come to our shores again and shackle our freedom.

Several hundred years later and it seems we have forgotten their ultimate sacrifice. The RH bill, the brainchild of a foreign nation that seeks to advance its own interest, is the ultimate betrayal of our nation.     

Selling Us Out

Contraceptives  and other forms of artificial contraception are intrinsically disordered by virtue of natural law.  It’s really simple:  sex causes babies. Removing the procreative part from the conjugal act means you are messing with the master plan of nature. And we all know what happens next: if you mess with nature, nature messes with you. Your ovulation is a natural bodily function. You want to stop it in order not to get pregnant? Guess what, cancer is waiting for you down the line. Or blood clots, whichever catches you first. You want to stop bearing children? Look at countries like Japan and Russia. They had so few babies they don’t know where to get their next generation. So they resort to giving incentives to couples who bear more children in order to jumpstart babymaking once more. It hasn’t worked.  You mess with nature, nature messes with you. 

Now why in the world would our congressmen and senators not learn from other countries’ experiences and still push for the legalization of RH? It’s a sellout, in my opinion. Accepting foreign funding in exchange for peddling foreign contraception and sterilization. Cold cash in exchange for the future of this country. 

 That is betrayal of this nation’s trust. A betrayal of the highest order.           

True Freedom, True Power

What business does our government have on what we do in our bedrooms? What right have they on the most intimate part of our lives? None of course – but let us realize that this unholy influence goes beyond this government. It comes from foreign meddling as well.

Almost 30 years after Kissinger’s NSSM 200 and we are still suffering from foreign intrusion as evidenced by the RH bill, which is being peddled as for the empowerment of women and couples’ freedom of choice. Nothing can be further from the truth.

True empowerment comes from education and employment. Give a man a job and he will have means to feed his family; give a man a condom, and yes, he may prevent future children from being born, but not alleviate the hunger he and his family suffer from.

True empowerment does not come from the pill or the condom. True empowerment comes from oneself, when one has learned to master his urges and emotions. To even insinuate that empowerment comes from a piece of rubber is an insult to the Filipino.

There can be no true freedom as long as foreign powers continue to exploit the common Filipino by peddling them contraceptives all in the name of freedom of choice. Freedom can only be achieved when the sovereign Filipino people finally decide to reject the RH bill, which does not reflect true nor authentic Filipino family values.

True freedom is going back to our identities as Filipinos: loving life, welcoming children in our families, and helping those in need (Bayanihan). We have long forgotten these virtues and replaced them with the empty promises of the RH Bill.

Posted June 13,2012

Pro-Life Philippines Foundation Inc.