A little boy curiously asked his Grandfather one day,” Lolo, Is a wind still a wind if it doesn’t blow?” His bespectacled Lolo paused for a few minutes and said,” Well, apo it’s simply called air.”
Just like the little boy we have lot of questions crossing our mind. We need somebody knowledgeable enough to satisfy our quest for answers. More so if it will affect our personal being and the community where we dwell.
Our legislative halls have been flooded with
various support and criticisms from the different sectors of the society,
specifically on the RH Bill issue, which recently has a total of six versions
pending before the committee. The Health Committee has the primary jurisdiction
of the old bill and the Population Committee for the present bill and secondary
referrals. With its latest version, House Bill No.96 – The Reproductive Health
and Population and Development Act of 2010. The bills described as health bills,
continues to stir the public.
True to our belief, the coin has two sides;
the bill do has two faces. Proponents and supporters believe that the RH bill
is pro-poor, pro-women and pro-life. They believe that its right based since
the parents are given the opportunity to exercise freely and responsibly plan
the number and spacing of their children through the use of modern natural and
artificial family planning method , which are legal, medically-safe and truly
effective which all, are embodied in the bill. They believe it is a health
measure since it will improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality.
Women are given opportunities to be productive freeing themselves from untimely
pregnancies and abortion incidences. In the long run, it will reduce poverty
and sustainable human development will be achieved, as a result of reduced
population.
But the church teaches us that Life is
sacred. A life in womb should be taken as a blessing because it’s God’s mystery
of love. It has a right to our
protection and guidance. And we are morally responsible for them. In a position
paper made by the Council of the Laity of the Philippines, they manifested
their vehement objection on the bill primarily because reproductive heath and
services tacitly approves the services of abortion as define by the United
Nations. It has made legal the official funding for the population control
measures and devices by classifying contraceptives as essential medicines,
making it appear that human fertility is a disease that must be treated. They
do believe that mandatory education of Grade 5 students on sexuality and family
planning recommended in the bill unnecessarily exposes children at a very
tender age, at the same time, violates the constitutional rights of parents to
educate their children in accordance with their moral and religious beliefs. .
As citizens of this country, how would this
proposed bill affect us, as a nation. Our parents taught us to be morally
upright from childhood. Does it still work within us or has it been gradually
eroded with the changes of time. Will the bill help us to be better off? Or will it just be another vehicle to the same
web of poverty. As far as our cultural practice is concerned, would it preserve
our tradition as Filipinos or the other way around? Above all, how would this
affect our already vulnerable physical well-being?
The state recognizes the sanctity of family
life and protects the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from
conception as provided by our constitution. The church, on the other hand, expresses
his voice when issues are contrary to its teachings. The state and the church are
inseparable.
And I quote the former Senate Majority Leader
Francisco S. Tatad saying, “The oft-misquoted separation of the church and
state does not separate the State from God. That’s why in the first line of the
Preamble of our Constitution, we implore” the aid of Almighty God.” And the
President’s oath to”preserve and defend the Constitution, execute laws, do
justice to every man and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation,” ends
with, “So help me God.”
(Delivered during the Efcom culmination program)
(Delivered during the Efcom culmination program)
