Reproductive Health Bill 5043 [MERGED]

[andywesteast]

Italy, a predominantly Catholic country just like the Philippines and where the Vatican is located, has had their version of the RH Law for more than forty years now, and not a peep from the Pope.

Sadyang ma-papel lang talaga itong mga bishops natin. Nagpapasikat sa Pope that they can control their "flock" in this part of the World.

Hahaha SO TRUE

[ghosthunter]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/04...upport-rh-bill

INC throws support for RH Bill
By Ryan Chua, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 04/25/2011 4:51 PM | Updated as of 04/25/2011 6:44 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Calling natural family planning immoral, the influential Christian denomination Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) has expressed support for the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

In a letter to House population and family relations committee chairman Rep. Rogelio Espina on October 2010, INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo said the bill needs to be passed.

In the letter, Manalo said it is the "moral imperative" of every parent to guide their children and make sure they have food, shelter, clothing, and proper education. This can be done if they "plan the number of their children and keep it under control."

He added that INC supports artificial family planning methods as long as they do not induce abortion, while taking a swipe at natural family planning, which the Catholic Church endorses.

Using natural family planning methods, couples will only have *** during naturally infertile periods to avoid pregnancy.

"These methods are not only unnatural and ineffective but they also are immoral, since they contradict the commandment that God has given to married couples. The Bible instructs married couples not to deprive one another of intimate marital relations for long, extended period of time," Manalo said.

"Further, any abstinence at all for a married couple is supposed to be with the mutual consent of husband and wife and not for the purpose of preventing pregnancies,” he said.

INC is a member of the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood (IPPRP), a group of Christian denominations that support the RH Bill.

In a statement, the IPPRP also urged legislators to pass the bill.

"We believe that the bill is truly pro-life, pro-poor, and pro-national development," the statement read.

Bishop Rodrigo Tano, chair of the IPPRP, said that although they differ with the Catholic Church on the issue, they have one goal in mind.

"There is a common denominator among all religious groups," Tano said in a news forum. "That is the concern for the human person as well as the common good. To me, supporting life and promoting the common good should be considered religious and moral."

Confident of RH bill's passage

Meantime, advocates of the Reproductive Health (RH) and Responsible Parenthood Bill are confident Congress will pass any of the controversial measures, even as a Catholic cardinal urged bishops to launch a "charm offensive" to convince lawmakers into junking them.

Former Health Secretary and RH supporter Esperanza Cabral even lauded Jose Cardinal Sanchez's call for bishops to use their charm.

"Mahusay 'yong gumagamit sila ng charm offensive kaysa sa minumura nila ang mga tao na kakampi ng RH Bill," she said in a news forum.

"Pero kung charm ang pag-uusapan, palagay ko'y mas charming si Risa sa kanila," Cabral added, referring to fellow RH advocate and former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

In the forum, Baraquel said that as far as she knows, the RH bill already has the support of many lawmakers at the House of Representatives.

She said that aside from the more than 100 authors of the bill, hundreds of other congressmen have pledged to vote for it, while around 30 are still undecided.

"I'm very, very hopeful," Baraquel said. "Unang taon pa lang nitong 3-year term ng Congress, nando'n na sila sa period of interpellation and debate."

Sen. Panfilo Lacson also believes the bill has a big chance of getting approved at the Senate, where it is still at the committee level.

Lacson, who went into hiding and was absent in Senate sessions for more than a year, supports the proposed measure.

He said President Aquino's support for the bill boosted its chances of getting passed.

"Nagkaroon ng masyadong maraming disinformation kaya nade-demonize ang advocates ng RH Bill," he said in the forum. "It becomes an obligation or a responsibility of the State to inform the public, more so yung mga kulang sa kaalaman tungkol sa pagplaplano ng pamilya."

[chua_riwap]

^ labu-labo na sila ng romano katoliko at INC......

[CoDer]

Sa wakas, daming babalimbing na mga pulitiko nito.

[andywesteast]

Sa wakas, daming babalimbing na mga pulitiko nito.

The INC support of the RH Bill will embolden many weaker politicians.

[andywesteast]

70% of Pinoys, many priests plus:

Catholics for Reproductive Health
Iglesia ni Cristo
National Council of Churches in the Philippines
United Church of Christ of the Philippines
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches
United Methodist Church;
Philippines for Jesus Movement
Iglesia Filipino Independiente
Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines
Seventh-Day Adventist;
Salvation Army
Episcopal Church of the Philippines
Muslim religious leaders from Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)

.....are all for the RH Bill.

[ghosthunter]

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...ticleId=679604

[SIZE="4"]The RH Bill debate unmasked modern day Pharisees[/SIZE]
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo (The Philippine Star)
Updated April 26, 2011 12:00 AM

From Day 1 of the President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) administration, Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz has established himself as a presidential basher. He was also very critical of President Cory C. Aquino during her incumbency.  

Last year, he said a mouthful against Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno. He linked Puno to jueteng operators but was not able to present any proof whatsoever. He did offer an apology to Puno in an ANC TV interview but that seemed more like a hedge against a possible libel suit.

Earlier this year, Archbishop Oscar Cruz had asserted in another ABS-CBN morning TV interview that three groups were poised to initiate the ouster of PNoy. He even implicated in this fantastic plot the Council of Philippine Affairs (COPA) which is a staunch PNoy supporter. Here, Archbishop Cruz clearly erred. He also peddled outright fantasy because the mentioned groups had no capability to undertake the president’s ouster.

In an ANC morning interview with Karen Davila last week, Archbishop Cruz uttered another mouthful. He called PNoy “anti-Christian” and poles apart from his mother Cory. Archbishop Cruz conveniently forgot that he was a Cory basher. Now that it suited his purpose, it became convenient for him to say something good about Cory. Isn’t this a case of intellectual dishonesty?

He chided PNoy for “taunting” the Catholic Church to excommunicate him over the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, saying that the president did not understand the excommunication process. Archbishop Cruz conveniently forgot — or intellectually discarded — the September 29, 2010 statement of CBCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) President Bishop Nereo Odchimar over Radio Veritas that PNoy stood to be excommunicated for the RH Bill.

Asked if PNoy might be excommunicated for distributing contraceptives, Bishop Odchimar replied: “That is a possibility . . . . Right now, it is a proximate possibility.” Like other Catholic Bishops, Odchimar falsely linked the RH Bill to abortion even if PNoy and the other RH Bill proponents are against abortion.

If his attacks against PNoy were not enough already, Archbishop Cruz even had the gall and the temerity to tell the president that he should not marry anymore. Shouldn’t Church leaders be promoting the sacrament of matrimony? By God, Archbishop Cruz outdid himself!

Archbishop Cruz posited that PNoy should not marry because he was incapable of being one with a matrimonial partner. He passed judgment on the president’s character without even knowing PNoy personally. Archbishop Cruz totally disregarded how PNoy filled the shoes of his father Ninoy and became a replacement padre de familia. Archbishop Cruz totally disregarded how close PNoy is to his sisters’ children, a clear extension of his role as padre de familia and a good indication of a suitable, if not ideal, family man.

In what can be considered as a sign of hysteria, Archbishop Cruz even charged that the RH Bill was just the tip of the iceberg and that worse legislation will follow. He said: “What’s to stop other bills like divorce and same-*** marriage? These are just introductory remarks.” This assertion is totally unfounded just as it is wild.

Archbishop Cruz even displayed an insidious side of his personality. He tried to cast aspersions on the integrity of PNoy. He insinuated: “Malaki ang (There’s a big) lobby money for contraceptives.”

Having uttered all these during the start of Holy Week, it’s easy to associate Archbishop Cruz with the Pharisees, the enemies of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees were known for their intellectual dishonesty, crookedness and monumental egos. Throughout history, the Roman Catholic Church would be weighed down by Pharisees holding some of the highest positions in its hierarchy.

Saint Joan of Arc was condemned to be burned at the stake for heresy by the manipulations of another Pharisee — Bishop Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. Bishop Cauchon totally disregarded evidences that would acquit Joan and presented all the false charges that would convict her of heresy. Canonization transformed Joan of Arc from heretic to martyr.

The Catholic Church should realize that the viciousness of the attacks against the president and the other RH Bill proponents are scandalizing even Catholics who are not supporting the RH Bill. “Ang pikon ay talo (The one who loses his cool loses)” is how many are now seeing the Cardinals, Bishops, priests and nuns who have become rabid persecutors of the RH Bill proponents. Because of these rabid persecutors, the RH Bill debate has been transformed into another Inquisition like one of darkest chapters of Church history.

Just as the victims of the Inquisition were falsely accused of heresy, the RH Bill proponents are now being accused of promoting abortion which is an outright falsehood. That our Church leaders can subscribe to such low tactics indicates how they, like exploiting politicians, are capitalizing on the Information and Education Gaps plaguing many Filipinos. It’s a clear manifestation of the disease of the Pharisees.

Very reliable sources have told your Chair Wrecker that in the CBCP, hardly anyone agrees with what Archbishop Oscar Cruz has been doing. Yet, they failed to speak out against his wild assertions. Like the Mafia, they’ve opted to practice Omerta, the Mob’s Code of Silence. They’ve forgotten that silence is taken as consent to all the misdeeds of a modern day Pharisee.  

* * *

[robot.sonic]

Oscar Cruz = Damaso

[myk384]

Walang bang magawang matino si Oscar Cruz?? Kung nabubuhay pa si Pope John Paul II siguro tanggal sa pwesto.

[explorer]

the stupid bishop is now desperate...

from: Bishop calls RH backers terrorists

[SIZE="4"]It’s come to this: Bishop calls RH backers terrorists[/SIZE]

By Chona Yu, Jocelyn R. Uy, Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Radyo Inquirer
First Posted 03:18:00 04/27/2011

MANILA, Philippines—Advocates of the reproductive health (RH) bill are no better than terrorists because the measure could lead to the death of innocents, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Tuesday.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, CBCP vice president, said condoms and abortion were tantamount to killing the innocent.

The Catholic Church, led by the CBCP, opposes the bill because it believes the measure will allow couples to gain easy access to condoms and other methods of contraception that can cause abortion.

Palma expressed dismay over lawmakers supporting the RH bill, which seeks to provide couples a choice of what family planning methods to use.

Reacting to reports that the bill was gaining adherents even from other religious groups, Palma said on Radyo Inquirer dzIQ: “I hope that it is not true. If it is, we can only pray.”

“If people vote because of money then it’s almost like becoming Judas,” Palma said.

He said he wished the President would recall the “walang mahirap, walang corrupt” campaign promise “because threatening legislators that they will not receive their pork barrel if they will not support RH bill is a form of corruption.”

Malacañang has not issued any statement to the effect that the President would not release pork barrel to legislators against the bill.

President Benigno Aquino III has said he was against abortion but favored giving couples “the right to choose how best to manage their families.”

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said on Monday that it was futile for the Church to continue holding talks with Malacañang because the President had already made up his mind on the issue.

Consensus building needed

Sen. Gregorio Honasan II said the RH bill was “too critical” an issue for the Church or any sector to give up on consensus-building dialogue.

He said a “comprehensive national dialogue” among all sectors would guide both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would eventually vote on the legislation.

“I disagree with the good Cardinal Emeritus [Vidal]. We can’t give up on dialogue. If we presume that there is a stalemate and the positions have hardened, public interest will suffer,” he said in an interview.

Honasan observed that after the dialogue between the Church, Malacañang, Congress and other sectors stopped, they had resorted to “media war.”

Not the enemy

Malacañang Tuesday said it was “not the enemy” of the Church in the debate on the RH bill.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Mr. Aquino wanted the government to serve as a “referee” to those for and against it.

Lacierda said the Palace was ready to resume its dialogue with Catholic bishops despite Vidal’s call for the Church to back out from it.

“The Church should not look at the government as an adversary,” he said at a briefing.

He said the President was “very open to a dialogue.”

Focus on common ground

Lacierda noted that in late March, Palace and Church officials agreed to resume their dialogue after the Holy week.

“Let’s focus on the common ground ... We’re not the enemy here. We’re trying to bring all the forces together and arrive at commonalities. And let’s agree to disagree on certain areas, but let’s explore our agreements more, and if it’s possible, put that in the bill,” he said.

He said that was the reason “the President continues to believe in the dialogue with the Church as well as those who are pro-reproductive health bill.”

The Palace earlier initiated the dialogue with the Church in an effort to include its inputs in the bill that would see couples being given information on all family planning methods so they could have an informed decision when planning the size of their families.

After four meetings, the Church backed out and helped mount a protest rally last month to protest the RH bill.

Catholic bishops agreed to resume talks with the Palace upon Mr. Aquino’s invitation after the big anti-RH rally in Rizal Park in Manila.

Other Christian groups

While the Church is against the RH bill, other Christian groups like the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) support it.

Lacierda said the Palace welcomed the move of other Christian groups to support the bill.

The INC, which endorsed Mr. Aquino during the May 2010 elections, said it was supporting modern methods of contraception “as long as these methods are empirically [not] abortifacients.”

Unlike the Catholic Church, which promotes natural birth methods, the INC views them as “ineffective” and “immoral” since they counter “the commandment that God has given to married couples.”

Protestant churches, including the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, United Church of Christ of the Philippines and the United Methodist Church, have also declared their support for the passage of the RH bill.

Avoid religious conflict

A priest said the Church would not argue with other religious groups promoting the measure to avoid religious conflict.

“The reproductive health bill is a moral issue so everybody has the right to speak on the matter regardless of religion,” said Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, Tuesday.

He appealed to advocates of the bill to extend the Church the same treatment given to other Christian groups when it expresses its views on the bill.

“When the Catholic Church speaks against the measure, they invoke the separation of Church and State but when other churches speak in its favor, they don’t invoke it... let us be consistent about it because we are all stakeholders in this issue,” he said.
Former Sen. Francisco Tatad, a board member of a prolife group, International Right to Life Federation, warned against using the RH bill to promote religious conflict.

“There need not be any religious conflict arising from this,” Tatad said at the weekly forum hosted by the Catholic Media Network in Intramuros, Manila, Tuesday.

But he noted that the varying views on contraception held by the Catholic Church and other religious groups “are real conflicts of positions.”

“But the Church is not asking the State to enforce its teaching on population. It is simply saying that ... if you pass the bill, you are trampling on the basic beliefs of Catholics,” Tatad said.

[Monseratto]

Is the RH bill really moving in legislature or is everyone just posturing for political mileage? Any updates from the Lower House? Panahon pa ni GMA "to...

[ghosthunter]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/04...passage-bishop

[SIZE="4"]Debates meant to delay RH Bill's passage: bishop[/SIZE]
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 04/27/2011 11:22 AM | Updated as of 04/27/2011 11:22 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is willing to mediate between Catholic Church officials who oppose the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill and other religious and civic groups who are for passage of the bill.

But Bishop Rodrigo Tano believes debates on the RH bill have become divisive and are being used to delay the passage of the bill in Congress.

"I think there is too much bad faith, too much condemnation. Hasty generalization. We are tired of that. We are tired dilatory tactics in Congress," he told ANC's "Headstart."

Tano is the chairman of the Interfaith Partnershio for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, a coalition of 12 religious groups including the Iglesia ni Cristo.

He said the group supports the Responsible Parenthood Bill because it can help government address the country's growing population.

"We believe, on the whole, it promotes the common good. If you think an average of 11 mothers die due to complications in pregnancy, if you think 62 infants out of 100,000 die out of live births and the poor have more kids, if you realize there is relationship between population size and poverty, although that's contested but its more difficult for a family to have savings, and support their needs," he said.

"To me these are facts. These should not be a matter of ecclesiastical declarations but a matter of research and science," he said.

He said that as far as some churches are concerned, marriage is for procreation. "But if you read the literature in Catholic Church, some would rather rank the two -- children and pleasure -- on equal footing. If you say procreation is main, every *** act should allow for the pregnancy," he said.

Tano said he does not think condoms are sinful. "What is sinful is promiscuity, and immoral behavior and making use of condom as an excuse of promiscuity. The sin is promiscuity not the condom," he said.

The bishop said he is against any contraceptive method that is abortifacient.

He also disagrees that *** education should only come from the child's parents, saying that various institutions should be interdependent in the development of the child including the school, state, family and civil society.

[jansky]

jak en poy na lang kayo para matapos na

[Starex_Gold]

Oscar Cruz = Damaso

[ghosthunter]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...on-RH-bill-row

‘[SIZE="4"]Catholic Church isolated on RH bill row[/SIZE]’

By Cynthia Balana, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:17:00 04/28/2011


MANILA, Philippines—The support of non-Catholic religious groups like the Iglesia ni Cristo for the reproductive health (RH) bill has marginalized the Catholic hierarchy as the only institutional oppositor of the measure, according to analysts and key proponents of the measure.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, the Albay congressman and principal author of the RH bill, Wednesday welcomed the endorsement of the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, Inc. (IPPRP) composed of the INC, the Iglesia Filipina Independente, and Evangelical, Methodist, Adventist and Episcopal denominations.

The support of the Protestant churches and the INC for the RH bill has only further isolated the Catholic Church, said political analyst Ramon Casiple.

Not fly-by-right

“These are religious groups, religious churches. These are not fly-by-night. And the more extremist position the [Catholic] bishops take, the more they alienate the flock, which is an irony because they’re supposed to protect the flock,” he said.

The support from the non-Catholic groups came on the heels of President Benigno Aquino III’s unequivocal support for the measure now awaiting plenary action at the House of Representatives, Lagman said.

According to Casiple, because of its “strident” opposition to the RH bill, the Church may be losing its ability to influence the Aquino administration.

The RH bill was a “test case of how far the Church can bend the administration to its will,” and it appears the Church is slowly losing the battle, he said.

“The Church has been orphaned by this issue because Noynoy Aquino doesn’t have that frame of mind to follow them. They can’t blackmail him, they can’t use the argument that he’s isolated. He doesn’t need them in relation to maintaining his popularity and goodwill,” added Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Economic Reforms.

Church lobby

The Catholic Church, which has successfully lobbied against the passage of such a bill for more than 10 years now, opposes the RH bill because it allegedly allows married couples to gain easy access to condoms and other methods of contraception that can supposedly cause abortion.

But Lagman pointed out that individual Catholics themselves overwhelmingly support the bill as shown by the consistent results of surveys by independent pollsters Social Weather Stations and the Pulse Asia for almost two decades.

He said the snowballing of support of Catholics has been formalized with the nationwide organization of the Catholics for RH.

According to Casiple, Mr. Aquino is standing on solid ground since the majority of Filipinos support the passage of the legislation, as shown by poll surveys, he said.

Should the bill be approved and enacted into law, the Church would become “critical” of Mr. Aquino, and collaborate with the administration on a case-to-case basis, Casiple said.

“They won’t be close to Aquino as they were to GMA (former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo). There won’t be a Malacañang diocese,” he said.

Unless the Church changes its tack and comes out with the position that this issue is a “matter of faith,” it could further alienate some of the faithful, said Casiple.

“It’s isolating itself. We’re talking of a Church that’s determined to fight the reality of modern society, instead of adjusting,” he said.

[ghosthunter]

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/219374/n...ms-at-campuses

[SIZE="4"]Catholic youths conducting 'chastity forums' at campuses[/SIZE]
05/02/2011 | 05:47 PM


A Catholic youth movement has launched a campus tour to conduct a series of forums advocating chastity and encouraging opposition to the reproductive health (RH) bill.

The "Live Pure: movement is calling on the youth to live a chaste and pure life and make a stand against the RH bill.

“Since the start of 2011, the movement has been speaking at numerous schools in Metro Manila and the provinces," the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.

The members of Live Pure are giving their "time and energy to speak to the different Dioceses and schools for chastity education among the youth," the CBCP said.

The group has visited various schools to speak on the value of chastity and keeping themselves pure before marriage.

“It also discussed the evil effects of RH bill and rallied the youth to speak up and make their stand for life," the CBCP said.

The Catholic Church has been opposing the RH bill as it promotes the use of artificial contraceptives. The Church only accepts natural family planning methods.

Members of another group, the World Youth Alliance, also joined the forums to speak about human dignity.

Mark Phillip Morales, one of the participants, said the forums helped him realize the misconceptions he had about ***uality, dating, and courtship. - VVP, GMA News

If you can't win with today's population, try again with the next generation.

[niky]

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/219374/n...ms-at-campuses

Ironic. Considering monogamy and abstinence are part of the RH Bill's school curriculum.

So, what's the message... pro-chastity, anti-abstinence?

[jave]

Anything's possible when it comes to people with low EQ and common sense.

[Stoner]

Hm, read a statement by Carlos Celdran, and I have to agree with him on a lot of points.

RH bill has been languishing at the Congress for 16 years now. That means, for 16 years, we've been adopting the local church's stand on family planning, condoms, and such. So far, it doesn't look like it's working.

[Monseratto]

Pnoy should stop courting the Church, at nag papapogi na naman si Tito Sen, haaayyy...Hope the Bill moves more quickly.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...bCategoryId=63

House resumes RH bill debate next week
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated May 12, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (8)


MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives will resume the debate on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, also known as the Responsible Parenthood (RP) bill, next week.

Minority leader Edcel Lagman, principal author and sponsor of the bill, said the bill would likely be taken up in plenary on Tuesday. He said they have conducted a “vote mapping” and are confident of getting the bill approved by the majority.

He hopes the House would vote on the bill before Congress adjourns again on June 9.

Another supporter of the bill, Davao del Sur Rep. Marc Douglas Cagas, said the House should already decide on whether to approve or reject the measure.

“This proposal has been pending in Congress for many years. We should vote on it once and for all, and we should accept whatever is the voting result,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada opposed Sen. Vicente Sotto’s proposal for Congress to postpone consideration of the RH bill pending the investigation into Sotto’s claim that there had been misuse of public funds for maternal and child health funds because these do not reach the intended beneficiaries.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona, however, denied that funds for the government’s family health programs are misused.

“At the moment, I don’t see the so-called graft. I actually had this investigated four months ago,” he said in a chance interview yesterday.

He said the release of funds for some local government units was put on hold pending the filling of liquidation reports for their previous allocations.

“What happened was that we cannot release the funds unless there is an approval of the Commission on Audit,” Ona said.

Supporters of the bill said Sotto’s allegation is a “cheap trick” to derail passage of the measure.

“It is very sad that a distinguished policy maker such as Sen. Sotto will resort to a very loose claim of corruption in DOH to discredit the Reproductive Health bill,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation.

Supporters including former President Fidel Ramos, former health secretary Esperanza Cabral, Lagman, Ona, Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones and former lawmaker Risa Hontiveros attended the launch of the “Day of the Purple Ribbon for RH” at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas, Pasig City.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., meanwhile, had promised that he would schedule a vote on the measure soon.

The bill’s strongest critic, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), pulled out of the dialogue with Malacañang on the bill the other day because of President Aquino’s strong support for its passage into law. – With Evelyn Macairan, Sheila Crisostomo, Helen Flores