Reproductive Health Bill 5043 [MERGED]

[ghosthunter]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...Church-Cool-it

[SIZE="4"]Palace to Church: Cool it[/SIZE]

Tension over reproductive health bill escalates

By Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:21:00 05/16/2011

MANILA, Philippines---Appealing for sobriety, Malacañang on Sunday sought to heal a widening rift between Church and State over the controversial parenthood bill that last week saw prelates threatening civil disobedience and President Benigno Aquino III warning he would jail them.

“We have different positions here, but probably we should explain our positions within the means of the law. That is what the President is saying. There is room for debate, it doesn’t have to degenerate to illegal acts or anything like that,” Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang told reporters.

“It would be better that we calm down a bit and discuss the issue at hand,” the President’s deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said over the state radio, adding that Mr. Aquino was merely reminding that Filipinos have a civil duty to pay their taxes used to finance public programs.

Tension flared when several members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) last week declared an “all-out war” using pulpits against the reproductive health (RH) bill pending in Congress and warned they were prepared not to pay taxes in a civil disobedience campaign.

Mr. Aquino, a 51-year-old bachelor who has said he is prepared to face Church excommunication in supporting the RH bill, countered that tax boycotts were seditious and could lead to criminal cases.

“He can put us all in jail. We are all willing to pay the price to save the unborn from modern Herods and to save the executioners from the grasp of the evil one,” Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said in response to the President’s statement.

“He sounds like Marcos when his mother called for civil disobedience. What happened to his mother’s terrorist and his father’s tormentor?” Arguelles told CBCPNews, the bishops’ news website.

The archbishop was referring to the late Corazon Aquino’s action against Ferdinand Marcos following allegations of fraud in the snap election of 1986 that led to the ouster of the dictator.

‘Charge us all’

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said Mr. Aquino’s sedition threat was “most welcome.”

“Let him charge us all bishops, priests, religious, all the faithful with sedition,” said Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo called for calm and a “wait-and-see attitude” but also added that, in the end, Catholics have to “obey God and not man.”

Fr. Jerry Oblepias, director of the Diocesan Family and Life Ministry in San Pablo, Laguna, over the weekend said the Church had always been consistent and strong in its opposition against the RH bill.

“The Church is motivated by genuine love and concern for the people and the poor, unlike the RH bill proponents who are certainly motivated by the love of money and they use the poor for them to stay in power,” said Oblepias, whose statement was also posted on the CBCPNews.

Emotional tantrums

Oblepias was reacting to Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan who said that the Catholic Church was already showing “a symptom of scarcity of arguments” when the CBCP disengaged last week from a dialogue with the Palace.

The CBCP’s move was an indication that the Church was “bankrupt” of reasons why the RH bill should not be legislated, with Church leaders resorting to “threats, name-calling and emotional tantrums,” according to Ilagan.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Sunday acknowledged that civil disobedience was a valid form of protest.

“That is an accepted method of dispute resolution provided that the passive resisters are willing to go peacefully to jail when they violate the existing law,” Santiago, a former trial court judge, said in an interview.

That’s why, in the event of a nationwide movement to boycott payment of taxes, the delinquent taxpayers should not resist “if they are haled to court by the BIR, and accept the decision of the judge, either a fine or imprisonment,” she added.

Enrile against bill

Sen. Panfilo Lacson agreed: “If they don’t want to pay taxes, they’re liable for tax evasion. If we allow this, what about the rest of the 94 million Filipinos who depend on social services? If we pay and you don’t pay and you don’t get punished, that’s unfair.”

As the debate rages, Mr. Aquino may have a tougher time convincing the leaders of the Senate to pass the bill.

While his counterpart in the House is keen on getting the measure approved on final reading, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile maintained that he was opposed to it.

“I don’t know whether we can tackle it here. I have many questions. I don’t know if they’re going to have enough numbers to pass it. I already said I’m against it and I can’t support it,” Enrile told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III also has openly opposed the measure, recently exposing that the government’s allocation for family health did not reach its beneficiaries from 2008 to 2010.

Senate approval seen

Sen. Pia Cayetano is set to present for floor deliberations the health committee report on the lone RH measure authored by Santiago, her colleagues said.

Santiago predicted that a majority of the senators would vote for the approval of the committee report.

“I see a win in the Senate,” she said, adding that even reelectionist senators would vote for its approval to endear themselves to voters who favor the bill.

“Some astute senators recognize the fact that a greater majority of voters are in favor of the bill. If they want to win the election, they have to support the RH bill,” she added.

[ghosthunter]

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/318350...ations-rh-bill

[SIZE="4"]Ruminations on the RH Bill[/SIZE]
Inside Business Agenda
By EM P. GUEVARRA
May 16, 2011, 3:58am

MANILA, Philippines — Before anything else, what a bloody mess. The country is divided. The thinking populace (and the ones who like to believe they think) are at each other’s throats…wanting to kill each other in the name of “life”.

And it has become my mind-numbing task to make some sense of this hullabaloo for this week’s Inside Business Agenda. After raking through the material, the arguments, the debates, I just chose to see how the different aspects of the RH Bill speak to me.

As a woman and potential mother: I have a choice.

I am an independent woman who values being able to think and do freely. I exercise my free will, my freedom to choose all the time. I may have considerations in mind when I make certain choices, but ultimately, it boils down to what I personally believe in or stand for and what I want. I make sure that my choices are as informed as possible and as needed, depending on the nature or gravity of the matter.

In this case, what I hear the RH Bill giving me is the right to choose if and when I want to have a child, and the right to choose what contraceptive I want to use for that purpose. Do I have a problem with this? None whatsoever. I have the means to find out what I need to know about each contraceptive.

I have the ability to understand what my spirituality upholds about *** and its “regulation”. It is my body and my life and I have all the right to make decisions about it where having babies are concerned. That is a matter between me and my God and my partner, and I believe the RH Bill is cognizant and respectful of that fact.

As an Economics graduate: It’s not about population.

I think this is mainly where the problem lies. As much as there are studies that support the theory that population leads to or causes poverty, there are studies that debunk that theory. It’s not as if we are going to get rid of the “excess population” we already have. But to focus efforts on suppressing population growth among the marginalized just sounds anti-poor to me, as well as not addressing the real problems we are facing: lack of education, lack of employment opportunities, lack of healthcare services. I think the RH Bill should focus really on Reproductive Health, and not on curbing population via the Population Commission.

When it comes to this aspect, I am one with those economists and socio-economists who say that the budget and efforts should instead be given to the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and other apt government agencies, instead of the Population Commission.

I agree that the Philippines is poor, not because of overpopulation, but because of mismanagement, because of graft and corruption, because of the people’s general lack of good education, and because of the lack of employment opportunities in the country.

As a journalist: Enough with the misinformation.

Okay, here are the facts plain and simple. The Catholic Church upholds that life begins at the moment of conception or fertilization. So if you are a Catholic, you would want to stick to contraception methods that are not abortifacient. Scientifically (this is science now, not religion), the birth control methods that do not cause abortion are as follows: Continuous Abstinence; Periodic Abstinence or Fertility Awareness Methods [Being abstinent on the days you may be fertile or using a “barrier” method of birth control (condoms, diaphragms or cervical caps) on fertile days]; The Male Condom; The Female Condom; Diaphragm; Cervical Cap; and Surgical Sterilization (Tubal Ligation or Vasectomy).

The birth control methods which can cause abortion are as follows: Copper T IUD; Progestasert IUD; The Mini-Pill; and Emergency Contraception (“Morning After” Pill, Postcoital Contraception, Plan B, etc.). These methods cause abortion because if fertilization does occur, they would prevent the fertilized egg from implanting in the lining of the uterus.

The birth control methods which might be able to cause an abortion are: Oral Contraceptives; Depo-Provera; The Patch (Ortho Evra); and The Hormonal Vaginal Contraceptive Ring (NuvaRing). With these methods, there is much debate within the pro-life community whether they are abortifacient or not, hence the “might be able” qualifier.

There’s the science. Between our conscience and the hard facts, we should be able to come to a position minus the name-calling and judgments.

As a believer in God: There should be real separation of Church and State.

Why is it—and not a few have noticed it—that we seem to have gone back to the time of Rizal and the friars, when the so-called representatives of God find it within their rights and territory to spew judgments from the pulpits, to say pretty much anything that clearly crosses the line of politics, in the name of safeguarding the morality of their followers? Ours is a country where no real separation of Church and State has ever been, and times like these only highlight such a situation.

The Church’s duty is to transmit the Church’s teachings to its followers, that’s all. They have no right meddling in affairs of the State. But try telling that to them in this country and be ready to face threats of excommunication and

even court cases (or withdrawal of the Church vote, if there really is such a thing). Ridiculous, but also sadly true.

As a Filipino: It is government’s duty to pass legislation for the real progress of the Philippines and the Filipino.

He may seem “extreme” in his ways of expressing it, but I cannot question Carlos Celdran’s patriotism. I generally agree with what he expressed in the ABS-CBN TV debate last May 7 and in his blog: “We’re still plagued by high infant mortality, high maternal deaths, overpopulation [I already said what I think about this] and a skyrocketing HIV and abortion rate and it’s the worst it’s ever been in our history.

“And for the last 16 years, people in Congress have been trying to pass the RH Bill, a piece of legislation that would holistically address these issues. And this bill has been held back, delayed and shot down by anti-RH lawmakers for reasons that were either legal, economic or religious.”

I say to government: Address the concerns about certain aspects of the RH Bill, shut up the parties that need to be shut up, then have the balls to implement an RH Bill that you are willing to back up no matter what already! How difficult is that really? You are in power and we are your boss, so step up to the plate and address the people’s needs once and for all.

As a human being: Respect life and quality of life. And then, above all, respect man’s inherent free will.

I don’t know why there even has to be a debate about this, between the so-called pro-lifers and those who are pro-quality of life. Life begins at fertilization, but it doesn’t end there! So the fight for quality of life should be everyone’s concern. Fight for the right of the unborn, by all means, but don’t forget the rights of the born in the process.

As for respect for free will, what are certain members of the Catholic Church so afraid of? Do they really think that their Church-goers are so mindless and so lacking in faith/loyalty as to commit abortion? Do they really believe that their education, reminders and admonitions in Church and in Catholic schools are not enough for their followers to be able to form and exercise their conscience?

I don’t know about you, but the God I believe in created me free. So free that I know He smiles down on me every single time I choose to exercise my freedom. He watches over me, and never leaves me or punishes me, or condemns me to the burning fires of hell. He is actually a God I don’t fear, only love.

[CVT]

Poster Boy pa ngayon ng anti-RH si PacMan....

13.1K:bike:

[KERSMcRae]

Poster Boy pa ngayon ng anti-RH si PacMan....

nagmukha nga syang eng-eng sa kongreso kahapon. Nagmukhang lecture na lang kay Cong. Lagman.
Buti na lang hindi ako taga-Saranggani.. :D

[Monseratto]

Lakas ng loob ng Catholic Church...

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/220967/n...-from-rh-talks

[size=2]CBCP formally withdraws from RH talks[/size]
AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News
05/18/2011 | 06:49 PM

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has formally informed President Benigno Aquino III of its withdrawal from the dialogues regarding the controversial House Bill 4244, or the Reproductive Health bill.

In a letter to the President dated May 17, CBCP President Nereo Odchimar said the action was taken as the “prevailing circumstances where a healthy atmosphere for dialogue on the matter was wanting."

He said the bishops affirmed the decision of the CBCP team to discontinue the dialogue during a regular meeting of the Permanent Council of the CBCP held Tuesday.

He said they acknowledged that the past dialogues had somehow provided them opportunities to study possible areas of collaboration for the interest of the people.

“However, the process has reached a point where we have to stand by the teachings and the principles demanded of us by our mission," Odchimar said in a one-page letter.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Malacañang respects the decision and appreciates the frankness of CBCP.

“We appreciate their frankness and their gesture to write to the President a formal letter informing us that they affirm the decision of the CBCP team to withdraw from the dialogue. We respect them for that," he said in a text message to reporters.

The RH bill has drawn strong opposition from the Catholic Church and other religious groups.

The Catholic Church accepts only natural methods of family planning while the RH bill promotes both natural and artificial methods of contraception. — KBK, GMA News

[Monseratto]

TSK, tsk, tsk... Buti we don't live in the age of the Spanish Inquisition.

http://ricojr2010.wordpress.com/2011...go-fr-reuters/

[size=2]PRO-RH BILL ATENEO TEACHERS ARE FREE TO GO – FR. REUTERS[/size]

MANILA, Philippines—Faculty members who support the Reproductive Health (RH) bill have no right to teach in Ateneo de Manila University, Jesuit priest James Reuters said, according to a Radyo Inquirer report aired Tuesday.

Reuters was quoted as saying that the RH bill violates what a Catholic institution like the Ateneo stands for, because he claimed the bill promotes abortion. He said the basic law in a Catholic school is simple: follow the rule of God.

He added that freedom of speech was not absolute.

The report said that Reuters had advised the Ateneo administration to investigate teachers supporting the bill.

In 2008, a group of professors from Ateneo de Manila University threw their support for the RH bill.
Danica Hermogenes, INQUIRER.net

[vito corleone]

TSK, tsk, tsk... Buti we don't live in the age of the Spanish Inquisition.

http://ricojr2010.wordpress.com/2011...go-fr-reuters/

they think we do

[scharnhorst]

meron ditong dumadayo na lay minister na nagbibigay ng holy communion sa lola ko...

pag tinatanong nya ako kung suportado ko daw ba ang RH bill, ngingiti lang ako. hehe

[shakatak70]

Kaya dapat patawan na ng buwis yang mga iyan..gusto lang rin namang makialam sa estado para mas may karapatan silang makialam.. Salaki ng kanilang kinikita kapal nila na magsabing wag magbayad ng buwis eh di naman sila nagbabayad

[Ry_Tower]

^ nice one bro, cool ka lang.

[Stoner]

Kinda ridiculous that anti-RH people are throwing the argument of 'what if God wants your nth child to cure cancer or something but the parents prevented the birth?'

That's theoretical talk. Not very convincing, and this even has laces of religious fundamentalism... Sure, children are gifts from God, yes. But have they seen how those who are unfortunate treat their children? 'Pahirap ka sa buhay' are just some of the words being thrown around.

Somehow, I'd like to tell them that 'what if that child could do that, but died later because the parents were not able to feed him/her? Or that the child never achieved that potential because the parents were not able to provide for his/her education?'

Don't respond with the "it's God's will" reason. That's such an irresponsible answer, and reminds me of the lessons to be learned in the religious joke, the Big Flood.

God is there to guide and help us, but we must be responsible on our own. Nothing is forced in the RH bill, people will have the CHOICE for everything.

Finally, I would like to point that I could still respect the belief that they're against contraceptives that counters anything after fertilization. But the way they're talking, it's as if even barrier methods are abortificants to them.

[Batang Regla]

Para sa akin wala ako kakampihan dito. Wala na ba ibang pwede gawin ang mag-asawa at masyado focus sa intercourse.

Anti RH eh mali talaga. Wala na nga kwarta ang "pamilyang filipino" aadvisan pa ng magpakarami.

Mga Pro-RH naman mali din. Magsasayang kayo ng pera sa condom. Tapos encourage nyo pa painumin ng birth control pills. Sa mga epidemiological studies malaki chance magka-cancer mga babae sa birth control pills. Pigilin nyo ba naman ang regla!

Ang dapat i-encourage ng government sa pamilyang filipino eh healthy lifestyle: Kumain ng tama at mag-gym.

Dapat magkaroon ng marami gym sa pinas. Kahit bakal gym para afford ng mga masang pinoy.

Pag pagod ka na magbuhat ng barbell tingnan ko lang kung makapag-intercourse ka pa.

[ghosthunter]

Para sa akin wala ako kakampihan dito. Wala na ba ibang pwede gawin ang mag-asawa at masyado focus sa intercourse.

Anti RH eh mali talaga. Wala na nga kwarta ang "pamilyang filipino" aadvisan pa ng magpakarami.

Mga Pro-RH naman mali din. Magsasayang kayo ng pera sa condom. Tapos encourage nyo pa painumin ng birth control pills. Sa mga epidemiological studies malaki chance magka-cancer mga babae sa birth control pills. Pigilin nyo ba naman ang regla!

Ang dapat i-encourage ng government sa pamilyang filipino eh healthy lifestyle: Kumain ng tama at mag-gym.

Dapat magkaroon ng marami gym sa pinas. Kahit bakal gym para afford ng mga masang pinoy.

Pag pagod ka na magbuhat ng barbell tingnan ko lang kung makapag-intercourse ka pa.

If you have the money to go to a gym, then the RH Bill is not targeted at you.

[birdpoop]

Peeps, the latest version of the complete bill, with all voluntary amendments

http://www.likhaan.org/content/15th-...h-bill-hb-4244

[foresterx]

Tapos encourage nyo pa painumin ng birth control pills. Sa mga epidemiological studies malaki chance magka-cancer mga babae sa birth control pills. Pigilin nyo ba naman ang regla!

bro fyi lang, dami na lumabas na pills ngayon na safe sa babae and tuloy parin ang regla.

[Batang Regla]

Ang point ng post ko kung gagawa din ng lunas ang government sa paglobo ng population eh yung hindi involve ang intercourse.

Alam ko target ng bill na ito Class D and E.

Ang monthly fee sa mga bakal gym is 500 pesos. Mga hardcore gym ito. If you want daily ang bayad nasa 25-50 pesos ata.

Ang laki sasayangan pera ng government para lang sa condom and birth control pills.

Kung sports-minded ang mag-asawa eh mas ok. Mapapagod ka at gaganda pakiramdam mo ng hindi sa ibabaw ng kama.

Ang dapat gawin ng government eh Rehabilitate old and create more sports complex.

[CVT]

Matindi na ang balitaktakan sa issue na ito...

Kahapon, matindi ang sermon ng pari tungkol dito (may pangbe-bengga na ang nangyayari).....

13.1K:bike:

[oliver1013]

Bakit nag shoot up ang trending ni Bacani sa twitter re sa debate daw sa RH bill? may nakapanood ba? ano kaya pinagsasabi nito

[Monseratto]

Same argument that denying the egg-sperm contact is an abortion, that the church shouldn't force it's ideology on others...Interesting daw yung Bacani vs Celdran portion.

[Ry_Tower]

Matindi na ang balitaktakan sa issue na ito...

Kahapon, matindi ang sermon ng pari tungkol dito (may pangbe-bengga na ang nangyayari).....

13.1K:bike:

Oo nga, RH bill din seron dito sa amin yesterday. Ang matindi, nasama sa usapang bading. Sabi ba naman ng pari eh mas marami na daw magaganda sa Hell, pero at least sa heaven daw totoong babae ang mga andun! wapak. Buti lang nag-react sa mga tao.