• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 1
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
Critiques of the Reproductive Health Bill 5043
1)Population bogey: a scapegoat – Sonny Coloma,
 Business World 
2)Unhealthy reproductive bill – Atty. Augusto Bundang,
 Business World 
3)Reckless and irresponsible -- Atty. Jo Imbong,
CBCP 
4)No place for reproductive health bill in our law – Sen. Francisco Tatad,
 International  Right to Life Federation
5)It's Satan's Semen, Stupid - Minyong Ordoñez6)Crucial questions on the RH bill
 
 – Atty.
 
Jose Sison,
 Philippine Star 
7)No! to the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 -
 AdvocacyCenter 
8)Should You Support Reproductive Health Bill No. 5043? Take this Simple Test toFind Out – 
Couples for Christ Foundation For Family and Life
 9)What’s Wrong with the Reproductive Health Bill – Sen. Francisco Tatad10)Contraceptives harmful to women’s health – Dr. Bernardo Villegas11)Oversimplication of Economists – Dr. Bernardo Villegas12)Spending Billions for Birth Control Pills? – Fr. Cecilio Magsino13)Philippines Threatened By a 2-Child Policy – Genevieve Pollock,
 Zenit News Agency
 14)12 Reasons Why We Oppose HB5043 – 
 Alliance for the Family Foundation (ALFI)
15)Artificial Birth Control is Fascist – 
The Varsitarian
 16)The Filipino Front in the Culture War – Rosa Linda Valenzona17)The Smoldering Poker – Amelia H.C. Ylagan,
 Business World 
18)Misconceptions and Clarifications on Issues Related to Humanae Vitae and theReproductive "Health" Bill in Philippine Congress – Fr. Gregory D. Gaston, STD.
 Avenues
19)CEAP Statement (representing 1,256 Catholic schools including Ateneo, La Salle,UST, San Beda)20)Just Asking – Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz21)Statement on Reproductive Health Bill 5043 – Fr. Bienvenido Nebres,
 Ateneo
22)Falsehoods in the Lagman Bill – Emil Jurado,
Manila Standard 
23)What you can do to stop the Reproductive Health Act – 
 Alliance for the Family Foundation (ALFI)
Annex (separate sheet)1) Text of Reproductive Health Bill2) Church Teaching on Contraception and Abortion: John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,Archbishop Angel LagdameoArchbishop Charles Chaput: Fighting Abortion is not a matter of religious opinion, but of defending babies’ human rights3) The Vindication of 
 
 Humanae
 
Vitae by
Mary Eberstadt, First Things August/September 2008 November 10, 20081
 
Population Bogey: a scapegoat
By Sonny Coloma in Business World, 3 October 2008.
Sonny Coloma was Head of  Presidential Management Staff (PMS) under Corazon Aquino and Deputy ExecutiveSecretary in the Office of the President (OP); Undersecretary, Department of Transportationand Communications (DOTC); and Undersecretary, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). He also served in the administration of President J. Estrada as DOTC Undersecretary. Hewrites a weekly column, “Vector”, for Business World, the Philippines’ leading businessdaily newspaper.
In the fifties and up to the time martial rule was imposed by a dictatorial President, thecommunist bogey was the favorite justification for witch-hunting against advocates of  progressive thought who were accused of "destabilizing" the government and "threateningour democratic way of life." Today, the communist bogey has been replaced by a newscapegoat: the population bogey.House Bill 5043, otherwise known as the Population and Reproductive Health Bill, is now being debated. Even if the bill has not been passed it has been reported that about P 2 billionhas been appropriated to fund the purchase and provision of contraceptives that will bedistributed in health centers nationwide.I first became aware of the population bogey when, as a freshman in UP, I read the winning piece for the
 Philippine Collegian
editorship written by Antonio Tagamolila. (Governmentsoldiers in the coutnryside killed Tony Tagamolila in the early seventies, not long after hisstint as
Collegian
editor.) His lead sentence was quite memorable: “The ghost of the ParsonMalthus once more stalks the land.”Thomas Malthus was a Protestant minister who warned about the potentially catastrophicconsequences of “geometric” (or “exponential”) population growth far outstripping“arithmetic” growth in food production. This view found resonance in the Club of Rome’sexposition on the
 Limits to Growth
in the mid-seventies.But such gloom-and-doom scenarios have not materialized. Advances in technology havegreatly enhanced human productivity. The market economy has created such an abundanceof wealth that, even if not equitably distributed, has forestalled the dire predictions on thesupposed detrimental effects of the law of diminishing marginal returns.Poverty cannot be totally blamed on the poor themselves: it is more clearly the outcome of human greed and bad governance. In the
 Real Wealth of Nations
, Riane Eisler points out thatit is dominator economic systems that “artificially create and perpetuate scarcity – and withthis, pain and fear.” Such systems have spawned “heavy investment in armaments, lack of investment in meeting human needs, ruthless exploitation of nature, and waste of natural andhuman resources from wars and other forms of violence.”2
 
In our country, the Catholic Church has often been blamed by politicians for the continuinghigh population growth rate. I recall that during the Ramos regime, Cardinal Sin mobilized ahuge rally in Luneta to counteract the high-profile birth control program of the Department of Health that was then headed by flamboyant Secretary (later Senator) Juan Flavier.During my two stints in government, I have realized why every secretary of health is boundto support the use of contraceptives in population control programs. Almost the entire DOH budget (up to 80%) is allocated for personnel salaries and administrative expenses. Onlyofficial development assistance from such sources as the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) makes it possible for the DOH to pursue meaningful pubic health programs.I am opposed to HB 5043 even if I favor planned parenthood through natural methods. Myopposition stems from the fact that, historically, the open tolerance of the use of contraceptives has produced more harmful effects than the good that its advocates havevowed to promote.A culture of contraception is, essentially, an anti-life –not a pro-choice—culture. It is alsoanti-family.Contrary to expectations, the percentage of out-of wedlock births has increased dramaticallysince oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, were approved for sale in 1960. In the US,out-of-wedlock births have increased from 6% to about 35%. In Europe, about half of thechildren in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are born to unmarried mothers.These figures give rise to the query: since birth control pills prevent pregnancy, shouldn’tthe out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates have gone down? Not so, because of the operation of thelaw of unintended consequences. Since contraception has become legitimate, then child- bearing can take place outside marriage. Hence, there has been a big increase in the out-of-wedlock pregnancies – and births – and of abortions as well. With few exceptions, abortionsalways happen outside of marriage.Another consequence of the onset of the culture of contraception is the spiral in the incidenceof divorce and a corresponding decline of marriage as an institution.Let the authors of the House Bill explain and justify to the people the rationale in terms of theforegoing challenges: the likely increase in unwanted pregnancies and criminal abortions,out-of-wedlock births, and the decline of marriage. Let them file a divorce law to completetheir menu for the new Filipino lifestyle.But let the silent majority of those who are opposed to abortion and the decline of the familyas an institution also speak up. (…) Not surprisingly, none of the presidential wannabees for 2010 has spoken in favor of HB5043, which still needs a Senate counterpart measure that is yet to be reported out anddebated on the floor.3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...