ARCHBISHOP CRUZ SAID NOY NEEDS CRASH COURSE ON EXCOMMUNICATION
MANILA, APRIL 22, 2011 (MALAYA) BY GERARD NAVAL - CANON lawyer Archbishop emeritus Oscar Cruz (photo) yesterday expressed doubt President Aquino fully understands what being excommunicated by the Catholic Church means when he brought up the issue over the weekend in defense of reproductive health/responsible parenthood.
Cruz also said Aquino was never really under threat of excommunication for openly supporting the RH bill. He asked who wrote Aquino's speech containing the excommunication issue.
"It would be a difficult case if ever. Honestly, even I don't even know if it qualifies to be ground for excommunication. Although, what is clear is that it (RH bill) is not anti-abortion," he said.
Aquino said during the University of the Philippines graduation rites on Sunday that he is determined to have a responsible parenthood bill passed by Congress, "kahit pa ang sabi ng iba'y dapat i-excommunicate na ako."
The Church is strongly opposing the RH bill, now pending before the House plenary for passage on second reading, mainly because it allows the use of artificial contraceptives. The Church wants couples to adopt only the natural family planning method. Aquino is for allowing couples to decide on which between the artificial and natural method to use.
Excommunication is a Church penalty, under which the person concerned is being separated from the spiritual benefits enjoyed by members of the Church, including acceptance of the Holy Communion.
The Canon Law states that the only ground for an individual to be excommunicated is when he/she hurts the Pope or when he or she commits and/or is an accessory to the commission of abortion.
Cruz turned his attention to Aquino's speech writer, who he said should be the one responsible for the inclusion of the "excommunication" line in his speech.
"Who wrote that speech for him? Why say it in a graduation ceremony?" he said.
"I am sorry. I don't know if he realizes how he is being maneuvered by those behind him. I don't think he writes his speeches," he added.
Abigail Valte (photo), deputy presidential spokeswoman, said abortion is against the law and the President is against it.
She also said Aquino is supporting a more comprehensive information and education drive on responsible parenthood, including ensuring public access to family planning methods, but this does not include abortion.
Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma said Aquino is pushing his five-point stand which focuses on providing information to couples on both natural artificial family planning, ensuring equal access and availability of these methods, and letting couples decide on how they would manage their families, among others.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said responsible parenthood is a "sensible approach" to addressing poverty alleviation.
"Finding ways to curb our monstrous population growth rate, which has been a major part of our poverty problem, is one sensible approach in poverty alleviation. Advocating population management is not being anti-life. In fact, it is pro-country and pro-people," he said.
In the 14th Congress, Lacson filed Senate Bill 43 which encourages reproductive health and population management but rejects abortion.
He chided some sectors for claiming such legislation – which includes a systematic information campaign, support systems and incentives – is anti-life.
Lacson also maintained population management is urgent now as most poor Filipinos do not have enough food or access to basic services.
"There is not enough food on the table, many are homeless, the poor have almost zero opportunity to have access to education, health care and the most basic social services, which they can otherwise enjoy with an efficient but moral population management program," he said.
Lacson's Senate Bill 43 seeks to create a reproductive health and population management council to implement an integrated policy on reproductive health.
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago has filed Senate Bill 2378 or "An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development."
The bill provides that the state shall guarantee universal access to medically safe, legal, affordable, and quality reproductive health services, methods, devices, supplies, and relevant information on the matter. – With Jocelyn Montemayor
P-Noy too old to get married, says former Archbishop Oscar Cruz
Former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said President Noynoy Aquino, 51, may be too old to tie the knot, reports ABS-CBN News.
Cruz said "marriage is blending" for those 40 years old and above. "Two in one. Somebody who's (40 or older) cannot blend anymore," he told ANC's Headstart yesterday. He said statistics from church courts also showed that marriage isn't for those 20 years old and below. "Marriage is a continuity. It's a permanence and they easily change. It doesn't suit their age."
However, Cruz said there could be exceptions. He added that the statistics are different for those who tie the knot for the second time.
Asked if Aquino would be a better President if he were married, Cruz said, "That I don't know."
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Cruz's comments are "increasingly becoming personal, bizarre and unfair." ABS-CBN News quoted her: "While everyone recognizes Archbishop Cruz's credentials as a Canon lawyer, to the best of my knowledge, he is not a marriage counselor. Neither does he have a personal relationship with the President as to make a deductive conclusion regarding his personal life."
According to ABS-CBN News, Cruz handles the Catholic Church's court of marriage cases and court of appeals.
For more on this story, log on to ABS-CBN News. ...
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