PHNO-PNoy: NEW NOYNOY SLOGAN: 'KUNG WALANG ANAK, WALANG MAHIRAP'

NEW NOYNOY SLOGAN: 'KUNG WALANG ANAK, WALANG
MAHIRAP'

MANILA, AUGUST 5, 2012 (TRIBUNE) PALACE
SHRUGS OFF EDSA RALLY, SAYS RH BILL IN THE BAG!

Calling the government program seeking to distribute contraceptives for free
under the Reproductive Health (RH) bill a form of corruption, nuns and priests
led thousands of Catholics in a show of force yesterday at the Edsa Shrine, a
landmark that symbolized takeovers of past governments, ahead of an August 7
vote on the bill at the House of Representatives.

Leading the Catholic
Church charge was Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, a spiritual adviser of
the family of President Aquino, who made a pun on the Aquino administration's
"Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap" (No corruption, no poverty) slogan which
he said should not mean "kung walang anak, walang mahirap" (No baby, no
poverty).

Villegas, however, was not at the so-called prayer power rally
against the RH bill and his message was read by Henrietta de Villa, a pro-life
group leader.

Villegas said it is corruption that the government should
cure, not procreation. The police estimated the crowd at about
7,000.
Villegas was a staunch supporter and friend of Aquino's mother,
Corazon Aquino, from the time she became President after the Edsa People Power
Revolution.

Other bishops present during the rally against the RH bill
were Bishops Jose Oliveros of Malolos, Pablo David of San Fernando, Pampanga,
Gabriel Reyes of Antipolo, Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, and Leopoldo Tumulak of the
Military Ordinariate.
"Corruption is the cancer of the Philippines that
prevents us from growing. When President Aquino called us his boss, we cheered,
when he banned wang-wang (vehicle sirens) in the street and moral wang-wang in
the bureaucracy, we followed his vision but contraception is corruption. The use
of government and taxpayers' money to give out contraceptive pills is
corruption," Villegas said.

The Palace shrugged off the mass protest as
Presidential Legislative Liason Office (PLLO) Secretary Manuel Mamba said it
would not affect the vote for the RH bill on Tuesday since House members have
made up their mind on the bill.
Mamba said congressmen he had talked to were
convinced of the need to pass the RH bill and that it received "overwhelming
support" in the House.

On the Catholic Church allegation that the bill
was pro-abortion, Mamba said it was not contained in the bill and it was an
attempt to misinform the public.

"The claim that the bill is pro-abortion
is not true. Let us not misinform our people," he said, adding the government
had an obligation to give the people choices about the size of their
families.

Mamba also asked that the issue not be politicized, saying the
bill was not about politics but about the future of the country.
Villegas in
a statement sent to the anti-RH bill rally said the Aquino government should
focus on getting rid of corrupt government officials, not of unborn babies
through the promotion of artificial contraception.

"A culture of
contraception looks at babies as reasons for poverty. Birth control, they say,
means more food, more classrooms, more houses and better health for mothers. If
more babies are the cause of poverty, are we now saying, 'if there is no baby,
there's no poverty'?

"It doesn't rhyme because it is not correct. We can
have more classrooms, more food, more jobs if we would be less corrupt. Send out
the corrupt official, not the baby," he told the rallyists who were mostly the
youth, as if telling Aquino what to do.
Villegas vowed to join the fight
against the passage of the RH bill in Congress, saying the fight was more to
correct the misconception that the children were a mistake and not a
blessing.

"My dear youth, your birth is not a mistake, your birth was
God's gift to us your elders. You are not the problem, you are our blessing. The
problem is the corruption of your elders, your elders must change for your
future can be brighter," Villegas said.
"I am standing to defend you. We are
fighting the error because you might be misled. We are battling against
corruption because we know it can harm your soul, believe me, contraception
harms your soul," he added.

Villegas subtly reminded the government that
if the RH bill werepassed into law under the Aquino administration, his legacy
would be a "contraceptive generation, which will eventually give birth to an
abortion generation."

"If a contraceptive pill is to be considered an
essential medicine, what sickness is it curing? Is pregnancy a sickness? Why is
it that women get sick with cancer after taking the contraceptive pill? My dear
youth, contraception, makes healthy people sick," he added.

Villegas also
warned government economic advisers that population control would not make the
Philippines a tiger economy in Asia.

"We want to be a tiger economy in
Asia like our neighbors but what is a tiger without teeth? What is progress
without our laughing children? For whom do we envision progress? What is victory
at the expense of the mortal soul?" he asked.
Though he did not direct his
message to President Aquino, the prelate vowed to fight anyone who would push
for the passage of the RH bill.

"We shall fight contraception or we will
perish as a godly nation. Youth of the Philippines, because I love you, I will
fight contraception. This battle is for you and I fight for the love of you,"
Villegas added.

The protesters, mainly dressed in red, gathered to voice
out opposition to the planned legislation, which would also encourage families
to have only two children in an effort to reduce poverty.

The proposal,
which is expected to face a tough time getting through parliament, has angered
the influential Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines which has led
opposition and called Saturday's protest.

Dolly Cruz, a 61-year-old
pensioner, attacked the proposal as "contrary to the laws of God."

"God
gave humans the power of reason to decide what is right and what is wrong for
themselves," she said.

Aquino has strongly backed the law, saying in a
statement before the rally that in a situation where couples "are in no position
to make an informed judgement, the state has the responsibility to so
provide."

The Philippine annual birth rate has been steadily declining,
but the government points out that some of the poorest regions have the highest
birth rates.

The law would use a government health insurance fund to
provide birth control pills, condoms and other contraceptives for
free.

It would give the poor preferential access to family planning
services in state hospitals, while lessons on family planning and sex education
would become compulsory in schools and for couples applying for a marriage
licence.

The House, dominated by Aquino supporters, is expected to pass
the bill on Tuesday after failing to do so last year.
But the Senate,
parliament's upper house, must also pass the law and has come out strongly
against it.

Both abortion and divorce remain illegal in the predominantly
Catholic Philippines.

Organizers said the rally was intended to show
Congress that many Filipinos were against the consolidated reproductive health
bill, which has since been described as responsible parenthood
bill.

Eastern Police District Deputy Director Sr. Supt. Antonio Gumiran
described the rally as "peaceful and orderly" in mid-afternoon.

The
consolidated RH bill has become controversial, opposed by concerned citizens,
especially the pro-life, pro-family and pro-God groups, regardless of creed or
religion.

Pro-life groups, and many professionals in the medical and
nursing fields, believe physicians and policy makers should understand and
respect the beliefs of patients who consider human life to be present and
valuable from the moment of fertilization.

Patients should be made fully
aware of this information so that they can consent to or refuse the use of
artificial contraceptives, some said. With Jason Faustino



Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




PHILIPPINE
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