Just Like Rabbits
It was just fortunate for me to be invited by Sunnyday (a friend) to attend a razzmatazz sponsored by Pro-Life Philippines in St. Peter’s Parish in Fairview, Quezon City on February 15, 2006. I went there hoping to be enlightened about the issues on abortion, instead what I saw was an exciting and complex play intended to confuse (dazzle) the public.
I was surprise that the whole shebang was not even a dialogue but a propaganda-like rants run by the Roman Catholic church to stop artificial birth control method and family planning. AY NAKU PO! Not again! There are even some foreign guess (I think from Canada) that talk about Philippine poverty must not be blame on population growth. Now here we have aliens from another land who now in a mere instance know what is best for the Filipino society. MY PAPAYA!
Fortunately I found some distributed literatures which I seem to think what this show is all about. The article seems to be a letter intended to be given to Philippine Congress and it is urging our respective Congressmen not to support some bills regarding:
- The Reproductive Health Bill
- Anti-Discrimination Act
- Integrated Population Management and Development Bill
- Divorce Bill
- Patients Rights Bill
- Anti-Terrorism Bill (?)
- Philippine Mining Act
And even the issue on Charter Change (?) wait a minute there…I thought this is about the life of a child, why are we dancing the cha-cha in here?
Now since this is a “Pro-Life” issue, I will just tackle the issue concerning Pro-Life. I’ll leave the issue about the Anti-Terrorism and Philippine Mining Act in a more “political” atmosphere.
According to this article they claim that the cause of poverty is not over population and the solution is not the use of contraceptives. Guess again? Well for your information, over-population is one of the causes of poverty and these entertainers are just keeping a close eye on the issue. Well some may set China as an example to justify over-population but let us examine the claim: We know that China is a very large country by territory compares to the itsy-bitsy group of islands called the Philippines so what’s the problem? Even with a billion population, China can still manage their resources and their per capital income, compare to the Philippines. But why go to China if we can talk about reality in our own backyard.
Now the clamors in the issue about the Reproductive Health Bill are not even realistic. Maybe if we’re still living in the time of President Marcos, there is an issue, but today President Arroyo seems too hesitant to enforce the bill. Takot kasi si Ma’am sa simbahan. Now, do you know that the City of Manila doesn’t allow their health centers to distribute free condoms and pills? Mayor Atienza is too Pro-Church. The only two instances I know about government defying the Catholic Church were Senator Juan Flavier and the City of Davao. Maybe Mayor Duterte just has a lot of guts and is more concern with the welfare of the Davaoeños.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m anti-abortion but I’m not anti-contraceptives. In abortion, we are terminating life, but in contraceptive we are just preventing fertilization to occur. Now, if you say that is immoral, think about this, there are thousand sperm cells that leave a male body during coition. In that thousand sperm cells, only one is needed to fertilized the egg cell. Now do you consider it murder on what happened on the other unused sperm? It just doesn’t make sense, here the Roman Catholics are into the sacredness of the sperm cell yet they don’t care about the child. A little common sense can shed a light in this matter. Now just observe families around you and you’ll notice that most families that well…a little well off have only 2 to 3 children, yet most families that live in depress areas have a factory of children. Most family whose parents have some college education insist to have few children with an interval of birth between 3 to 5 years, whereas family who only have an educational attainment of grade school have children as much as a dozed whose birth intervals can be compared to a stairway - every year may birthday – WOAH!
And what happened with these children? Well maybe the staffs from Pro-Life Philippines should have a tour of Recto to Luneta at 1 to 4 AM and count the number of children sleeping in the streets, or sniffing rubber cement for dinner or breakfast. Now, I’m just thinking, these Catholic priests and their cahoots (like Pro-Life Philippines) preaches to their adherents that it is a blessing to have many children, but where are they when these children , without the proper guidance of their parents, are now living in the streets, doing petty jobs just to survive or even worst ending in crime? What is more moral, to save your so-called sacred sperm or to spare a life on misery because of tradition, superstition and ignorance?
Now on another issue, according to Pro-Life Philippines you mustn’t teach sex education to a 10 year old child. Hahaha! Now there is this speaker that says sex is God given and will just go on naturally. Maybe if you’re still living in 18th century Europe, this is applicable. Before you talk, you have to consider the kind of environment you are living in. Now in our place, I hear 5 to 6 years old children cuss each other “Putang Ina Mo! Puki ng Nanay Mong Madaldal tinahi ko!”, “Fuck You!” and wait….baka mapuno ko lang ng mga pangit na mura ang blog ko. Just walk along the streets of Santa Cruz to Divisoria and you’ll be surprise how pornographic DVD,VCD are being sold in the streets like fishballs. AHA! And their packages are just lying there for the children to see. Pictures of a 12 year old child without any underpants being molested by a full-grown, pot bellied jerk old enough to be her daddy. Now what is more disgusting is to see this colored VCD label being held by a 7 year old grade school pupil from a near by elementary school. Or how about this, porno magazine that can rival Larry Flynn’s Hustler Magazine disguised as tabloids littered the streets of Manila. They only worth 15.00 pesos cheap and can be bought by the average Filipino school children. And let us not forget how pornography is now very easily downloaded from the internet and those novelties, double-meaning songs and some raps music being played by the radio. – Like this song about a lady’s rump. Last and not the least, TV shows like Pinoy Big Brother that suggestively displays men “beating their meat”.
So by not teaching your child about sex education, a crueler teacher just outside the gates of your house awaits.
Next I will talk about the 2 child policy.
That’s it for now,
Paalam
Pinoy Atheist
Hi John,
I was waiting for these comments talaga, gusto ko kasing marinig ang feedback ng mga naka-attend ng activites ng prolife, phils. thanks for posting it.
some clarifications…
1. i was also under the impression that pro-life is mainly geared towards anti-abortion din. until of course, i realized later that it promotes “Life” – not just a a baby’s life. It’s a wholistic approach tungkol sa buhay… and of course it includes everything – hindi piece meal. It’s rather weird nga naman na ang aalagaan lang natin ay ang malaking daliri ng kamay natin at pababayaan ang ibang mga daliri. just my opinion though.
2. “…claim that the cause of poverty is not over population and the solution is not the use of contraceptives. Guess again? Well for your information, over-population is one of the causes of poverty…”
i’m not sure so papa-ponder ko lang itong point na ito… based dun sa isinulat mo, i think hindi naman kayo bangga ng idea. prolife says “overpopulation is not ‘the’ cause..” and you say “it’s ‘one’ of the causes…”
unless they say na “it’s not one of the causes of poverty” tingin ko hindi naman kayo nagkakabangga ng paniniwala. your ideas meet on the things that are unsaid or how it was said. unless i totally missed it?
3. contraception.
i used to say the same thing too john..wala namang nama-murder pag hindi nabubuo ang zygote. pero one thing that really convinced me to stop taking pills is this: it causes risks sa health ng babae. there are natural methods naman kasi (tamad lang mag a-wan-a-tu-a-tri ang nakararami kasi me mas madaling paraan kahit risky). na-discuss ba ito sa seminar?
4. “according to Pro-Life Philippines you mustn’t teach sex education to a 10 year old child”..
gulat ako dito, totoo ba ito? sa school medyo debatable talaga. pero kahit parents, are they saying na wag ituro sa kids?
Sarah,
Ifr Pro-Life is concern to life, hindi lang sana about life in the womb lang ang concern nila. Sana inaalala rin nila ang consequences of a family na sang katerba ang anak. Yan nga sinasabi ko na hindi realistic.
Sabi ko nga “a simple observation” lang ang kailangan. Tignan mo na lang ang nagyayari sa mga family sa mga depress areas na may factory ng bata, compare to a family with only 2 kids.
Kung anti-abortion lang ok na sana , pero yung clamour nila sa Family Planning parang di makatotohanan.
On the issue sa birth control, pwede naman ang lalaki ang mag pa visectomy eh. Visectomy is safe compare sa pills.
On the issue ng pag-tuturo ng sex sa 10 years old. Sa society ngayon, mauunahan ka ng sa labas. Better to teach them sex education kaysa ang street ang magturo sa kanila.
Good day! I can see that some clarifications are called for. Hopefully, matters will be understood more clearly after this.
1. Pro-Life Phils. is an organization which, on the whole, aims to promote and foster a culture of life, and that includes respect for life in all its stages. Much of our time and attention are taken up by efforts to protect the life of preborn babies because of their inability to speak for themselves. Clearly, they need others to defend their lives from attempts to deliberately kill them. This emphasis on the preborn can be gleaned from our logo ( see http://www.prolife.org.ph ). We believe that upholding the inherent dignity of human life also involves corollary issues of survival, security, sustainability and nurturance of human life. We carry out programs that address these concerns as well, most of them benefitting members of grassroots communities.
2. Concern for the family was expressed in the post and I can tell you that Pro-Life shares this concern. That is the reason for parenting seminars which tackle various matters, aimed at equipping mothers and fathers with what they need to carry out their duties in raising their families well. THe topic of sex education is taken up in these seminars because teaching one’s children about human sexuality is part of responsible parenting. Sex education is the primary responsibility of parents and not of schools. For one thing, a parent — if he lives his vocation well and to the best of his ability — knows his children best and thereby knows each child’s level of maturity, personality, character, which are crucial factors to consider when educating them in life, love, the affections. A teacher cannot know every student in a way that enables her to reach the student’s mind and heart, with all the said factors considered — and the teacher ought not to be expected to do so. Secondly, sex education is not merely a kind of mechanics course, which involves “how to’s” and “how to prevent accidents.” Sex education is really education of the affections, of which sex is an important but not the dominant part. The kind of sex education that the Philippine government has drawn up is far from the kind that goes deep into the heart of the matters of life, love and the affections.
Hence, part of Pro-Life’s services is the conduct of seminars and workshops to parents so as to give them the tools they need to educate their children well — not only in matters of human sexuality but in the other areas that are part of raising the family to be happy, healthy and responsible. Other seminars that we conduct are for school faculty, students, community workers, and those serving others through Family and Life ministries, and these delve on various subject matters.
Therefore, let me categorically correct the statement made in the post that reads: “according to Pro-Life Philippines you mustn’t teach sex education to a 10 year old child”.. On the contrary, there is a need for a person to learn the rudiments of human sexuality in order to know and understand himself, to realize his full potential as a human being, and to develop healthy relationships throughout his life. A 10-year-old girl, however, is to be educated in such matters in a different way compared to how sexuality will be explained to a 15-year-old boy. Every individual is unique, and we recognize this fact. The school system is not equipped for, and does not carry the responsibility of educating thousands of students in matters of life, love and the affections.
2. Family and responsible parenting. The concept of shared responsibility is one principle that guides Pro-Life’s programs and services. Whether yours is a 3- or 13 member family, each has a role to play. Shared responsibility needs to be taken seriously especially in relations between the husband and wife, and this includes their decision in the number of children they would like to have and which they are capable of having, the environment in which to raise the kids, the kind of schooling they will give their kids, the values that will be ingrained, what business options would be worth considering, how to generate capital for the business, and so forth. We emphasize that even in conjugal relations, shared responsibility is not to be forgotten. When one of the spouses makes use of contraceptives, is that a manifestation of shared responsibility? When one of them insists on consummating this marital act even when the other is clearly ill, is that shared responsibility? When parents are helped to understand that shared responsibility and commitment to their nuptial vows are possible and are given the means to carry these out, they learn what true responsible parenthood is about. And, they enhance their relationship as husband and wife as well. When whether you have “isang katerbang anak” (what is isang katerba anyway? is there an objective standard as regards the number of isang katerba?) or no anak at all, the thing that counts is that a aperson learns that his/her self-mastery, his/her willingess to think of the others and not just himself/herself, and his/her willingness to keep on learning about being an upright individual and a good parent are the things he/she needs to fulfill his role as a responsible part of the family.
An addition to this matter of shared responsibility, for this goes beyond the seminars we conduct. We at Pro-Life Phils. work to do our part in helping establish a just and humane society where life is respected and its dignity upheld. But the problems our society encounters are not for ours alone to face. That is why we partner with other individuals and organizations as we work to help those who need assistance, and we will always need others who are willing to help just as we do our best to act in concert with others guided by similar goals and dreams for our country. There is no one solution that will address all the problems that need solutions, and we know that. Hence, we simply do what we can, establish partnerships the best we can, and cheer others on in their endeavors to achieve a society where the dignity and sanctity of human life is recognized and protected. But Pro-Life does not and cannot offer all the solutions. Establishing a just and humane society is a shared responsibility.
3. Contraception. One need only learn how the Pill works to see why endorsing it to women while professing to care about the welfare of women is contradictory. One cannot promote the use of a gun or a knife while being ignorant of its ability to harm the person who uses it. Worse, one cannot promote these devices and know that it is potentially harmful (and sometimes deadly) yet still continue to recommend them to others. These days, we have such things as emergency contraception or the “morning-after pill” which is an abortifacient drug because it works by making the uterine wall hostile so that any fertilized egg would be unable to implant. Since life starts at fertilization and NOT at implantation (as established by science long ago), a fertilized egg that meets such a fate is the same as a human life being deliberately killed.
Be convinced that it’s not only the “morning-after pill” that works this way. Birth control pills cause changes in the feminine cycle but breakthrough ovulations do happen. In such cases, an already formed human life can be terminated at any stage before implantation. The sad thing is that mothers have lost children that they would have carried to term and given birth to without even knowing it.
All these are documented; even big organizations like the World Health Organization have come out publicly to admit the possible fatal consequences of using contraceptives (as have happened several times), be they pills or patches. For literature, you may email Pro-Life Phils. at life@prolife.org.ph or check out the website for materials that will shed more light on the matter.
These are just some of the things we work to have people know. Only when we know the truth can we truly make informed choices.
Life is precious. Let’s remember that.
Sincerely,
Diana Uichanco
Media relations officer, PRO-LIFE PHILIPPINES