It’s not over for population bills in House

By Christian V. Esguerra, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:41:00 07/30/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Now that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has reiterated her preference for natural family planning in her State of the Nation Address (SONA), is it finally over for the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill at the House of Representatives?

No way, the leading proponents of the measure, mostly administration lawmakers, said Tuesday.

“It was not a statement of doom [but] only a statement of her preference,” said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of the bill that seeks to provide couples a choice of natural and artificial methods of contraception.

Part of the President’s remarks in her report to the nation on Monday was this: “Informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.”

She also said natural family planning was a key factor in the low population growth rate.

Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin expressed “respect” for Ms Arroyo’s position but said she would still push for the passage of the bill set to be calendared for second reading by the House committee on rules.

“That was her personal opinion,” Garin said. “But to me, informed choice means you present everything, both artificial and natural methods, and let couples decide.”

Battle in rules panel

Senior Deputy Minority Floor Leader Roilo Golez, who is on the side of those opposed to the measure, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said its fate depended on Speaker Prospero Nograles and Majority Leader Arthur Defensor.

“The battle will be in the rules committee, which decides when a bill is calendared for plenary debate,” Golez said.

In a press conference Tuesday, Nograles invited congressmen to submit in writing their proposed amendments to the RH bill.

“It will not be as bloody as you think,” he told reporters, referring to deliberations on the measure. “We will collate all [the proposed amendments] and try to find out what we can accept and cannot accept … We will get a consensus.”

An issue that does not sit well with the opposing camp is the use of taxpayers’ money to purchase contraceptives such as pills, injectibles and intrauterine devices.

Lagman said this had to be so because the measure was aimed at providing not only “information” on but also “access” to all family planning methods.

“Once couples have information and decide on using artificial methods, access should be available,” he said.

Categorical stance urged

Despite Ms Arroyo’s plug for natural family planning in her SONA, CBCP officials were less than enthused.

“[Her] statement heavily favors the Church’s program on natural family planning, which is a very good start. But a more categorical [stance] is expected by the bishops—for her not to promote the [RH] bill which, [as] a whole, is a failure in rich and developed countries,” said Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of San Fernando, Pampanga, who chairs the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life.

“It seemed she was more focused on accomplishments and projects for the improvement of the economy,” the archbishop said, adding:

“She said that by promoting natural planning and female education, the population has been curbed during her administration. This is the same conclusion of the New York Council on Planned Parenthood.”

According to Aniceto, the President should reject an RH program that promotes the use of artificial contraception because such a program has “wreaked havoc on the morality of families and youth in the West.”

Reiterating the CBCP stand, Aniceto urged the Arroyo administration to “translate population into human capital by providing more funds for programs on education, infrastructure and subsidy to farmers in all aspects of their agricultural needs.”

He also called for more support for poor overseas Filipino workers who, he said, “are the ones actually supporting the economy, not the rich.”

“In other words, her government must start an alternative development program that is in consonance with the dignity and moral values of the Filipino,” he said.

‘Good for her’

Archbishop Jesus Dosado of Ozamiz City reacted to Ms Arroyo’s statement of support for natural family planning with a tepid “Good for her.”

“What she should do should be according to the natural law,” Dosado said.

Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa City said Ms Arroyo should show her sincerity by explicitly opposing the Philippine Legislators Council for Population and Development, the umbrella group of lawmakers and private organizations lobbying for a national RH policy.

“Reproductive health bills really mean abortion,” Arguelles told the Church-run Radio Veritas.

Dosado, who had stirred controversy with a pastoral letter saying “pro-abortion” politicians would be denied holy communion, said those backing the RH bill in the House could suffer the same fate.

“I extend it to people legislatively for reproductive health,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on the phone.

“The bill hides many things. It doesn’t mandate abortion but there are things that are hidden in it that would lead eventually to abortion,” he said.

Dosado expressed concern over such provisions as mandatory sex education, widespread distribution of contraceptives, and the classification of contraceptives as essential medicines.

These and other provisions cloak the bill’s “anti-life” intentions, Dosado said.

“We have to be unambiguous with our wording. That is what we object [to in] the bill,” he said.

Not gov’t policy

In another phone interview, former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez said Ms Arroyo’s pitch for natural family planning should not dissuade lawmakers from seeing the RH bill through.

“It’s a personal commitment that she’s not imposing on the rest of the government,” Romualdez said, adding that proof of this was Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s declaration that she was holding to her stand that couples should be given a choice between natural and artificial contraception.

Said Cabral over dzMM: “Whatever was my personal opinion before the SONA, that remains until today.”

But she said she would continue to promote government programs on responsible parenthood pending the approval of RH legislation by the House and the Senate.

“The existing directives like promoting responsible parenthood and promoting natural family planning, we will follow. What we just want is that apart from the natural family planning, we should have promotion and information on other methods,” Cabral said.

These are “not mutually exclusive,” she said.

Romualdez said that in his opinion, “it’s OK for the President to hold an extreme belief as long as she does not impose it on others.”

He said lawmakers should view Ms Arroyo’s reiteration of her position as a message: “She knows there’s a need to manage the population. So lawmakers should look at the bill as a population management method that we need to pass. Rather than be discouraged, they should be encouraged [to pass it].”

Romualdez held the health portfolio during the abbreviated term of President Joseph Estrada. He drew up a program to curb population, including distribution of contraceptives to the poor, but it had no chance to take off with Estrada’s unseating in January 2001. With reports from Tonette Orejas in Pampanga; Kristine L. Alave in Manila

Couples in need of birth control information

By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 23:23:00 07/29/2008

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan, Philippines—Ricky Palaganas, 21, and his girlfriend, Renelyn Bateng-as, 20, have a seven-month old child and are about to get married.

Palaganas, a family driver, said they decided not to have another baby soon because of his small income but had no idea how to space their children.

Palaganas and Bateng-as are among the 16 percent of married couples in Pangasinan classified as having an "unmet need" for family planning.

"Unmet need" refers to a situation when spouses have reached the desired number of children and do not want to have more children or want to space their children but have no access to any method of family planning.

"We welcome the debates on the proposed reproductive health bill as cases like this and the couples' need to plan their families are surfacing," said provincial population officer Luz Muego.

While the Catholic Church rejected the bill, Muego said Church officials might not be aware that many local governments have been using part of their funds to buy contraceptives for their poor constituents.

She said that since 2005, local governments have been implementing the population program without support from the national government and without a clear policy to enforce it.

In July 2005, the Department of Health issued Administrative Order 158 asking local governments to provide family planning services and guaranteeing the availability of contraceptives in their areas.

The order was issued because the United States Agency for International Development stopped the supply of free family planning commodities, Muego said.

She said some local governments have been reluctant to implement the order because of shortage of funds.

But with the passage of the RH bill, she said the national government would have to finance the population program in the country.

Muego said she did not believe that the bill would open the floodgates to contraceptive use as feared by the Catholic Church.

But she said that "the poor will be more marginalized if the government will not provide them free contraceptives."

She said under the proposed bill, contraceptives would be considered under the category of "essential medicines and supplies," that would be included in the regular purchase of national and local hospitals and government health units.

Vicky Sotto, Mangaldan town population officer, said couples should space or limit the number of their children as multiple births put the health of women at risk.

She said couples undergoing marriage counseling in the town wanted to plan their families due to poverty.

"But I tell them that they should consider the woman's health. Every pregnancy and birth affects the woman's health and it could take two to three years for her to recover under normal conditions. How much more if the couple is poor and the woman has no access to proper nutrition?" she said.

Mangaldan has an ordinance allowing the town government to buy family planning commodities that are given free to indigent couples or sold to those who can afford them.

Ifugao drafts guidelines for reproductive health code

By Desiree Caluza
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 19:35:00 07/30/2008

BANAUE, Ifugao, Philippines—The home of the famed rice terraces has become the second province to carry out a reproductive health code that would give people a wider choice on family planning methods.

At a meeting of Cordillera's regional peace and order council here last week, Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat said the province was finalizing the rules and regulations to adopt the code.

Aurora is the first province to have a local reproductive health code.

Joyce Niwane, provincial social welfare officer, said Ifugao would promote artificial and natural family planning methods to support the code.

"We believe that the people's choice here is artificial family planning method so that is what we give them," she said.

With close to 181,500 residents, Ifugao ranks among the Cordillera provinces with the highest population records.

Apart from easing population here, Niwane said they want to lessen the cases of violence against women and children by enforcing the code.

"The implementing guidelines will cover concerns on economic and human rights, violence against women and children, development issues, labor issues, prostitution and even entertainment," she said.

She expressed alarm over the rising cases of adoption in the province. "Adoption is not bad, but why are we giving away our children?" she asked.

During the meeting, the council, made up of officials from government agencies in Cordillera, approved a resolution supporting a conference on women and children that will be held in Baguio City in November.

Aurora Quiray, regional director of the Commission on Population, said the conference aims to improve peace and order in the Cordillera by curbing crimes committed against women and children.

"Peace and order continue to be a main concern not only of the police but of the Cordillera as a whole. In most instances of conflicts, women and children are the ones greatly affected," she said.
Describing women and children as "most vulnerable," Quiray said several laws have been enacted to protect them.

But, she said, there is still a low level of awareness of the rights and responsibilities of women and children and the laws to protect them.

Baguilat said the conference is expected to identify ways to deal with issues involving violence against women, including rape.

"The reason we have low statistics on rape is that these cases are settled through ‘areglo’ (out-of-court settlement) as dictated by some cultural practices," he said.

Niwane said Ifugao has one of the highest number of cases of abuse against women and children because residents are coming out openly.

GMA proudly imposes misery to Filipinos in 2008 SONA

MEDIA STATEMENT
Benjamin de Leon, President
The Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc.,
former Executive Director of the Commission on Population and
former Presidential Assistant for Social Development,(UnderSecretary)
Office of Former President Fidel V. Ramos

GMA proudly imposes misery to Filipinos in 2008 SONA

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address is full of contradictions to say the least and an insult to the millions of poor and suffering Filipinos that she has repeatedly referred to in her speech. I find quite touching that President Arroyo said that she “spends time every day with the underprivileged and under represented who cannot get a grip on their lives in the daily, all-consuming struggle to make ends meet.” She said that she worries for the mothers who bear the burden of the families or the fathers who are out of work, the OFWs who are away from their families and the young graduates who want to find work.

President Arroyo talked about global problems that have an impact in the country today and in countries around the world. Despite the long lines of Filipinos queuing to buy a few kilo of cheaper rice, she said that “rice production since 2000 increased an average of 4.07% a year, twice the population growth rate.” And with this note, she spoke irresponsibly and inaccurately that the promotion of natural family planning and female education, have curbed population growth to 2.04% during her administration as against when artificial birth control was pushed. This is falsehood and no different from the lies and misleading statements that many religious and Catholic groups have continued to spread.

The President said that their “campaign spreads awareness of responsible parenthood regarding birth spacing.” And her concept of birth spacing in her own words is that “informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or to rally in the streets with this kind of statement and analogy. I am ashamed that the very government agency that should actively promote all methods of contraception in accordance with its mandate is now only advocating natural family planning. This is most unfair and even cruel as it deprives couples who want to use other methods of family planning. It is ironic that I served the same office as Executive Director many years ago. I am referring to the Commission on Population. Mrs. Arroyo also said towards the end of her speech that “where government can contribute nothing useful, stay away.” Therefore I say to POPCOM, please stay away from people unless you have the courage to really put their needs before your own. I strongly advise that you go back to the very mission and objectives of the Commission on Population; otherwise the population community and the very people you have committed to serve will surely lose their TRUST in you.

The true voices of the Filipinos are reflected in these scientific, accurate and truthful studies and surveys conducted by distinguished scientists, sociologists, demographers of our country whose credibility can not be questioned. Their work was done in pursuit of the truth and not to manipulate and create propaganda.

The Pulse Asia Survey shows that:

* 9 out of 10 Filipinos or 92 percent of the population consider family planning important
* 89 percent of Filipinos think that government should provide budgetary support for modern methods of family planning including modern contraceptives.

The National Statistics Office Family Planning Survey shows that:

* From 1996 to 2005, use of natural family planning methods have gone done from 1.0 to .04 percent while modern contraceptive use continue to rise from 18.5 to 26.2 during the same period.

The National Statistical Coordination Board last March 5, 2008 released a study which showed that “poverty has worsened in 2003-2006 from 30 percent to 33 percent. Defined in terms of families living in poverty, this percentage translates to 4.7 million families or some 27.6 million Filipinos, a 3.8 million increase from 2003.

Another dimension of poverty is the incidence of involuntary hunger. According to the Social Weather Station (SWS) Long term trends of self-reported involuntary hunger indicates an increasing prevalence of hunger among households from less than 10 per cent in July 1998 to 19 per cent in February 2007. What is disturbing is that according to this study, there are about 612,000 households or more than 3 million severely hungry Filipinos.

And so I ask our President to intelligently look at the realities before her and be the kind of leader that we expect her to be. You are the President of all faiths and not just of Catholics. Make intelligent decisions based on evidence and don’t derail the truth to suit or please the Catholic hierarchy. They are not the majority and they certainly can’t speak for the millions of Filipinos suffering daily. These priests have no business deciding for the lives of our women and young people.

In closing I say that we will support the Reproductive Health Bill and we will continue to fight for the rights of women and men to have access to accurate and safe family planning

NEWS ALERT: Critics of Catholic Ban on Contraceptives Get Pope's Attention

From: News from PLANetWIRE <PLANetNews@ccmc.org>
Subject: NEWS ALERT: Critics of Catholic Ban on Contraceptives Get Pope's Attention
To:
Date: Monday, July 28, 2008, 11:48 PM

ROME, July 26 – An unusual open letter to Pope Benedict asking him to lift the Church’s ban on contraception was so widely noticed yesterday that the Vatican felt compelled to respond.

The letter from more than 50 dissident Catholic groups was published July 25 as a half-page ad in Italy’s largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, on the 40^th anniversary of the “Humanae Vitae” encyclical in which Pope Paul VI established the ban.

The 1968 ban, the groups said in the ad, is still “a source of great conflict and division in the church” and “has had a catastrophic impact on the poor and powerless around the world, endangering women’s lives and leaving millions at risk of HIV.” It noted that as most Catholics use contraception and feel they are not sinning, the policy has been “an utter failure.”

In a sharp response, Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said the ad was “paid propaganda to promote the use of contraceptives.” Noting that the word “love” did not appear in the letter, he added, “It’s been 40 years, and the critics of Humanae Vitae still don’t get that it’s about love.”

Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice and organizer of the open letter, said he was “delighted” at the response. “Within hours of the ad appearing, we achieved our central objective of letting those who have continued with this fatally flawed policy know that Catholics the world over oppose the ban on contraception,” he said. The response “demonstrates that the church hierarchy is acutely aware that the ban on contraception has seriously harmed its relationship with Catholics in the pews.”

In a related development, the Times of London reported in its online editions on a survey of 1,500 Catholics in parishes across England and Wales that found half use contraceptives and more than half thought the ban should be revised. It was conducted by The Tablet, a weekly Catholic magazine.

Read more at www.PLANetWIRE.org.

Contact: Nicole Tidwell at 202.326.8710 or ntidwell@ccmc.org for more information.

ABU launches new award for HIV/AIDS programming

Region :Asia and the Pacific
Country :None
Topic :HIV/AIDS, Fellowships and Awards

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has launched a new award to honor outstanding reporting on HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region. Deadline: September 15.

The prize recognizes the efforts of broadcasters in creating programs of a high-standard that educate the public about HIV/AIDS. According to Francyne Harrigan, development projects manager at the ABU, the competition is an integral part of ABU's commitment to galvanizing media's power in Asia-Pacific to help reduce the AIDS epidemic.

The prize is open to all ABU member organizations. Entrants may submit up to two entries and the entries must have been first broadcast after September 2007. The Award recipient will win US$2,500 and will be flown to Bali, Indonesia to attend the gala award ceremony on November 24.

For more information, go to www.abu.org.my/abuprizeHIVAIDS.

Congress takes First Step to Restore UNFPA Funding

Congress Takes First Step to Restore UNFPA Funding

WASHINGTON, July 17 – Renewed U.S. funding for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, moved forward in both the House and Senate this week, winning approval from two committees essential to further progress.

The Senate Appropriations Committee today allocated $45 million for UNFPA, an increase of $11 million over last year’s appropriation. On Wednesday, the influential House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations approved $60 million for UNFPA after a closed-door battle.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), who sponsored the House measure, hailed the moves as “critical” for the agency’s family planning and reproductive health care programs in 140 countries. The bill, part of an overall $600 million spending measure for family planning and reproductive health care assistance programs worldwide, does not alter the existing Bush administration ban on use of the funds in China, restricting it use to specific programs with broad general support. The Senate bill mirrors the House bill in this regard.

These include providing contraceptives and safe motherhood medicine, equipment and supplies; treating obstetric fistula; and combating female genital cutting and child marriage.

The House funding, offered in a closed-door legislative markup session of the subcommittee, would ensure that UNFPA receives U.S. funds for non-China programs hereafter. The Bush administration last month withheld for the seventh straight year $40 million Congress previously appropriated for UNFPA, on grounds the agency is “complicit” in coerced abortions and sterilizations in China. UNFPA has repeatedly denied the charges and cited independent studies that found its work is “a force for good” in China.

“President Bush’s justification for withholding these funds does not hold water with his own State Department, let alone with the millions of women and children who need the vital care UNFPA provides,” said Lowey. “I will fight to protect these critical funds.”

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney added “The U.S. should be leading the way in providing health care to the world’s most impoverished women, children, and families. Years of backward Bush Administration polices have put us far short of this goal time and again, but the Democratic Congress is working hard to pass critical investments in reproductive health care for women in the world’s developing nations.”

Amy Coen, president of Population Action International, called the House vote “a major step forward,” noting that “the importance of investing in family planning programs has never been greater.”

CLICK HERE to read a press release from Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey.

CLICK HERE to read a statement from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

CLICK HERE to read a press release from Population Action International.

CLICK HERE to read a press release from Americans for UNFPA.

---

New Rules Would Threaten Right to Contraceptives

RESOURCES

Read author Cristina Page’s blog on the proposed HHS rules.

WASHINGTON, July 15 – Reproductive health advocates reacted with outrage today to a report in The New York Times that the Bush administration is proposing new rules that would discourage doctors and health-care clinics from providing birth control to women who need it. This proposed regulation deliberately confuses the definitions of contraception and abortion and could cause disarray in law, regulations, and policy.

The proposal would define “abortion” as "any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said she was “gravely concerned” that such language would “radically redefine abortion to include some of the most common and effective methods of birth control.”

Marilyn Keefe, Director of Reproductive Health Programs of the National Partnership for Women & Families, called the proposal “an ill-conceived political ploy designed to win favor from those determined to deny women basic health services.” She said it would “put politics ahead of women’s health” and “shows callous disregard for low-income women facing unplanned pregnancies.” She pointed out that 90 percent of women in America use birth control, and that the proposal to appeal to the remaining 10 percent would be “political pandering at its very worst.”

Mary Jane Gallagher, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, said the new rule would be “unprecedented” in “allowing individuals, institutions and programs receiving Health and Human Services funds to refuse to provide necessary health care services, including contraception.”

Recent research by the Women Donors Network has found that family planning opponents are only 9 percent of all likely voters, and that the rest overwhelmingly support policies and programs to expand access to safe and effective methods of birth control.

CLICK HERE to read a press statement from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

CLICK HERE to read a press statement from The National Partnership for Women & Families.

CLICK HERE to read a press statement from The Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

CLICK HERE to read a press statement from The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association.

CLICK HERE to read a press release from The National Women’s Law Center.

CLICK HERE to read a press release from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

CLICK HERE to read a press release from Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.

Exercise self-discipline in bed, archbishop tells couples

To these Bishops,

GET REAL!

And hello, contraception does not kill the unborn. How could that be when there's "nothing" to be born? Idiocy is deadly and they're spreading it under the guise of religion.

I hope the Filipinos have "wisen" up after all this time.



Exercise self-discipline in bed, archbishop tells couples

By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:01:00 07/26/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Amid the raging debate on artificial methods of birth control, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales’s advice to all married couples is to exercise more “self-discipline” and “self-control” in bed.

In his message to the Catholic flock at Friday’s prayer rally marking the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical on the Regulation of Birth or Humanae Vitae, Rosales said the lack of discipline in the marital bed rebounds on other aspects of life.
Because life should be valued and its creation is a serious matter, “there should be discipline and self-control” between couples, the prelate said in Filipino.

Couples who have the discipline to practice the Church-sanctioned natural family planning methods are “in possession of true values of life” and tend to pass it on to their children. They also tend to be good citizens, he said.

“If there is discipline in the marital bed, then there is discipline in the streets, there is discipline in schools, there is discipline in the government,” he added.

The Catholic community held a massive gathering at the University of Santo Tomas parade grounds on Friday to reaffirm their commitment to Humanae Vitae, which prohibits artificial contraceptives on grounds that they deliberately impeded life, and to denounce a proposal in the House of Representatives to create a national reproductive health policy.

The Catholic Church approves only of natural family planning methods, which entail close observation of a woman's temperature and discharges, to determine her fertile days. Couples who practice natural contraception methods avoid having sex when the woman is fertile.

In his message, the Manila archbishop said the Catholic Church will fight for the “defenseless” fetus.

According to Rosales, anyone who halts the life of an unborn child can be likened to Herod, the king who ordered the massacre of infants after Christ was born.

“Wherever this happens, in the clinics, health centers, or hospitals, ending the life of a child inside a mother’s womb is a repeat of Herod’s massacre of the innocents… and a Herod could be your neighbor,” he said.

Meanwhile, in opposition to the Catholic Church’s hard-line stance against contraceptives, an evangelical group on Saturday said it supported artificial birth control methods because of the “alarming growth of our population.”

While the Bible tells mankind to multiply, it also has specific instructions for humanity to care and protect all of creation, the board of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) said in a statement.

“About 5,800 babies are born daily.… One doesn’t have to be an economist to tally how much more food, water, shelter, medicine, and other resources will be needed for their support. At the [present] growth rate, there will be 100 million Filipinos by 2013,” the group said.

To ignore this problem is a “totally irresponsible” decision, the group said, given the high cost of living in the country.

“The present uncontrolled population growth over these many years has undeniably contributed to, and accelerated the poor getting poorer, and has led to thousands of abortions, unnecessary maternal deaths, thousands of abandoned children, increase of street dwellers, among other ills of society,” the PCEC said.

The PCEC position on population is the exact opposite of the Catholic Church’s stance.

According to Church officials, the idea of a burgeoning population is a myth used to scare the public into supporting artificial contraceptives.

PCEC stressed that it does not support abortion, a crime in the Philippines, because it is tantamount to murder and against the teachings of the Bible.

However, PCEC said it supports various birth control methods to prevent conception. Such action, the group said, is not a sin, because no life is harmed or created yet.

“Unborn babies, at whatever stage of pregnancy should be preserved and protected. Termination of this life is sinful and offensive to God,” PCEC said.

“But preventing pregnancy or conception is not abortion for no life has yet been conceived and there is nothing to be terminated,” it stressed.

As such, the PCEC said they support policies that “will help control the population growth.”

Instead of banning artificial, non-abortive birth control methods from public health centers, the PCEC said couples should be given comprehensive instructions on them, along with information on natural family methods.

PCEC said couples should be given a wide array of birth control methods and the right to decide what is best for them.

Not for CATHOLICS alone

Here's a very profound explanation that should enlighten a lot of people on what the SEPARATION of the CHURCH and the STATE actually means.

Commentary
Not for Catholics alone

Cebu Daily News
First Posted 12:56:00 07/25/2008

Our founding fathers, from different walks of life, were united by their opposition to “frailocracy,” which was why, as our first president was sworn into office, the altar at Malolos town was hidden behind a curtain. A hundred years later, Joseph Estrada would take his oath of office in the same church, but with the altar taking center stage.

When the bishops withdrew the Mandate of Heaven from Marcos, our development as secular nation basically came to an end. It’s no coincidence that after the EDSA People Power uprising in 1986, Catholic schools began to insist that an invocation should precede the national anthem. This would have been unthinkable from the time of our first revolution against Spain up to the New Society, but after the Miracle of EDSA, times changed.

Our flag has a triangle derived from the Masonic triangle and our national anthem enjoins us to love, and die, for native land, not God. This proclamation of a fundamental, secular identity, it seems, is intolerable to the clergy. So long as there was a residual memory of the birth of our nation and the ideas that brought that nation forth, the Catholic hierarchy had to submit.

The separation of Church and State, of course, does not mean that religion has no role in our democratic society. It only means that no religion can enjoy preferential treatment to the disadvantage of others. For example, membership in a particular church or sect can’t be a precondition for appointive or elected office. One’s faith is supposed to be neither aid nor hindrance to the exercise of citizenship. In some cases, the State has even relaxed its rules in order to satisfy the requirements of individual religious conscience, such as excusing Jehovah’s Witnesses from participating in flag ceremonies.

If our secular state treads carefully so as to ensure that religious freedom (and freedom of conscience) is respected, particularly in the case of religious practices by minorities, it is less careful about the religion practiced by the majority of Filipinos. This is what sets the question of the separation of Church and State with regard to the Catholic hierarchy apart. The faith and morals of Catholics happen to be the articles of faith of the majority – and we are a nation that subscribes to the principle that questions of policy and leadership are best solved by invoking majority rule.

Any serious Catholic is under the same obligation as any decent Filipino to defend his principles, to the death, if need be. To demand of Catholics that they restrict the application of their faith and morals to the confines of their homes and churches is essentially to ask them to commit apostasy. But it is fair and just to remind the hierarchy and the rest of the Catholic citizenry that our Republic does not exist for Catholics alone, and this means that their faith and morals cannot be made the exclusive basis for state policy. – Manuel Quezon III, Inquirer

Aide: Arroyo to highlight natural family planning in SONA

This is why we need to OUST GLORIA NOW!!!


Aide: Arroyo to highlight natural family planning in SONA

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 19:48:00 07/25/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Unmoved by calls to review her population policy, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will highlight her preference for natural family planning in her State of the Nation Address (SONA), a Palace official said Friday.

"She will restate her position, she is consistent in her policy," Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said at a news briefing in Malacañang.

A number of Cabinet officials, particularly Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, have urged the government to adopt what they describe as a more responsive population management policy, including the promotion of artificial birth control methods, rather than sticking to the natural family planning, the method the Catholic church is the only acceptable one, to curb the swelling population,

On Friday, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a US-based benefactor of population management programs that include artificial methods, criticized the Arroyo government for backing the church position on reproductive health.

Congress is deliberating on a reproductive health bill that would include the use of artificial birth control.

Remonde said while Arroyo is prepared to listen to all views on the issue, she is standing pat on her position, even if it is "difficult and unpopular."