Reproductive Health bills to weaken Filipino family
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MANILA, Reproductive Health bills pending in the legislature would weaken the Filipino family, a former ambassador said.
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The Filipino families’ fidelity to the values of human life and their strong opposition to the anti-life Reproductive Health bills in Congress will weaken the family, society’s basic unit, said former ambassador to Vatican, Henrietta T. de Villa.
House Bill 812 or known as the Reproductive Health Care Act is now pending in Congress.
The bill is a combination of four measures establishing a reproductive health and population management policy. A highly contentious issue is the provision on artificial family planning methods for women and couples.
Citing studies abroad, pro-life groups warned that some of these methods would involve the use of pills and intrauterine devices.
The same groups also feared that even if the bills declared abortion as illegal, the mere inclusion of the term “reproductive health” would embrace abortion as had been supposedly agreed in a global conference years ago.
The bill is authored and sponsored by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman and supported by others legislators.
A census done in August 2007 showed there were 88.6 million Filipinos, with an annual population growth rate of 2.04 percent since 2000.
The country’s population is projected to reach 90 million this year, 102 million in 2015, and 110 million in 2020.
De Villa is the head of organizing committee of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) prayer rally/celebration dubbed “HUMANAE VITAE @ 40: BIYAYA NG BUHAY, BIYAYA NG PAMILYA” to be held on July 25 at the Parade Ground of the University of Santo Tomas at España, Manila.
The objectives of the event are to thank Pope Paul VI for his clarity and courage in proclaiming the inviolable truth on the responsible transmission of life within the family in his encyclical “Humanae Vitae”, and promote and protect the sacredness of family and life in the Philippines, in adherence to Humanae Vitae, said De Villa.
Pope Paul VI issued the Humanae Vitae, titled as the Encyclical on the Regulation of Birth, on July 25, 1968. It was controversial from the beginning because of its unwavering stand on the prohibition of the use of artificial contraception and its reiteration of the Church’s downright condemnation of abortion.
It is a controversy that goes on to this day in the Philippines where the Catholic Church in the country has staunchly been opposing proposed legislation on reproductive health that promotes the use of artificial contraception, De Villa added.
The prayer rally will gather lay people, religious, priests and bishops from more than 45 lay organizations, several Religious congregations and schools and dioceses especially those in the National Capital Region.
According to ECFL, archdioceses and dioceses all over the Philippines are holding similar prayer rallies on separate dates.
The archdioceses and dioceses which have earlier signed on to the event include Archdioceses of Manila, Lipa and San Fernando, Pampanga, dioceses of Antipolo, Kalookan, Cubao, Novaliches, Pasig, Malolos, Imus, San Pablo, Balanga, Tarlac and Legaspi.
The lay organizations include: CBCP Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas and its 45 affiliate national lay organizations (specifically Christ Family Mission Movement, Couples for Christ, Catholic Women’s League, Familia, Federation of Free Farmers, Focolare Movement, Knights of Columbus, Legion of Mary, Ligaya ng Panginoon Community, Marriage Encounter Enhancement & Team Services Foundation, Marriage Encounter Foundation), Alliance of the Two Hearts, Anawin Forum for Life, Bukas Palad Foundation, Catholic Nurses of the Philippines, El Shaddai, FLA Mindanao, Friends of Mary Mediatrix, Kilusang Kabataan Kay Kristo (San Pablo), Neo-Catechumenate, Prolife Philippines Foundation, Inc., SAFE, Salt & Light for Christ Community, and Teresiana Association.
Among the Church offices involved are the CBCP Office for Women, and the Archdiocese of Manila’s Lay Formation Center, Ministry for Family and Life and the John Paul II NFP Center.
Those attending the prayer rally will be converging from several parts of the metropolis among them Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City, Loreto Church and St. Anthony Church in Legarda, and Plaza Lawton.
The program of the day would be assembly praying of Holy Rosary at 2:00 – 2:30 p.m. animation by El Shaddai and ACM Catechists and welcome by Fr. Melvin Castro, ECFL Executive Secretary at 3:00 pm, Humanae Vitae and Life Testimonies by Wawel Mercado and Mila Mercado, Dr. Fidel and Rica Caligayahan and Joey and Tess Gabilanga at 3:30 pm, talk on “Humanae Vitae and the Reproductive Health Bills by Dr. Ligaya Acosta, Human Life International (HLI) Asia” at 3:55 p.m., talk on “US International Policies on Population Control and Intervention in the Philippines” by Dr. Brian Clowes, HLI at 4:12 – 4:22 p.m. and celebration of the Mass by CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo along with Manila Archbishop Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales and Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines.
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