By: Anthony Perez, Pro-Life Philippines

True to their promise that their voice will never be silenced, the youth sector has come out and came in droves of hundreds, attending the resumption of Congress after its summer break.

Hundreds of young people from different organizations and parishes attended the opening day of Congress in order to show their support for Pro-Life solons, especially the 9YL or 9 Young Legislators.

Even more young people attended the RH Forum which was held simultaneously at St. Peter’s Church at nearby Commonwealth Avenue, with many of them proceeding to the Congress after the said event.

Youth Manifesto

Earlier that day, a press conference was held at the CBCP conference hall by representatives from the youth sector: present to give their respective group’s position papers on the RH bill were : Kiboy Sagrada (UP for Life), Raymond Ibarrientos (Singles for Christ – Youth for Christ), Eilleen Esteban (Youth Pinoy!), Lea Dasigan (Federation of Nat’l Youth Orgs), Allen Guballa (Columbian Squires), Peter Pardo (NCR Youth Ministry).

Later on, they would sign the historic Youth Manifesto, which enjoins all young people to embrace the culture of life and to reject the RH bill. In effect, they have also declared that they will not vote for anti-life legislators.

“The youth, in defense of our welfare, can and will invest our support in legislators who know how to genuinely invest in us. In solidarity, we declare our opposition to the RH Bill. This is our voice. This is our vote.”

“We are opposing the bill as young people because it is us who will be directly and severely affected by the RH bill, not the congressmen who push it” adds Eileen Esteban of Youth Pinoy!

“We are not only the hope of tomorrow,” says Lea Dasigan of FNYO, “we are also the hope of today.

These youth leaders, along with their groups, would  go to join more young people at the Congress later that day.

RH Forum

While the session in congress was going on, there was a forum on the RH bill held at St. Peter’s Church in Commonwealth Avenue. More than a hundred youth from the Singles for Christ and the Diocese of Novaliches attended the forum.

The Speakers were Atty. Marwil Llasos, OP, Anna Cosio, RN, and Dr. Rene Bullecer, MD, of Human Life International. They all spoke against the RH bill from the point of view of their expertise, Dr. Bullecer and Anna Cosio being medical professionals, and Atty. Llasos being an impeccable lawyer and an outstanding theologian as well.

Young Hearts, Tomorrow’s Heroes

Coming together in order to oppose the RH Bill and proposing concrete solutions, the youth leaders and their respective members deserve much of our respect and admiration. Young as they are, they have shown that they are indeed the worthy inheritors of the torch that is about to be passed on to them in the next few years.

They have all vowed to vote wisely and to vote Pro-Life. They have all vowed to preserve the culture of life. They have all shown their desire to eradicate poverty the right way and not just resort to shortcuts. There is fire in the collective gut of these young people, a fire which may have been long-extinguished inside our anti-life congressmen, who seem to be more into buying contraceptives instead of providing for the basic necessities of the poor like food, housing, and education. The likes of them should never be elected into office again.

Much of our future lies in what we do today, and if our young turn out to be citizens unworthy of her country’s proud heritage, then the blame lies solely on us who failed to raise them properly. Therefore we educate the young not only to oppose the RH bill, but to embrace the culture of life.

Patriotism used to exclusively mean dying for the country. Nowadays, to live one’s life defending life and protecting the small, the helpless, and the weak – that is patriotism, too.

Philippine Daily Inquirer 8:11 pm | Monday, April 2nd, 2012

Heart Diño’s seat in the University Student Council was favored by a mere 17.02 percent of the student population of the University of the Philippines. Diño was voted into the council by 3,290 students out of roughly 19,300. Tell me, does Diño speak the voice of UP’s studentry? Ideally, yes. But in reality, no.

Diño was reported to have said that lawmakers “should not belittle the youth vote,” that “they should listen to what the youth are actually saying.” Listen to the youth? Or listen to you? I am part of the youth and I oppose the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. I believe that a lawmaker’s vote for the RH bill is a vote against the youth, against their welfare, against their future. And I speak for the youth who are against the RH bill and for the rest of my generation who do not know that it’s their future that’s at stake. On this matter, Diño does not speak my voice. By whose strong mandate can Diño speak the voice of the youth?

To pro-life legislators: stand your ground. The youth are with you. The youth know that in your opposition to the RH bill, you have our best interests in mind. There is no honor in instilling fear to get you to vote for the measure. There is no honor in ruining someone else’s credibility to advance one’s own. We from UP Diliman ought to know this. We remain ready to speak for and defend our position on its merits. And we will stand with and campaign for you on your merit as real representatives of the people advancing the youth’s welfare and best interests. There is no reason for you to fear.

I have great respect for Diño and JC Tejano as student leaders, as representatives of the youth. But may I remind them that they ought to hear my voice, too; that they ought to speak my voice, too. They may claim that I speak for a mere minority. Don’t they?

—KIBOY SAGRADO TABADA,

kstabada@gmail.com

http://opinion.inquirer.net/26101/dino-speaking-youth%E2%80%99s-voice