Titled “Pornography and Media,” this edition aims to inform students, their teachers and parents about the growing horrors brought about by pornography and how it has become a thriving industry for a short span of time. Abrera will be sharing his knowledge and views regarding the topic.

Abrera’s komiks strips “Pinoy Nga!” and “A. Lipin” were awarded National Book Awards for Cartoons in the years 1997 and 2000 respectively. He is also responsible for the PDI mascot Guyito the Carabao. Aside from these laurels, Abrera has also been a part of Subtle Attacks Against the Family Explained series of lectures last year.

The forum is scheduled on March 20, 2010, Saturday, from 8:30 am to 12:00 noon at the conference hall of Bahay Ugnayan, Good Shepherd Convent, 1043 Aurora Blvd., Quezon City. Registration fee of P 200.00 includes the participant’s kit, merienda, and certificate.

For reservations or more information, please contact us at 733-7027 or 734-9425 or 0919-2337783; or email us at life@prolife.org.ph.

In its firm resolve to help eradicate abortion from the face of the earth, Pro-Life designed this activity in grief for the souls of the aborted babies who never saw the splendor of God’s creation, who never felt the warmth of their mother’s embrace and whose voice were never even heard. The event would hopefully serve as an awakening to those who view abortion as a way out of pregnancy instead of a blessing of a new life. The increasing rate of abortion today has become a path towards moral decadence and devastating psycho-spiritual effects on the lives of the aborted women, the men involved, and the abortion providers.

With these thoughts, we are enjoining you to proclaim your pro-life stand. Let us all offer prayers in memory of the innocent aborted babies who neither had the voice or the choice to be born. Participate in Light a Candle for Life Ceremony on March 24 (eve of the Day of the Unborn) in front of the Monument for the Unborn in Plaza Miranda. The activity will start after the 6:00 pm Holy Mass at the Basilica of the Black Nazarene, Quiapo Church.

Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, Chair of the Episcopal commission on Family and Life, has issued a letter to dioceses all over the country to encourage their parishes to celebrate the Day of the Unborn on March 25 .

For more information, contact the Pro-life office at 733-7027, telefax 734-9425; 0919-2337783; or life@prolife.org.ph, www.prolife.org.ph

It is indeed worthy of our reflection,  that these youth who so dedicated their time, their talent, their whole lives to this significant event have actually given much of themselves to the youth of their generation who are, at this very moment, in danger of losing their lives in areas of conflict, in violent homes, in the hands of an abductor, in the very womb of a mother thinking of abortion.  It is the mission of Prolife to promote a culture of Life, as opposed to a culture of death and violence.  Thus, Prolife’s way of thanking these young people of MMGC Parish, is a firm resolve to continue its mission of spreading the Good News of life through its programs:  Education and Training, Lobbying and Advocacy, and Crisis Intervention Services, with a focus on the future youth – the bearers of Life! (Weena S. Meily)

In partnership with the Blessed Margaret of Castello Movement (BMCM) spearheaded by Bro. Gonzalo “Sonny” Goquiolay, the Foundation held its annual Pro-Life Healing Mass last February 18 at the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish (Sto. Doming Church) in Quezon City.

More than 100 participants afflicted with diseases and weaknesses of the mind, body and soul gathered inside the church to recite prayers and hear the Holy Mass concelebrated by parish priest Rev. Fr. George Moreno, OP and Fr. Efren Borromeo, SOLT of the Trinitas Healing Ministry.

Fr. Moreno from the Dominican Order of Preachers was once designated as chaplain priest in the University of Santo Tomas Hospital while Fr. Borromeo from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity has led a group of healers via Trinitas Healing Ministry.

After the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, Fr. Borromeo conducted the healing sessions for the participants had sicknesses ranging from recurrent back pains to terminal blood cancers.

Also, Pro-Life Program Officer Weena Meily gave a short talk on the alarming anti-life trends proliferating in today’s society as well as the vital steps pro-lifers need to take in order to heal and cure the contagious culture of death. To further emphasize her points of view, a 10-minute video presentation titled “Simula ng Buhay” was shown to the attendees of the pro-life affair.

The Pro-Life Healing Mass was part of the Foundation’s activities in celebrating the Pro-Life month this February with a theme “Buhay Mo, Mahal Ko.” (Katherine P. Trimocha)

Seeking faith in this premise, Pro-Life Philippines Foundation found it fitting to have the Archdiocesan Parish of the Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City as its venue to usher in the celebration of the Pro-Life Month this year.

At high noon, a Holy Mass was celebrated last February 7, the first Pro-Life Sunday of the year with the hosts of the opening, parish priests Rev. Fr. Edwin Mercado and Rev. Fr. Salvador Jose, officiating.

“We dedicate this month to advocating and promoting being pro-life which is very much important in our society today,” Fr. Mercado said. “That is why we opted to let Pro-Life hold their opening salvo here in the parish of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, the pro-life patroness.”

Read during the Holy Mass was Word and Life’s Sunday Euchalette’s prayer intentions dedicated to the pro-life advocacy.

After the Holy Communion, Pro-Life Executive Director Marita Wasan delivered her talk.

“We are reminded today of the gift of life that God has given us, as well as our responsibility to respect, take care and defend our own life and the life of all people. We give special attention to the unborn baby that   we forget is life itself, and that is why there is so much abortion today.”

Wasan also mentioned of the violence that our society is facing today. In addition, she invited everyone to support the Family and Life Programs of the parish and learn more on how to improve the love within family members.
“There is a need to promote a culture of life and to convince everyone to topple the evils in our society.”

Present during the Mass were Pro-Life Vice President Edgardo Sorreta and wife, Let, Pro-Life’s Board of Trustees Eric Manalang, Manny Amador and Baby Nebrida-Ballesty, Pro-Life’s Board of Advisers Dra. Myrna Zapanta, Minda Fuentes, and Dr. Primitivo Chua, and Ang Kapatiran’s Vice-Presidentiable Jun Chipeco. (Roxanne Joy D. Pesigan)

Lovely was scheduled to leave for Australia last December for surgery—beginning with her mouth, and on to the other defective parts of her body. It has taken almost a year since arrangements began for her to travel, with so many medical check-ups, searching for a hospital that will perform the surgeries, and a foster family that would host her and her mom for several months. All these were possible because of the services of Philippine Airlines Foundation. Lovely and her mom stayed in Welcome House, a crisis shelter for girls and women run by the Good Shepherd Sisters until they were able to leave for Sydney. The host family of Lovely in Australia kept us updated. Although the medical assessment was that Lovely could not be operated on till she reached 14 years old, when she would stop growing, so as not to have her undergo repeat surgeries as she was growing, she was given a lot of other medical attention and advices on how to develop her, feed her so she does not become malnourished, and how to avoid infections. Lovely and her mom returned to the Philippines (to Welcome House) last January, looking healthier and there was certainly a glow in her eyes.

Lovely is not the first child that PAL Foundation has helped to secure such services. Menchu Aguino Sarmiento, the Executive Director since 1999, has assisted dozens of children to have a second chance in life because of her persistence and generosity.

The PAL Foundation was established in 1992, in the aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo disaster. It received an annual grant of PhP1,000,000 from Philippine Airlines, which it used to give small cash grants for selected projects such as providing water pumps in one barrio in Quezon Province, for micro-finance, and community development.

The PAL Medical Travel and Cargo Grants program benefit charity patients and support medical mission teams. In the past, there had been a ceiling of P100,000 on the worth of tickets or cargo the Foundation could give to a surgical mission team. But the Board realized that the value of the surgeries for impoverished Filipinos in remote areas justified sponsoring entire surgical teams with discounts or free excess baggage for their equipment and supplies. The more complex individual patients are given grants to go to Manila or even abroad should they be so fortunate as to have been accepted for free care elsewhere. In corresponding with the other charities abroad which were giving free care to Filipino children, Menchu developed a network, so that the PAL Foundation has been facilitating the referral and acceptance of patients to Mending Kids International and certain Rotary International Gift of Life programs. She helps these foreign charities evaluate whether a child should go there with a parent or whether the child can just get care here.

But most of the PAL Medical Travel Grantees (especially the adults) go to Manila hospitals. It is hard to get Filipino families in Manila interested in hosting these indigents. Fortunately though, Welcome House in Paco and the Queen of Peace Transient Patient Home in Quezon City shelter the patients though they must still pay for their food and other needs. The number of charity patients of all ages varies in any given year. They are proud to say that they have assisted several conjoint twins (Siamese twins) undergo surgery in the US for separation.

The PAL Foundation has also been giving free cargo for relief goods. Donations run into millions during relief efforts for Typhoons Reming, Frank and Ondoy, as they transported literally tons of relief goods both within the Philippines and coming from abroad. Even during normal times, they give free transport for DSWD goods and even for the Office of Civil Defense when the Air Force C-130 is unavailable. The PAL Foundation is registered with the DSWD as a disaster response and crisis intervention welfare organization.

We, Good Shepherd Sisters assigned to Welcome House pray daily that Lovely and her mom will be able to travel soon so that she can receive the much-needed surgeries and have the chance to sing and dance and play like other children her age. God bless PAL Foundation for the hope they give to our people.

As part of the series of Pro-Life forums for the year 2010, this edition aims to inform students, their teachers and parents about the growing horrors brought about by pornography and how it has become a thriving industry for a short span of time. This forum further updates them on the evils rooted from the proliferation of pornography around the world.

Philippine Daily Inquirer’s editorial cartoonist and a strong advocate against violence in media, Mr. Jess Abrera will be sharing his knowledge and views regarding the topic as the forum’s facilitator. An open discussion will ensue for all the participants to give their opinions and ask queries vis-à-vis pornography.

The forum is scheduled on March 20, 2010, Saturday, from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon at the conference hall of Bahay Ugnayan, Good Shepherd Convent, 1043 Aurora Blvd., Quezon City. Registration fee of Php200.00 includes the participant’s kit, merienda, and certificate. Registration starts at 8:00 AM.

For reservations or more information, please call Ellen at 733-7027. You may also send us a telefax at 734-9425; a text through mobile # 0919-2337783; or an email at life@prolife.org.ph.

download: reservation form

The largest crowd in the six years of the march, among the participants of the walk which proceeded along the San Francisco waterfront were toddlers, grandparents and students from area high schools and from Stanford, UC-Berkeley, St. Thomas Aquinas College and Wyoming Catholic College.

Eight Catholic bishops and a reported 120 Catholic seminarians like Tom Martin, said it was a “great opportunity” for people to see seminarians joining with them in praying for life and also “taking a stand.”

Frank Lee of Asian Americans Pro-Life opened the rally with a prayer.

“Every life is precious and should be cherished,” he said. “We have a tough battle in front of us, but we shall overcome when we combine our efforts to make it a perfect whole!”

Lila Rose of Live Action was among the speakers at the event.

“The fact that we have allowed abortion in this great nation, the killing of the most defenseless and weak among us has resulted in the greatest human rights abuse I believe our nation has ever seen,” Rose commented. “It is up to us to stand, raise our voices, and protect the smallest.”

Another speaker, Abby Johnson, was a former Texas Planned Parenthood director who walked away from her job after assisting in abortion.

“If you are here, you are an activist,” Johnson told the crowd. “We can no longer just say the words but must put our words into action.”

The Walk for Life West Coast presented the St. Gianna Molla Award to David Bereit, the national campaign director of 40 Days for Life.

Dolores Meehan, the Walk’s co-founder, praised its participants.

“The tenacity of pro-lifers, showing up in their tens of thousands, despite a downpour, is a testimony to their commitment!” she commented.

The Walk was founded in 2005 to affirm the right to life from conception to natural death and to change hearts hurt by the violence of abortion.

Credits: Cited from an original article for the catholicnewsagency.com last 01/26/10

15th Congress we have to aim for a pro-life majority in Congress.  In the 14th congress pro-life congressmen were outnumbered (76 anti versus 165 pro-RH bill). Seventy- two out of the 76 pro-life Congressmen are on their third term.

An election, although it is a political exercise, also presents a moral choice for the voter as it becomes an opportunity to communicate, through the ballot, the values that one seeks to uphold.  Family and life issues will be decided in the precinct this May, and the Catechism on Family and Life for the 2010 Elections wants to ensure that the electorate is at least sufficiently aware of where the danger lies, and what the Church teaches about the dignity of the person, sexuality, and marriage.

The primary moral issue is the value of life: the beginning of life which is at conception and the cradle of life which is marriage.  Graft and corruption, the environment, poverty reduction, foreign debt – these issues become coherent only when the officials respect and protect human life because the human person is always at the center of development.

When a candidate declares that he or she vows never to steal, voters should ask if that candidate also promises not to kill.  Will that candidate respect and guarantee the safety of life from conception to natural death?  When a candidate declares a “green” platform to protect the natural environment, ask if that political agenda includes protecting the endangered human environment in the womb and guarding the marriage between a man and a woman which is the only kind of fertile environment where human life will grow.  When a candidate promises reforms in education, ask if these reforms will remove the poison of sex education in the classrooms that orient our youth against having children but not against having sex even outside of marriage.

The moral issue of family and life in 2010 comes down to support for the reproductive health bill.  As the Catechism on Family and Life explains, reproductive health promotes the pursuit of a “safe and satisfying sex life” without need for commitment or responsibility.  Without marriage, the natural and possible consequence of pregnancy becomes unwanted and the baby becomes not a blessing but a liability.  The entire idea attacks the foundation of society because it attacks marriage, family, and life.

The RH bill has been rehashed for the fourth time; it had not succeeded in the past three Congresses. In this Congress it reached the plenary sessions but was stalled by the lengthy interpellation.  Congress will come to a close in February, and in its last days the RH proponents are threatening to block the measures of other legislators unless the bill is taken up in the House.  We continue to uphold the value of the family and of life. We need to uphold that value when we go to the polls and elect our leaders. During this period of campaign, we need to tell our candidates that we value family and life, and that we want leaders who will protect and safeguard what we value.

Credits: Cited from an original article from the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life Media Bulletin Number 6 last 01/30/09

During the last three working days before the House adjourned for the campaign period, House Speaker Prospero Nograles cited that lack of quorum was the reason that the bill got jammed.

In an earlier report, Nograles instructed Majority Leader Arthur Defensor to “simplify the plenary debates to avoid personal divisive emotional matters.” In this regard, two panels of five members from each side were supposed to speak and comment on the different aspects of the bill. This was done to allegedly hasten the process instead of having a long list of lawmakers interpellating the sponsors of the said bill. However, since series of plenary debates did not suffice to be able to put it to a vote, reports indicated that the Catholic church believes that the turn of events was symbolic of the way the RH Bill was buried.

The reproductive health bill, now with 132 co-authors and 20 others who pledged support, seeks to step up the use of both artificial and natural means of family planning as one of the measures to curb the ballooning population, the rising maternal deaths and empower couples in deciding the size of family they want.