Arrogance and presumptuousness

If the incoming administration is really sincere in reforming the government it should at least have a new look. This means an overall revamp of the Cabinet by appointing fresh faces with novel ideas in performing executive functions. It should not retain any of the past or present Cabinet members of the outgoing administration. To be sure it should not appoint as Cabinet members those who have already “been there and done that” even in the past administrations. The reason is simple: all of them have been part of the past and present corrupt governments which have stifled our economic growth and thus failed to solve our poverty problem. The only officials it should retain are the non-political career executives in the lower echelon of the bureaucracy who are the real workhorses in every administration.

Right now there are Cabinet members of the outgoing administration who want to retain and cling to their positions by catching the attention of the incoming president. Instead of simply clearing their desk and preparing a smooth turn-over of power, they are adopting measures and taking actions that should be the concern of the incoming officials who will take over their posts. They even have some drumbeaters in media who are airing so many glowing comments and citing their achievements so that they would be retained. The incoming administration should not retain or reappoint these cabinet officials; otherwise the promised change or reform would never happen.

The outgoing administration is indeed leaving not only a legacy of corruption and lack of transparency but also a legacy of “midnight moves”, from “midnight appointments”, to “midnight deals” and now these “midnight attempts” to catch the attention of the incoming administration by last minute actions which they believe will be appreciated so that they can hold on to power. These are precisely the actions of Esperanza Cabral of the Department of Health (DOH) and Mona Valisno of the Department of Education (DepEd). They are already implementing portions of the RH bill when said bill has not yet been enacted into law.

For several months now, Cabral has made available a whole range of artificial contraceptive pills and devices particularly the use of condoms under the guise of protecting the spread of HIV and AIDs. Statistics however show that condoms have long been available, openly marketed and used, yet cases of HIV and AIDs continue to grow in number and are now about to reach epidemic proportions. This is because condoms are not 100% “fail-safe” and do not completely prevent HIV–AIDs contamination. Since more and more people are using condoms out of an erroneous belief that they are safe against these deadly diseases, cases of HIV-AIDs will definitely increase as the average of failures also increases. Apparently, this misinformation or lack of complete information is the style of the RH bill backers funded by multi-national pharmaceutical companies which are raking in oodles of money from this contraceptive business, and by International Foundations out to impose population control in developing countries.

Valisno on the other hand is also introducing sex education in classrooms as provided by the RH bill which is even not a law yet. In doing so she is also using the same guise that makes the bill attractive and more acceptable to the people. Valisno is telling us that classroom discussions on sex education are not “about the sex act but about the science of reproduction, physical care and hygiene, correct values and the norms of interpersonal relations to avoid pre-marital sex and teenage pregnancies”. She is actually mouthing the bill’s alleged purpose of “educating our young people on issues that directly affect them and empower them to make informed choices and decisions”. These are the same reasons advanced in introducing sex education in the U.S.A. Yet statistics in that country show that since sex ed was introduced in their schools, pre-marital sex became more prevalent and teen age pregnancies have increased to alarming proportions prompting authorities in some States to legalize abortions in order to save the teenage mothers from shame and embarrassment and to insure better future for them.

Aside from being un-enacted yet, the provisions of RH bill being implemented by Valisno and Cabral are also contrary to the Constitution which protects the life of the mother equally with that of the life of the unborn from the moment of conception; and which recognizes the primary and natural rights of parents in the education of their children (Article II Section 12).

Cabral is making available the whole range of contraceptive pills and devices that necessarily include known and proven abortive products like Depoprovera, Norplant, RU 486, Intra Uterine Device (IUD) and “Morning after Pills”. Valisno on the other hand is using the schools to take over the primary and natural rights of parents in the sex education of their children without as much as getting their consent.

Indeed it is not farfetched to conclude that the RH bill advocates and lobbyists are using Cabral and Valisno in forcing Noynoy Aquino to categorically declare his support for the RH bill that has been repeatedly spurned by Congress over the years. In doing so they would tie Aquino’s hands and preempt him from reviewing and more deliberately re-studying this bill as President and no longer as a legislator from where he could have a more comprehensive view of its dire consequences and unconstitutionality.

The people obviously elected Noynoy Aquino because they are clamoring for a change. To really have that meaningful change, the arrogance and presumptuousness on the part of officials must be stamped out. These are good enough reasons for not retaining Cabral and Valisno in the Cabinet. If incoming President Noynoy Aquino is really bent on reforms in government, these Cabinet officials must be replaced. –Jose C. Sison (The Philippine Star)