Noynoy not budging

As the debates heat up on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill that is threatening to split President Aquino and the Catholic Church, Aquino said yesterday he is standing firm on his position to provide Filipino couples “informed choices” in family planning.

“The State has an obligation to educate all of its citizens as to their choices. The State is not empowered by any law to dictate upon any couple as to how they should plan their family,” Aquino said at the sidelines of the nationwide distribution of Philhealth cards to indigent families held yesterday morning at the President Corazon C. Aquino High School in Baseco Compound, Port Area.

Aquino, nevertheless, said he had not seen the RH bill pending in the House of Representatives but added that “my stand has not changed.”

After a pro-RH bill rally last Friday in which condoms were distributed to pedestrians and to protest the detention of famed tourist guide Carlos Celdran and the Catholic Church’s stand against artificial contraception, hundreds of Church-backed pro-life rallyists trooped to Quiapo Church yesterday. The rally included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception. The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses.

Speaking to reporters at Quiapo Church, San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto called on Aquino to emulate the leadership of his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, on the issue of family and life issues.

“Our President should emulate his mother…. There is hope that the President will listen. His mother and the bishops were close. We say his mother was very saintly. She listened to the Church. I think he will give importance and value to that,” Aniceto said.

He added the country must learn to embrace the gift of life

and to defend it against the “culture of death.”

Aniceto chairs the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The prelate also said that it was not just Catholics who are opposing artificial contraceptives but also Muslims and evangelical Protestants.

Celdran was detained last Thursday after holding a protest inside the Manila Cathedral while an interfaith prayer service was going on. Celdran who was dressed as Filipino national hero Jose Rizal, was arrested after he started shouting inside the cathedral while holding up a placard with the word Damaso, the fictional priest in Jose Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere. He demanded that the Catholic Church stop meddling in government affairs, especially in its birth control programs.

A group of rallyists, yesterday, held a streamer bearing a sign of “Kontrasepsyon Bahagi ng Globalisasyon (contraception a part of globalization).”

Another group carry the sign “Pondo sa Kontrasepsyon Ilagay sa Edukasyon at Health Services (allocate the fund for education and health services instead of contraceptives).

Some priests, ministers, nuns and Black Nazarene devotees were scattered through the crowd, which organizers estimated at around 1,500 people.

This was the first time that a Church-backed rally has taken place under the Aquino administration, which organizers described as an “initial step” to air their opposition against a government plan to promote artificial birth control.

The demonstrators also expressed opposition against the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill which seeks to control the country’s growing population and the spread of HIV-AIDS through the promotion of contraceptives such as condoms and pills.

Aquino also said media may just blowing out of proportion an alleged clash with the CBCP.

He added that he had a dialog with a few bishops and it has been agreed that another meeting will be set with the church leaders on the issue.

“Giving choices to couples has always been my position during my campaign for the presidency,” he said. As to when the dialogue with the church leaders will be held, the President said the details are being worked out but he wants to have the dialog “with as many of them (bishops) as possible.”

The dialog, he added, is envisioned to arrive at a consensus with the church on what to do with the RH bill issue.

This is an inflammatory issue but as long as we clear the air and explain our positions, there is no reason why we can’t reach a consensus, Aquino said.

Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, a member of the Catholic Church, also came to the aid of Aquino saying the president’s stance on the use of contraceptives is just being misinterpreted by critics. Luistro said that Aquino is being misinterpreted by people.

Lusitro clarified though that it does not mean that such is the stance at the Department of Education and that they will take actions to support it.

“A lot of people have been pushing me to come out with a position DepEd is not a place for advocacy,” Luistro said, adding that it is just his personal opinion.

“I don’t think we should go against the majority of Filipinos think and feel. The mandate of DepEd is values based education,” Luistro said when asked if it will be taught in public schools.

It is not the first time that the DepEd encountered problems over sex issues. Earlier, former Education secretary Mona Valisno came head to head with the Church over the implementation of the sex education to students in elementary and high school.

This was the same issue that landed Luistro in hot water with reporters as he said that media is not helping the issue over sex education.

Luistro however sided with the Church in saying that the values and importance of sex should first be taught by the parents.

“It must be based on what the parents’ belief systems are,” he said.

He said that whatever the faith may be — Muslims, Catholic, Christians — it is not the duty of th agency to teach them on what choices on sex.

Meanwhile, more and more social networking sites have expressed disappointment over the church and their threats of excommunication with President Aquino, saying it goes beyond the boundary of free will.

Social networking sites were filled with comments about the Church acting as a bully or a spoiled child that when it does not get what it wants it throws itself it into a tantrum and mkes threats.

Some question the church for contradicting what they teach such as people having free will to choose as the Church is imposing to its people what to think say and do.

“We are all guided by our consciences. My position has not changed. The state’s duty is to educate our families as to their responsibilities and to respect their decisions if they are in conformity to our laws,” Aquino said.

Aquino’s position earned the fury of many anti-abortion advocates and many Christian and Muslim leaders. Jason Faustino, Daily Tribune