Palace folds, seeks truce with Church

A Church official yesterday said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is accepting a ceasefire that he said Malacañang had sought on the exchange of threatening statements over the Reproductive Health bill issue but added that silence will not mean that the Church is “foregoing a strong position” on the controversial legislative proposal seeking active government promotion of artificial contraceptives.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life, said the CBCP is withdrawing from giving “unnecessary statements” until a formal dialog is finally held.

“We respect the request of Malacañang for a ceasefire to calm everybody… and as we wait for a face-to-face dialog with the bishops and the president,” Castro said.

The Palace, however, was in a state of flux over the supposed dialog on whether or not one was already held or if it is planning to hold one with Church leaders.

Palace officials were evidently ruffled after the CBCP said the other day that it is holding as an option the calling of civil disobedience against the Aquino administration in retaliating against Aquino’s statement while in a recent visit to the United State of his support of the use of contraceptives to control population growth.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also stressed the need to handle carefully the Reproductive Health bill issue to assure that every Filipino would benefit from the enactment of the bill into law.

”As far as I’m concerned, it’s better to handle every issue in a very prudent, cautious manner, so that we will arrive at a finish product, in the form of a law, that is wisely considered and well-deliberated,” Enrile told reporters. Though the bill has yet to reach the Senate, Enrile said there is nothing wrong in discussing the controversial measure if it will be done in a proper way. Enrile said he expects long and broad debate once the bill reaches the Senate.

Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda gave confusing statements over the supposed dialog between Aquino and the bishops initially telling reporters that a so-called “exploratory discussion” has been held with some representatives of the CBCP last Friday. He also mentioned that once the bigger dialog has been set, there is no certainty that the President will personally appear on that discussion and would just send an emissary instead given his tight schedule.

Later, Lacierda called a hastily arranged briefing to tell reporters that the meeting did not happen and Aquino only communicated with the bishops last Friday through text messages.

“I texted the President on that and he mentioned to me that there were some discussions. He did not go into the details but what he informed me was that there’s going to be a bigger meeting with the bishops and he has already informed the press and he’s going to designate his official representative to the dialog,” Lacierda said in his regular briefing.

Lacierda’s statements were later corrected by Aquino himself in a text message to one of the Palace reporters who sought clarification on the matter.

Aquino said there were no such meeting last Friday prompting Lacierda to come up with another briefing late in the afternoon in an attempt to take back his statement.

“Let me just explain, President Aquino will appoint an official representative to arrange the dialog with the bishops. Once it has been arranged, he himself will attend the dialog to speak with the bishops. He will listen to the proposals of the bishops and I guess he will also give his counter-proposal. But it is clear that his stand on responsible parenthood will not change,” Lacierda said the second time around.

He admitted that no such meeting took place last Friday contrary to his previous statement. He said the President even wondered where that information came and he claimed it was based on news accounts which he now said misquoted Aquino’s response to an ambush interview he granted last Saturday.

“I’m not privy to the text messages but at least he was able to communicate with some of the bishops. Who they are? I don’t know. But it is clear that there will be a representative to speak with the bishops to arrange the dialog. After the dialog has been set, the President himself will attend and talk to the bishops,” Lacierda tried to explain.

CBCP’s Castro said the “ceasefire” will be a good opportunity for both parties and the public as well to take time and carefully study the matter.

Castro said they are already preparing for a “bigger” dialog between the prelates and the Aquino administration.

Lacierda also called for “sobriety” amid the growing tension between the Church and the government after some church officials said “civil disobedience” remained a “moral option” for Catholics if the government pushed for the distribution of contraceptives to couples.

Enrile said: ”I’m not an expert so I have to educate myself by asking questions. What level of population do we want to attain? Do we want zero growth? If we want a growth in population, at what level? There is so much to talk about,” Enrile said. but assured that both the Senate and the House of Representative will have to agree on one thing that “once life begins, it must be protected.”

The Senate President is hoping that the threat of civil disobedience from the CBCP would not create chaos. ”You know, the temporal role is full of chaos. So, I do not know whether that will create chaos,” he said.

”Everybody can take a position. They can demonstrate peaceably. They can shout to high heavens if they want. They can curse if they want but that should not be personal,” Enrile added.

Sen. Franklin Drilon has said that the Catholic church is allegedly pressuring Aquino when it warned the President that it will stage civil disobedience if the government continues to push for the distribution of artificial contraceptives to couples who want to use them.

Lacierda, however, claimed the issue has been sensationalized. “Because the issue have been sensationalized too much already (to the extent) that there have been various comments going around which do not help in the discourse. Let’s have a dialog once and for all so we can finally achieve some clarity on the statements that are coming out from the camp of the Church and from the camp of the government.”

Lacierda also brushed off the reported appeal made by Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto on Aquino to emulate his mother, the late President Cory Aquino, who, they said, was a devout Catholic and always follows the teachings and principles of the Church.

“Well, that is his (Aniceto’s) opinion. The President obviously holds a different opinion with respect to responsible parenthood and that does not diminish his stature as a President.”

The Palace spokesman also indicated that Aquino would still consider the Reproductive Health Bills that are currently pending in both Houses of Congress.

“The RH Bill is going to be studied, to be reviewed. As far as the Palace is concerned, as far as the President is concerned, he has not seen it yet but he will read them. Again, on a separate track, the House and the Senate have their own versions of the RH Bill. So we will wait for the developments in the legislative mill,” Lacierda said. –Aytch S. de la Cruz, Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune