Our readers’ comments on RH bill

Next week is already the Sinulog Week for Cebu (how time flies, indeed) and I asked Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to be my special guest on our talk show “Straight from the Sky” so we did the taping in the new mayor’s office in Cebu City, which is now located at the ground floor of the executive building. During the term of then Mayor Tomas Osmeña, his office was at the top floor of this edifice and one can see the stark differences in the management style of the two Cebu City mayors.

When we started the interview, Mayor Rama gave me a pleasant surprise when he publicly declared that he was against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill. While the issue of the RH bill is being waged in Congress, some local government officials already intimated which side they are taking. In the case of former Cebu City mayor, now Rep. Tomas Osmeña, he never categorically stated that he was for or against the RH bill, but he clearly said that he would distribute condoms to the poor. So more or less, you have an idea of where his thoughts are on this issue.

In making that public declaration, Mayor Rama joins the ranks of Rep. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia and former Rep. Raul del Mar who were the pillars in this fight against the RH bill. I reckon that the case of Mayor Rama is akin to the case of Rep. Pabling Garcia, who comes from a large family. Mike Rama, too, comes from a large family and he said, “My parents would say that by God’s grace, we were able to raise a good family and obedient children and we all succeeded in life.”

With Cebu celebrating the fiesta of Señor Sto. Niño next week, the declaration of Mayor Rama is quite timely and a great boost to the pro-life movement which is hell-bent on stopping that evil called the RH bill which is being forced upon our unwary people all in the name of following what’s happening in Western countries which are now suffering a serious decline in their respective populations.

For the articles about the RH bill that we’ve written at the start of this new year, we have a lot of comments from our readers. Here are a couple of them:

From Dioscoro Vallejos (atty_vallejos @yahoo.com): “Population control says it all. The more people you have, the more power you wield. That is why foreign governments are pouring money into population control programs in the underdeveloped countries. The Philippines’ growing population is power into the future. That is really it. Even now, by necessity and not by discernment, our OFWs are opening paths to the conquering power of our population.

“England, Japan, China and the US need us. The more Filipinos we deploy to these countries, the more powerful the Philippines will become. Filipinos will be necessary in policy-making and maintaining concerns of these developed countries. So, it is plainly stupid to control our population when our burgeoning population is our sole asset well into the future. We Filipinos will conquer the world economy by necessity. We will be one of the biggest number of people running the world!

“So why control the rapid growth of our greatest asset? Can’t people see? The South Koreans, growing too many in their own country, have been deliberately deployed to the Philippines, for their growing population to survive. Filipinos are most welcome in most developed countries because of our education and affinity to the English language. Why support the RH bill? The reason against it is not moral. The RH bill is the instrument of the foreign governments to subjugate us, making us number less, so we won’t overrun them. This is the real reason.”

From elon.sison@gmail.com: “Yes, Bobit, Thank you for your column. As I told Senator Mechai of Thailand during a Senate hearing last year – our country is not poor! It is rich in both natural and human resources. We are not overpopulated! We are underdeveloped!! We need our children to be educated and become skilled so our vast natural resources can become more productive. According to Senator Mechai in reply to my comment, because their birth rate has been only .5 since 2005, they will welcome Filipinos to their country who will work there and pay taxes so they will be able to support their aging population. See what I mean?

“The RH bill is a misnomer. The lobbyists only want us to buy from pharmaceuticals abroad the contraceptive pills (also abortifacient really), which cannot be sold anymore in their own country. If we wish mothers and babies to be healthy, let us have more public lying-in clinics and skilled midwives and health centers with developmental pediatricians who can advise pregnant women to eat more malunggay and tulya so that their babies can be breastfed as long as possible and not bottle-fed. The RH bill should be called Maternal and Child Care and concern itself with mothers and children, not men who want safe sex with women!” Thanks guys for your very positive comments. –Bobit S. Avila (The Philippine Star)

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. Avila’s columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.