Bishops to back protest actions vs. birth control

The country’s influential Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday warned that they would support protests against President Benigno Aquino 3rd if he pushed through with his plan to promote contraception. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that it was offended by President Aquino’s statement on Monday in which he said his government would provide artificial birth-control methods to the poor.

But the President will not change his position on contraceptives despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church over artificial birth control.

One of his spokesmen, Edwin Lacierda, also on Tuesday said that Mr. Aquino’s stand on the use of contraceptives in family planning was stated even during the campaign period for the presidency a few months ago.

“It [the President’s stand] is more [an issue] of responsible parenthood,” Lacierda pointed out.

“He [Mr. Aquino] believes that the parents should be the ones to decide on the size of their family, the manner and the method by which the [family] planning should be done,” he said.

Lacierda cried foul over accusation of the Catholic Church that the President was “selling out the Filipino soul” for the US dollar.

Father Melvin Castro of the CBCP linked a statement of Mr. Aquino on contraceptives to a $434-million Millennium Challenge Corp. compact grant to the Philippines.

Lacierda said that the President was willing to hold a dialogue with the Roman Catholic bishops over his position on family planning.

Castro of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life said that they are “saddened” by Mr. Aquino’s support for contraceptives.

He, however, added that it did not surprise them because then Senator Aquino was already veering toward support for artificial birth control during his campaign for the presidency.

On Monday, the President said that his government would provide contraceptives to poor couples who are requesting them despite opposition from the Catholic Church.

During a satellite television interview from the United States, Mr. Aquino noted that the number of children a couple had was a matter of personal choice.

“It is [bishops’] right to manifest their protest in any legal or moral way,” Castro said.

He added that many lay leaders who supported then Senator Aquino’s campaign for the presidency were “disappointed and hurt” by his statement.

Castro said that the church lay leaders were already meeting to plan their protests.

“They [the bishops] would morally support [protests] but they would not be there to march with the people on the streets,” he clarified.

The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, which counts more than 80 percent of the country’s population as followers, remains opposed to any promotion of artificial birth control.

The bachelor, 50-year-old President comes from a staunchly Catholic family, and his mother, late former President Corazon Aquino, was one of the church’s closest political allies.

Mr. Aquino won the recent May 10 elections by a landslide and took office on June 30, largely on an anti-corruption platform.

The bishops wield considerable influence in the Philippines, where they often lock horns with officials who promote contraceptives.

But a survey conducted by a research group in January found that as many as 68 percent of voters believed that the government should provide couples with all legal means of family planning.

The Philippines estimates its 2010 population at 94.01 million, up from 76.5 million in the 2000 census, making it the 12th most populous nation in the world.

In expressing “sadness” over the President’s apparent show of support for artificial birth control, Castro said that he was hoping that Mr. Aquino would not use the family-planning issue to divert people’s attention from controversies hounding his administration.

“There are more pressing issues that the government should prioritize,” he added, apparently referring to a recent hostage fiasco and the latest controversy about jueteng, an illegal numbers game, involving some of his allies.

Castro said that the government should provide long-term solutions to unemployment and address poverty in the country. –JOMAR CANLAS, CRIS G. ODRONIA AND AFP