Reproductive Health

Monsignor Juanito Figura said if a law or state policy is against Christian teachings, the Catholics are not bound by conscience to obey. Is he advocating anarchy against his elected government? A government that is responsible to all people, not only Catholics. A Bishop said “civil disobedience remained an option if the Aquino administration pushed…

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate’s first hearing into the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill yesterday settled nothing except that support and opposition to the measure are split down the middle.

MANILA, Philippines – Is the Philippines rushing to pass the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill just to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG)?

As P-Noy and the Catholic Bishops hold their dialogue on the RH bill, the violation of the principle of Church and State will surely be brought up anew. This is one of the mistaken notions persistently raised in this controversy simply because of ignorance as to its real meaning and intent; or because of the…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Senate will continue to hear important legislative measures including the Reproductive Health (RH) bill during its two-and-a-half week break that began on Thursday.

Manila (25 January 2010) – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) vowed to continue its services on Reproductive Health (RH) and Family Planning to all its union members and non-union members at the workplace .

So, what about reproductive health again? The RH issue may have receded from the front page and editorials recently, but for a great many people in this country, it is still very much a focus of utmost concern.

BAGUIO CITY—Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman declared full support for efforts to carry out population programs that have put her boss, President Benigno Aquino III, into trouble with leaders of the Catholic Church.

MANILA, Philippines — The city of Manila will not spend a single centavo on the distribution of contraceptives to poor families, Mayor Alfredo Lim said over the weekend in reaction to the simmering public debate on the reproductive health bill.

Today, the country commemorates the naval victories of the Spanish and Filipinos against the marauding Dutch armies that threatened our country with hegemony and eventually dislodging the Catholic religion with the latter’s predominant Protestant religious conquest in 1646. Caught by surprise and in near panic, the Spanish mobilized in haste two trading galleon ships and…

Lagi nating sinasabi ang katagang, “May malasakit” upang purihin ang isang taong kusang-loob na tumutulong sa kapwa taong nahihirapan sa buhay o di kaya’y sumasagip sa kapwa taong nasa bingit ng kapahamakan. “Walang kaluluwa!” ang ipinararatang natin pag tayo’y nasusuklam sa isang taon ay walang hunos-diling namiminsala o namamaslang ng kapwa.

HALF of the artificial family planning methods in the Reproductive Health Bill could be illegal, a lawmaker said Friday. Rep. Anthony Golez Jr. of the Lone District of Bacolod City noted that such figure would surface if it the state will decide to adopt the idea that life begins at fertilization, not at implantation.

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -— If there is one government agency that is feeling the impact of overpopulation, it is the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

A lawmaker on Friday urged for a multi-sectoral dialogue on the reproductive health (RH) bill to help settle the controversial issue.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) expressed support yesterday for the proper management of the population. “We are pro-management of the population,” PCCI committee chairman Samuel Lim said in a press conference.

A MEMBER of the minority bloc on Wednesday said that the proposed P400-million budget allocation for contraceptives in the proposed 2011 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) could be spent for the salaries of about 3,000 medical specialists. Rep. Mitos Magsaysay of Zambales said that in the order of priorities doctors “clearly come ahead…

So many legislators are outhustling each other in resurrecting their own versions of the oft-“aborted” RH bill because it is the center of media attraction. Obviously they are riding on the perceived presidential support and the rude behavior or other “noises” created by its ignorant and misinformed backers in the streets.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) has expressed support to President Aquino’s stand on family planning and responsible parenthood.

There is no substitute for mother’s milk. That is an age-old fact often emphasized by elders, the medical world and even by milk companies.

No ceasefire with Malacañang either The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Wednesday said that it had not issued a gag order to effect a ceasefire with Malacañang on the raging issues of artificial contraception and reproductive health, contrary to newspaper reports (none of them from The Manila Times).

NOT NEEDED: For the record, I am for personal and public health in general, for Reproductive Health in particular. But I am alarmed by the over-reaching scope of the proposed RH bill(s), and by the attempt to use the RH debate to cover up the mismanagement of our rich human and natural resources.

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 2) The Department of Health has set aside P400 million for the purchase of natural and artificial means of family planning, including two million condoms to be distributed next year, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said Wednesday.

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will make it a national policy to provide couples with an informed choice on family planning methods and triple the funding for population management, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said Tuesday.

Pro-life advocate sees doom, gloom over reproductive health bills MANILA, Philippines – Poor couples will only suffer if the reproductive health (RH) bills that have been filed in the House of Representatives are approved and enacted into law, a pro-life advocate said.

There is no doubt that the issue of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill has resurrected like the proverbial Phoenix. This was an issue even before the Arroyo presidency and because Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has openly declared his support for a population control program for the country, this has encouraged Congress to revive this…

Birth control advocates state their case plainly: • Responsible parenthood includes planning of family size and spacing of pregnancies. Planned family size and pregnancies enable parents to feed, rear and teach their children well.

IAM not an authority on Catholicism but I am a practicing Catholic. I may not know as much about my faith as a theologian or my priest but I do believe in the Apostles Creed, which, if I recall my religion classes correctly, is the profession if not summation of our faith, of what we…

A wide-ranging study of Americans’ sexual behavior, based on the largest nationally representative survey since 1992, has found that condom use is becoming the norm for sexually active teenagers.

An interesting – and, despite its serious content, amusing — duel has developed between Rigoberto Tiglao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas in the pages of the Inquirer. Initially, rather than either mentioning the other’s name, they were like two battleships exchanging salvos from either side of the horizon.

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…