RH Bill

When I moved to Kuwait, I thought I wouldn't find myself more interested about news and issues back home. But I was wrong. The more time I spend living outside of my home country, the more I felt intrigued about what's happening back there. That's probably what you'd call home sickness? But as I get myself indulged in one issue-to-another, comparisons started to arise. Kuwait vs Philippines. Two different countries with two different ideals and societal issues. A very interesting fact is that religion plays an important role in the legislations of Kuwait through the Sharia, more so like the Philippines in truth, even if it proudly describes itself as a secular democratic country. One important issue where the Catholic Church, the largest religious domination in the Philippines, plays a somewhat significant role (or insignificant to others) is the ongoing debate about the Reproductive Health Bill.

The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011 or simply termed as the RH Bill is geared towards universal access to information of birth control and maternal care, as well as certain issues regarding the use of contraceptives and abortion in the Philippines. This bill has been amended since its initial conception in 1995 to lower down the population boom of the country. In the status that I made in my personal Facebook page in support of this bill, I got some criticisms from my fellow faith-followers. But nonetheless, even though some don't seem to agree with my stand on this, I feel compelled to voice out my opinion since as a citizen of the Philippines, I have a right in my own way to participate in this so-called argument over who's right and who's not. Also, to set the matter straight - I'm a Catholic and a Pro-Life but I do know how to read and understand English so technically speaking, I didn't find anything in the amended bill that tells everyone that abortion is being legalized nor people are being encouraged to use contraceptives and that contraceptives can kill people. There are so-called studies that negates the use of contraceptives but with proper and guided information, programs about Family Planning in general not only focusing on contraceptive use can most like lower the unwanted booming population of the country. Seriously, the current statistics has it that the Philippines has already reached 92 Million + people. (92,337,852 population as of May 2010 according to NSO )  Like what my status says: "Information is true knowledge. There's a reason why we are created to be rational and logical human beings" Besides, as a Filipino even if I'm currently living abroad, I will still be affected with this issue in one way or another.

Image credit to ManilaKid

For the past months, when the RH Bill issue seemed to have mellowed down due to the ongoing Cyber Crime Law panic, I thought to myself that maybe its detractors would have a time to reread the amended proposed bill and pinpoint any other "misconstrued information" that needed to be polished for everybody else's clear understanding. But unfortunately, after reading an editorial from my own alumni, I felt utter disappointment. Granted that UST is a pontifical school that follows the lead of the CBCP, but adding more  inappropriate remarks against those who are plainly exercising their own freedom as a citizen of the country is way too unethical. Yes, those Professors of other Catholic institutions may want to voice out their side on this national issue, but calling them cowards and threatening its own faculty to resign from their posts if they so wish to follow suit as they call in a "series of bandwagon" somehow makes them look like tyrants. Are we back in the Spanish Colonial Era? What's the sense of the so called separation of Church and State?

"The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable." (Article II, Section 6 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution)

Moreover, as far as I can remember we are living in the 21st century and we have this Bill of Rights to safeguard every person's freedom of speech and expression. At this point in time, we are also freely able to make our own decision which we see best fit for ourselves. The role of the Government is not to dictate what  its citizen should do, act or say but only to give substantial and unbiased information for the benefit of its people. Only unless the Philippine Government is not a secular democratic society. Or maybe someone has forgotten to give out the memo that the Philippines is now going back to its once theocratic roots?

Quoting one sentence from The Varistarian's Editorial page "Every person is given the "freedom" to choose but that freedom is not absolute." Obviously, nothing in this world is truly absolute, except in scientific terms of course. That, is already a given thought, but the fact still exist that as a modern society we live in a world where democracy is highly regarded and people are encouraged to be open about their rights. If the CBCP and its followers would continue on with their angst over how the legislators would want to run the country, then we all might as well dump the current constitution and call for a charter change.