Population Control Issues

[wolfram74]

blame someone else. a classic nuynoy move. well-trained

[RonnieR]

Philippines: right to family planning compromised
By Iris C. Gonzales | 0

The law took 13 years to pass and only three months for the Supreme Court to put on hold.

Welcome to the Philippines, where Congress approved a landmark Reproductive Health Law in December 2012, despite staunch opposition from the Catholic Church. The Act guarantees universal access to contraception, sexual education, and maternal care.

snipped

The Reproductive Health Law is considered landmark legislation because it would provide state subsidy for the acquisition of contraceptives to people living in poverty. In Philippine slums, where about four million people out of the country’s 94 million population live, the fertility rate is high. The total fertility rate for women in the poorest quintile was 5.2 percent, compared with 1.9 percent in the richest quintile, according to government statistics.

http://newint.org/blog/2013/04/10/ph...ve-health-law/

[whatuwan]

I took a look at churches recently and every homily the priests make have a reference against the RH bill. Blatant brainwashing in action.

[RonnieR]

Originally Posted by whatuwan

I took a look at churches recently and every homily the priests make have a reference against the RH bill. Blatant brainwashing in action.

One reason why some Catholics are leaving the Church.

[mwg12a]

Originally Posted by wolfram74

who said it's nuynoy's fault?? paranoid and defensive?

Someone is definitely known to use misleading information and is always motivated by their ulterior motive, that's why. Or should I just say "someone is already notorious on certain things" instead?

[mwg12a]

Originally Posted by RonnieR

One reason why some Catholics are leaving the Church.

That and I must add, alot of filipinos are easily swayed by a religion being introduced by foreigners. Religious belief is just one of most filipinos weaknesses if I may put it that way. Pinoys are always God fearing and since most of these newer religions that are being introduced to the country are basically based on the same bible the catholic church is using along with the strong belief in Jesus Christ, it is easy to convince alot of filipinos to do away with old traditions catholic church has been following for centuries. And then yes, more pinoys are well educated that they are seing through the grey lines when it comes to how Philippine Catholic church's influences on the politicians or politics as well as the people in general or as a whole.

[3cr]

In my opinion, as long as the CBCP does their preaching and brainwashing in a Church setting like during Mass for example then that's OK given that's within their power/right to do so and actually would prefer it that way if can't be avoided. What I don't agree with is when they move their preaching and brainwashing outside Church confines. I think they are out of bound already when they spill their religious beliefs and opinions outside the streets and through the media. That's simply wrong and things get/go bad especially given that the Laws the Gov't legislate and pass have to remain secular in nature in the first place as mandated in the Constitution. Kanya nga may separation of Church and State doctrine eh - both sides should honor the doctrine. That's why the Church should not really meddle and put undue influence in State affairs. Now if they really want to have the right to participate/meddle in State affairs/policies then bayad muna sila ng Taxes like the rest of the citizenry. And as long as they don't pay taxes, then they should keep doing their guiding and preaching sa sarili nilang bakuran, sa simbahan.

[NSX-R]

Something I learned in an economic development course is that a poor nation must provide jobs in order to rein in the birth rate. Logic goes that if job prospects improve, young couples will focus more on developing their careers than starting families. The problem with Western nations is that young people are too pre-occupied with their jobs, preferring to marry later and have fewer kids. Birth rates suffer and immigration becomes a necessity. The Philippines' birth rate will naturally decrease off the backs of a rising economy, assuming explosive job growth is experienced. We will have to expand the manufacturing industry and move upwards on the BPO value chain to start off.

[3cr]

Logic also states that if the population grows at a much faster rate (fertility rate) than what can be created and provided for in terms of well paying jobs to support the needs of its citizenry, something else has to be done in conjunction. Remember we also have to take into consideration the quality of our laborers visavis the working population. Job creation and training/educational programs, as well as the family planning program under RH are merely parts of the whole equation... parts of a working solution, not the only solution. Problem is all these things have cost implication to the Gov't and given the country/gov't has limited budget, it needs to live within its means and prioritize programs they think will bring the best bang for the buck so to speak in addressing those needs for the betterment of the lives of the people. So happens the Gov't sees RH as part of a working solution... not the main/only solution mind you... based on how successful such program has been in other countries (regardless of religion).

[3cr]

Wow Hanep naman ng pinaka basehan ng ating CBCP sa pagpili ng candidato... Tsk tsk tsk...

Catholic leaders ready voting guidelines: Pro-choice is anti-life. Vote for anti-RH candidates
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/5...-rh-candidates

MANILA - The Philippines' powerful Catholic Church is to ask Filipinos to vote candidates who support birth control out of office in the May elections, a Church official said Saturday.

The guidelines, to be read at Sunday masses across the country, are seen as an attack on President Benigno Aquino's allies who pushed for a controversial birth control law that was passed last year.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, vice president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said in a copy of the pastoral letter sent to Agence France-Presse: "Pro-choice is anti-life."

He added: "We advise you not to vote for the candidate if the candidate cannot declare a categorical and clear 'no' to divorce, abortion, euthanasia, total birth control and homosexual marriages or death issues."

The law requires state health centres to hand out free condoms and birth control pills and mandates that sex education be taught in schools.

However, the Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the law as it resolves at least six legal challenges filed by the church's allies.

The Philippines is to hold mid-term elections on May 13 for the House of Representatives, half the 24-seat Senate, and thousands of local government posts.

About 80 percent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholic, a legacy of Spanish colonial rule that ended in the late 1800s.

The Church remains one of the nation's most powerful institutions, helping ensure that the Philippines remains one of the few places on earth where both abortion as well as divorce remain illegal.

Reacting to the pastoral letter, Aquino spokesman Ricky Carandang told AFP: "We trust in the wisdom of the Filipino voter."

The document also urges Catholics to shun candidates who are "antagonistic to church teachings and practices", philanderers, drug dealers, and those who destroy the environment, buy votes or engage in terrorism.

Villegas, who heads an archdiocese in the vote-rich northern province of Pangasinan, however warned the church against outrightly endorsing its own candidates.

"When the Church endorses candidates in political elections she always ends up a loser," he said.

[absinthe_888]

Ok lang daw kung buwaya/etc. ang kandidato, basta Anti-RH

[3cr]

Yup ganuon na nga...

[3cr]

Quo vadis, RH Law?
By Elizabeth Angsioco
Manila Standard
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/...-vadis-rh-law/

After the euphoria on the bill’s passage, we all just wanted to move on. We wanted to give the law time for it to work. But we knew that the struggle is far from over and renewed threats against the reproductive health law continue..

Now, the possibility of losing the law even before it gets implemented exists. The threats come from several fronts BUT at the center of all these is the Catholic Church hierarchy. The biggest threats concern the Supreme Court and anti-RH candidates.

At the Supreme Court, the 11 petitions questioning the law’s constitutionality purportedly come from different groups and people. Check who the petitioners are and one finds the Imbongs; the Tatads; Alliance for the Family Foundation Phils., Inc.; Task Force for Family and Life Visayas, Inc.; Serve Life Cagayan de Oro City, Inc.; Catholic Xybrspace Apostolate of the Phils.; Philippine Alliance of XSeminarians, Inc.; and Pro-Life Phil. Foundation, Inc. These are known close allies of the Catholic hierarchy.

They all mouth the same objections—those coming from the Catholic hierarchy. Many of them were involved in Congress processes where they, and their allies, the anti-RH lawmakers were fiercely on the offensive with their arguments. For more than ten years they were heard and their objections answered, repeatedly and lengthily. Pro-RH legislators were joined by medical experts, academicians, scientists, economists, researchers, and international authorities in responding to their anti-RH arguments.

Even the Executive Department has been involved. On this issue, the Executive and Legislative branches were in agreement: the RH bill then, and the RH law now are NOT unconstitutional.

Outside Congress, the issues were thoroughly, albeit heatedly discussed in media, in communities, in homes. Even ordinary people weighed in on the bill.

And we must not forget the women. Women clamoring for access to information and services that will help them become healthy, better parents. Mothers wanting nothing but to give their children a shot at a better future. These are the women who gave us our lives and who will continue giving life to the next generations. Shouldn’t their voices be given paramount importance?

These anti-RH groups do not only ignore the women. They ignore what the Filipino people, and their Catholic brothers and sister, want. The big part of the lay Catholic population have repeatedly said that they do not agree with the church hierarchy’s views on RH.

Remember that surveys for ten years consistently said that eight out of 10 Filipinos on the average favored passing the RH bill, implementing a government-funded comprehensive family planning program, and integrating RH education in school curricula.

If we are truly a democracy, the people’s voice MUST matter. Even the Constitution is supposed to reflect the people’s desires. It is supposed be the voice of the people.

Sadly, the Catholic hierarchy and its allies do not care to listen. They want the Filipino people, even the government, ruled by them. We might as well formally become a theocracy.

The very same religious arguments answered by science, logic and reason are the assertions contained in the anti-RH law petitions now pending with the SC. Nothing is new. Their objections boil down to the bishops’ line that contraceptives equal abortion.

And look at what we have now.

The SC issued a Status Quo Ante Order delaying the law’s implementation for 120 days via a 10-5 vote. Recently, voting 10-4, the Court rejected the petition to lift the SQAO. These are quite alarming.

Should the Supreme Court side with the Catholic hierarchy, the RH law is gone. No matter if this is against the sovereign Filipino people’s will.

Besides the SC petitions, the Catholic hierarchy is also doing all it can to influence the coming elections’ results to their favor. The Team Patay, Team Buhay gimmick that originated in Negros Occidental, as well as the Batangas signature campaign where people sign a “promise” to vote for candidates chosen by Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, are really initiatives against the RH law.

Moreover, in exchange for the hierarchy’s support, anti-RH candidates are openly saying that they will move to repeal the law. At the House, many of them will be back. Others who “rested” because their terms ended are now trying to make a comeback. As far as the Senate goes, Sotto, Enrile, Revilla, and Estrada will still be there.

The bishops want to have the majority in Congress for the RH law to be repealed. If anti-RH candidates to the HOR and Senate like Gringo Honasan, Antonio Trillanes, Koko Pimentel, Migz Zubiri, Nancy Binay, Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito, Mitos Magsaysay, and those from Kapatiran Party manage to win, then the RH law is gone.

If people want to give the RH law a fair chance, then we must remain vigilant in protecting this law that we fought hard and long to get.

The Supreme Court must be told by us, the SOVEREIGN Filipino people in no uncertain terms that the RH law is what we want. The Justices should know that true justice must serve the people’s interests, not the bishops’.

And if we want to protect the RH law, we can also apply the very same Catholic Church strategy, where in voters should only choose from among the pro-RH candidates.

Let us vote for a better future, not for more bigotry.

[Nabartek]

Does "the Church" here refer to the CBCP? I know thyey are vocal but there are the "churches" that are not vocal pero block (flock? ) voting naman ang style

[ManilaBoy45]

Postted on Wrong Thread ...

[calaguyo]

Wala pa bang nagmomonitor sa Fabella hospital kung talagang may epekto ang RH Law?

[3cr]

Philippines' reproductive health law here - now what?
http://www.refworld.org/docid/514c5cda2.html

Disclaimer: This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

After a publicly contentious 14-year battle, legislators quietly signed the Philippines' first reproductive health law in late December. It was expected to take effect by the end of March, but on 21 March the Supreme Court halted its implementation, issuing a 120-day status quo ante to review court challenges.

"We were already expecting these petitions, but not the status quo ante which is equivalent to a TRO [temporary restraining order]," Edcel Lagman, a parliamentarian and one of the chief authors of the law, told IRIN, echoing activists' realization of just how difficult it will be to roll out reproductive health services.

On 8 March in the capital at the signing of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Reproductive Health Law (IRR-RH), 16-year-old Michelle Custodio said she had suffered two miscarriages in the last two years. If it were not for the free birth control pills she received from a local women's centre, she would "surely have gotten pregnant again" she said.

In Manila, the country's largest city with nearly two million residents, a local ordinance banning condoms, birth control pills and other forms of contraception was passed in 2000. Since then public health clinics have promoted only what is known as "natural" family planning, which calls for abstinence during a woman's peak days of fertility, and for avoiding any drugs or sterilization to prevent pregnancy.

"If I can enjoy this [reproductive health] service for free, then all women should be able to. Now that the RH [reproductive health] law has been passed, RH will be the right of every Filipino, especially those who are poor," Custodio said.

The promise of the hard-fought law is free access to reproductive health services - including contraception - for all, but the reality, Custodio and other activists fear, is that honouring that pledge will take more time than women - and their families - can afford.

Youth provision questioned

During recent public consultations convened by the Department of Health, RH advocates' sense of accomplishment was overshadowed by what they saw as the law's imperfections, and continued resistance to the law.

Youth leaders questioned a provision that requires minors to present written parental consent before receiving public RH services.

"What teen would ask their parents' permission to get RH services? That would be tantamount to admitting they are sexually active," said Alexis Sarza, founder of BALUTI, a local NGO that provides RH counselling and services to mostly abandoned street children. "These are the kids who are prostituted or are sexually active. What do we do then for them?" he asked.

But Junice Melgar, executive director of Likhaan Women's Health Care and a member of the IRR drafting committee composed of both governmental and non-governmental members, said access will be unhampered.

"The provision does not apply to RH information, which can be freely given [and applies] just to services in public healthcare clinics. Patients can be referred [by public healthcare officials] to private institutions and NGOs," said Melgar.

Other groups expressed concern that the search for discreet care will slow efforts to lower the country's teen pregnancy rate, which increased by 65 percent from 2000-2010, according to the government's most recent Family Health Survey. The survey attributed the increase to the lack of adolescent-friendly RH services and information.

Unmet contraceptive need

As early as 2009, local health experts predicted the country's Millennium Development Goal of lowering the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to 53-55 per 100,000 live births was unachievable.

With a reproductive law now in place - though stalled - Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona is more optimistic. "We should see an impact on MMR already by end of the year. By 2016, we are targeting that MMR will be lowered to 53 per 100,000," Ona told IRIN.

However, family planning funds are "meagre" and only a fraction of what is needed, said NGO director Melgar and IRR drafting committee member.

The DOH 2012 budget for family planning supplies was about US$13.4 million.

"If you compare it to the unmet need for contraception, we need a budget of $75 million to provide for the contraceptive needs of 10 million women," said Melgar, referring to a 2009 estimate from the US-based reproductive health centre, Guttmacher Institute, of the number of Filipinas who need contraception, but cannot get it.

Tangle of local laws

With the country's decentralization of governance, implementation of national laws is the responsibility of the village level under the supervision of autonomous local government units (LGU).

When the RH law had yet to be passed, LGUs - such as Manila - drafted their own local RH ordinances, which promoted only natural family planning.

While the new national RH law, when enacted, will repeal such local ordinances, women's groups are uncertain how long it will take to phase out restrictive, contradictory local laws.

"I think the first step is to go back to the communities and really educate the women about the RH law. They need to know what their rights are under this law," said Beth Angsioco, chairperson of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP).

One of those rights is to report any violations of the RH law which may be penalized by imprisonment of one to six months and a fine of up to $2,500.

Catholic Church

And, then there is the Catholic Church, which has long opposed the RH law - and continues to do so.

In Cebu, the second largest city after Manila, churchgoers are being asked to sign an anti-RH pledge as part of a campaign for the upcoming May local elections.

Lagman, the law's co-author, said he will file a petition for intervention so he may defend the law's constitutionality before the court.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on a dozen petitions filed by religious and faith-based groups questioning the law's constitutionality, arguing that it undermined the family as the fundamental social unit (as described in the constitution) and that public funds should not be used to buy contraceptives.

"I'm very firm that the RH Law is constitutional. We won this battle in both the senate and congress. The four-month wait is temporary. Advocates waited 14 years for this law to be passed. We will get through another four months," Lagman said.

Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on 18 June - several months too late for Pia Cayetano, a senator and sponsor of the law. "How many lives will be lost during this period? How many more mothers will die of birth complications? While we wait, it is the poor who will suffer," said Cayetano.

[RonnieR]

No Catholic vote.

94% of pro-RH bets winning
By Helen Flores, The Philippine Star
Posted at 05/17/2013 7:42 AM | Updated as of 05/17/2013 9:33 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The looming victory of local and national candidates who supported the Reproductive Health (RH) law only showed there is no Catholic vote, the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) said yesterday.

“The victory of the pro-RH candidates in the recently concluded elections is an affirmation that leaders of the Roman Catholic Church cannot dictate the results of the elections,” PLCPD executive director Rom Dongeto said.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/05...h-bets-winning