After its recent dialogues with the Malacañang on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged the public to denounce the controversial bill, which the bishops said is a form of "moral corruption."
In its pastoral letter entitled "Choosing Life, Rejecting the RH Bill," the CBCP said disregarding the moral implications of the RH Bill is a form of corruption that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III's government must fight.
"We are at a crossroads as a nation. Before us are several versions of a proposed bill, the Reproductive Health bill or santized as a Responsible Parenthood bill," said the letter released on Monday. "This proposed bill in all its versions calls us to make a moral choice: to choose life or to choose death."
"Our President rallied the country with the election cry, "Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap." As religious leaders, we believe that there is a greater form of corruption, namely, moral corruption, which is really the root of all corruption," the CBCP pastoral letter said.
The CBCP also clarified its position regarding both the RH Bill and the Responsible Parenthood (RP) bill presented by Malacañang.
Monsignor Juanito Figura said in a press briefing on Monday that the Responsible Parenthood Bill, prepared by the Palace and presented to them in recent dialogues, allegedly had anti-life elements and was different from their definition of responsible parenthood.
"We never said that we agreed to the RP Bill," Figura said, adding that they have yet to receive the draft of the RP Bill proposed by the Palace. "If the RP Bill is just a rehash of the RH Bill, then we will have the same opposition against it."
House deliberations on the RH bill
The CBCP released the pastoral letter on the same day the House Committee on Population and Family Relations unanimously approved a consolidated version of the measure on Monday.
The House plenary will thus finally deliberate on the much-debated bill in the coming months.
The measure, entitled “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development," was unanimously approved by the House panel in a meeting on Monday afternoon.
Biliran Rep. Rogelio Espina Jr., chairman of the House panel, said the consolidated bill gives Filipinos “the right to choose" between natural and artificial methods of contraception.
CBCP President Nereo Odchimar said he is not worried about the House panel's approval of the consolidated version of the RH bill.
"That is only on the committee level. The real battle is in the floor of the House," he said.
Bishop Broderick Pabillo added that President Aquino should not include the bill in his list of priority bills and instead focus on the country's other more important problems.
"Akala namin makikinig siya sa taong bayan, pero parang nakikinig siya sa mga pressure galing sa labas (We thought he would listen to the public, but it seems that he is listening more to pressures coming from outside)," Pabillo said, adding that he thinks the president's rating will drop if he insists on fast tracking either the RH or the RP Bill.
RH not a "Catholic issue"
In its pastoral letter, the CBCP emphasized that their call to denounce the RH Bill is not only for Catholics but for all Filipinos.
"Far from being simply a Catholic issue, the RH bill is a major attack on authentic human values and on Filipino cultural values regarding human life that all of us have cherished since time immemorial... the RH Bill does not respect the moral sense that is central to Filipino cultures," the letter read.
Echoing the Catholic Church's challege to Filipinos in EDSA I almost 25 years ago, the CBCP said people should pray, reason, decide, and act together so that the truth will prevail over the "many threats to human life and to our shared human and cultural values."
Contrary to claims by pro-RH groups, the RH Bill does not promote reproductive health, the CBCP said.
"It does not protect the health of the scared human life that is being formed or born. The very name 'contraceptive' already reveals the anti-life nature of the means that the RH Bill promotes," it said.
"Moreover, scientists have known for a long time that contraceptives may cause cancer. Contraceptives are hazardous to a woman's health," it added.
Transformation of attitudes
The CBCP called for a fundamental transformation of attitudes and behavior towards all human life especially the most defenseless, namely human life being conceived. It lauded some legislators for filing alternatives to the RH bill that “defend human life." “We call upon our legislators to consider the rh bill in the light of God-given dignity and work of human life and therefore to shelve it completely as contrary to our ideals and aspirations as a people," it said. On the other hand, it urged the government to effectively address the “real causes of poverty" such as corruption, lack of social and economic services, lack of access to education and the benefits of development, social inequities. “We call for the establishment of more hospitals and clinics in the rural areas, the deployment of more health personnel to provide more access to health services, the building of more schools, the provision for more aid to the poor for education, and the building of more and better infrastructure necessary for development," it said. Also, the CBCP urged lay people to “join the advocacy to defend and promote our commonly shared ideals and aspirations." Public funds for contraceptives The CBCP also objected to the “anti-life, anti-natal and contraceptive mentality" reflected in some proposed legislative bills. “We denounce the use of public funds for contraceptives and sterilization (and) condemn compulsory sex education that would effectively let parents abdicate their primary roles of educating their own children, especially in an area of life, sexuality, which is a sacred gift of God," the CBCP said. The CBCP also reiterated its position for responsible and natural regulation of birth through natural family planning, for which character building is necessary. It added choices related to the RH bill must involve a conscience that is not only informed but “most of all rightly guided to the teachings of one faith."
Dialogues with the government
In a press briefing, Odchimar said the CBCP is grateful that the government has given them the opportunity to express their views in their recent dialogues.
However, the dialogues only showed how different and far apart the respective positions are on the RH bill, Odchimar said.
Thus the CBCP released the pastoral letter to make their stand clear and not to foster "false hopes" among the people, particularly pro-life advocates.
Odchimar said the CBCP and the Palace have yet to decide whether it is futile to continue the dialogues.
"As of now, we're still open," he said. "We have to still make formal any disengagement from the dialogue."
On Monday, the CBCP held a closed door meeting with legislators on the bill. Odchimar said the legislators requested to meet with the bishops.
According to Odchimar, among the three senators and 33 congressmen who met with 70 bishops were Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senator Tito Sotto, Congresswoman Imelda Marcos and Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo.
He said Enrile, who put together the dialogue, expressed his view against the RH Bill.
"Practically all of them are pro-life and they are against the passage of the RH Bill," Odchimar said. Bishop Soc Villegas added that the dialogue with the legislators was about the value of life, and he said that the legislators themselves expressed their openness to respond to the CBCP's challenge.
Villegas added that the rejection of the RH bill does not depend only on Aquino or the legislators.
"It is the duty of every person who values human life to reject it, so as good Filipinos, it is our duty to reject everything that threatens human life and family," Villegas said.
"This is not a Catholic issue. This is a human, moral issue," Villegas said. "The RH Bill is anti-Filipino." – VVP
