Bishop accuses pro-RH bill politicians of 'double talk'

A Catholic bishop accused politicians supporting the reproductive health (RH) bill of double talk and "scattering the flock" by pushing Filipinos to make a stand on limited and "highly opinionated" information. Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi said these politicians want Filipinos to make a stand on the issue based on "what they hear and watch from the news and what they can gather from highly opinionated information." "What confuses people all the more is how our political leaders engage in double talk on what the House Bill 4244 really is intended for and how they would like the people to see it," he said in a pastoral letter, whose text was posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. Earlier, the CBCP withdrew from talks on the RH bill arranged by President Benigno Aquino. Legaspi said that while the RH bill has good provisions such as building hospitals, maternal and children’s health care, rights of the poor and education, these are "packaged" with "bad provisions." He was referring to provisions that "will promote and legalize contraceptives as means for population control." Legaspi also said the bill aims to establish a mindset and a value-system that are secularist, materialistic, individualistic and hedonistic, "in the guise of development and modernity, but which in effect are hostile to human life, the family and religion." He said the bill abuses the meanings of “rights", “choice", “freedom" and “responsible parenthood" even as these trample on the religious and moral exercise of conscience. Legaspi said the Philippines does not need this bill as all its good provisions are already mandated in the Constitution and part of government programs. "These [existing policies and programs] simply need to be implemented through aggressive and sincere policy enforcement," he said. Also, he said public funds will be used to promote the RH bill's "contraceptive agenda" supposedly hidden behind the funding for construction of hospitals, maternal health programs, and the like. He also said the Philippines is a sovereign state, and the government should not yield to pressures coming from the treaty monitoring bodies of the United Nations. "It should not be pressured to comply with the MDG agenda, which uses a disturbing 'reproductive rights' approach in fostering its 8 goals. Moreover, it is only a declaration," he said. "In as much as President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has already publicly declared his intention to implement his own 5-point agenda on responsible parenthood (RP), the Bishops do not see any reason to further undertake a serious study/dialogue on HB 4244 with the administration as was proposed by Pres. Aquino himself. HB 4244 and Pres. Aquino’s 5-point RP agenda are deemed to be basically the same," he added. Legaspi called Filipinos to "pray harder than before." "We cannot see yet whether this bill will be approved by Congress and how it will be implemented. But certainly, the words of the Lord continue to be our hope and guide in these trying times. Those who belong to the flock of the Good Shepherd listen to His voice and follow Him," he said. As the House of Representatives began plenary debates early last week, staunch RH Bill advocates – especially its authors Rep. Edcel Lagman and Rep. Jannette Garin — claimed the measure could greatly ease the country's ballooning population and eventually poverty. Moreover, they said the measure is also expected to help control the size of families by educating people and the youth about sex and helping them plan their pregnancies. The bill, seeks to put the government at the forefront of providing reproductive health assistance to Filipinos, using public funds to purchase contraceptives, deploy more midwives, and teach sex education in elementary among others. [See infographic on the RH bill controversy] — LBG, GMA News