CEBU - Knights of Columbus 7147 Pagkabuhay Council director and former Masbate vice governor Antonio Medina urged Cebu congressmen to oppose the Reproductive Health Bill on various constitutional grounds.
Medina who is also the convenor of the Catholic Vote Alliance stressed that RH Bill 5043 is absolutely unconstitutional.
“It contravenes and is an affront to the long-enshrined principle of the separation of church and state,” Medina said.
Medina explained that the bill contradicts the intention and spirit of Article 11 Section 6 which provides that the separation of church and state is inviolable. The bill, medina said, also trespasses the domain of the church on purely matters of morals and religion.
“The bill is repugnant and an anathema to papal encyclicals and Holy Scriptures on the dignity and sanctity of human life,” Medina said.
Medina said he wonders how Congress, whose members are 99 percent Catholic and Christian, can propose a bill “hostile to God and Religion”.
“I can’t believe that the Congress of the only Catholic and Christian country in Asia spearheaded and crafted a law that contradicts its reality of Godliness and religiosity, unprecedent in our Christian experience and history,” Medina added.
Further, Medina said that instead of crafting laws based on Christian good morals and right conduct, congressmen debased themselves in inventing ungodly laws that are foreign in the country’s culture and aspirations as people of God.
“When our fathers, the framers of the basic law of our land implored the aid of almighty God in our Constitution’s Preamble, it clearly and distinctly manifested our intense religious nature and placed unfaltering reliance upon our God who guides the destinies of men and nations,” he said.
The CVA hopes that the bill will be rejected and defeated at plenary voting.
Meanwhile, the Cebu Archdiocese will hold another rosary rally on November 10 at 4:30 p.m. in the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand.
Human Life International head Rene Josef Bullecer said the rally is in preparation for the opening of Congress to discuss again the bill after it was set aside when Congress focused for a while on budget hearings.
Further, the Catholic Church plans to set up “pro-life” billboards nationwide to create more awareness about the church’s position with regards to the passage of the bill.
This is part of their intensified campaign against the RH Bill which will also complement the signature campaign and series of prayer rally initiatives of the church. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)