CBCP backs GMA proposals on UN poverty alleviation

The Roman Catholic Church is backing President Arroyo’s proposal made at the recent United Nations Security Council meeting to use the international organization’s population fund to help alleviate poverty in poor countries by protecting women and the family.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the proposal is consistent with their belief that the solution to poverty cannot rely solely on family planning methods.

Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, said Mrs. Arroyo’s proposal "is the closest we ever got to identifying the solution to the long-standing problem of poverty."

"Since poverty is an economic problem, the President is right in pinpointing that the solution should also be economic in nature, even more properly as improving the productivity of families," Aniceto said in a statement yesterday.

The CBCP has intensified its campaign against pending population control bills in Congress, which bishops have described as "anti-life."

They also said they believe that the family, which has a vital role in molding the future of the country, must not be hampered by proposed amendments to the Constitution.

The CBCP is rallying against House Bills 3773, 1808, 3422, 634 and 4016, which it considers as "anti-family, anti-life and against doctrines of the Church."

Under HB 3773, authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, each family is encouraged to have only two children. The proposal also requires sex education to be taught to students from grade five to fourth year high school, and the promotion of various methods of artificial contraception.

This bill, which is now for resolution in plenary session after it was passed in the committee hearings, is related to HBs 1808 and 3422, which deal with population and responsible parenthood, respectively. Both bills are still at the committee level.

HB 634, filed by Akbayan party-list Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales, seeks to allow same-sex marriages on the basis that denying gay couples’ application for marriage is "unlawful."

HB 4016, proposed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Liza Masa, provides for a marriage to be dissolved on the basis of irreconcilable differences. It is set for public hearing under the House of Representatives committee on the revision of laws.

The CBCP has also expressed its concern regarding Charter change, which they said could "open the floodgates for contraceptives, abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage and, ultimately, euthanasia."

Mrs. Arroyo, a devout Catholic, has proposed that the UN Population Fund be used to protect the reproductive health of women in Third World countries and to train married couples on how to use the Billings ovulation method during an inter-faith dialogue among world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York.

Citing the research done by the Population Council of New York in the 1980s, the President said a significant reduction in the country’s birth rate can be achieved by improving living conditions, economic status and level of education among families.

"Understanding the deep Catholicism of the vast majority of our people reduces the resistance to family planning as a tool for development," Mrs. Arroyo was quoted as saying during the meeting.

Her proposal was welcomed by "pro-life" groups, including the Kalipunan ng mga Kapatiran ng Pamilyang Pilipino (KKPP), Kanlungan ng Buhay Philippines, and Alliance for the Family Foundation.

KKPP Education Committee chair Willy Fajardo said Mrs. Arroyo’s stand on the population issue is a good sign that they may be granted access to low-cost livelihood programs that would give families more opportunities to earn money.