CBCP to bring RH campaign from pulpit to television

MANILA, Philippines - With debates on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill expected to heat up once more when Congress resumes session on Monday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has decided to bring their campaign from the pulpit into the television sets of Filipino homes.

In yesterday’s celebration of the 43rd anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (Latin for Human Life), CBCP secretary-general Monsignor Juanito Figura announced that they would be taking a more intensified anti-RH bill campaign.

From street demonstrations, prayer rallies and debates, the CBCP and their partners from the laity would soon be introducing their television and print advertisements. The advertisements would also be shown before Masses in parishes.

“We are coming out with television ads with our meager income. Maybe you would see the television ad not on television but on the church projectors before Masses because we are spreading these television ads exponentially by using our very own network and our resources,” said Figura.

They would also be distributing smiley stickers bearing the words “I am pro-life. I am anti-RH.”

“You will see stickers displayed on vehicles. We would place stickers that are more friendly because we are actually not adversarial, not against anybody in particular, not against any group in particular but against the RH bill specifically so we are doing this mission with a smile,” he said.

The commercials, tarpaulins and stickers are part of their concept of “contemporary means” of spreading or proclaiming the “gospel of life.”

There would also be efforts to draw more support via the social networking sites in the Internet such as Twitter and Facebook.

He added that there are people who are trying to negotiate with media companies that are fully aware that coming out with commercials can be expensive.

He said that the funds for this campaign would not be shouldered by the CBCP.

Figura said, “There are people who are helping us. This did not come from the CBCP, we do not have a budget for this... We do not have a fund-raising for this, compared to those who are advocating the RH bill whose operations are well-funded.

“We would just do the right thing according to the resources of the Church.”

He added in jest that they would just “appeal for discounts.”

Meantime, CBCP president Tandag, Surigao del Sur Bishop Nereo Odchimar yesterday called on all Filipinos to be united in fighting the passage of the RH bill.

In a one-page statement titled “Proclaim Life... In Season and Out of Season” issued yesterday, Odchimar said, “We appeal to you, our Filipino brothers and sisters, to defend our commonly shared moral values and reject the RH bill. Ignoring moral values is moral corruption; and moral corruption breeds corruption in public and private life. Its fruit is social decay and disintegration.”