Catholics need to be educated on the RH Bill

Our special presentation on our talkshow on Straight from the Sky is the Story of Gawad Kalinga told by no less than Mr. Tony Meloto, the man who conceptualized this housing project that has caught world-wide attention and admiration, that things as difficult as this can be done in a 3rd world country by its own people. Mr. Meloto has been coming so often to Cebu for GK projects here, but it was only recently that we finally caught him to be on this show.

I have seen dramatic changes in the community when you turn a blighted or slum area into a GK Village. His organization, the Couples for Christ (CfC) does not only build homes for the homeless, but they build a better family life for these people, a life that is God-centered and teaches the old values of Christian living, moral or values that have often disappear in many communities. So watch this very interesting show about how Gawad Kalinga came into being on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

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I attended an emergency meeting called by his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal with the Pro-Life Groups at the Sacred Heart Center to map out strategies on how to boost efforts to stop House Bill No.5043 a.k.a. the RH Bill. The power point presentation of Dr. Rene Bullecer of the Human Life International (HLI) was very dramatic. It was about the rapidly decreasing demography of many nations (mostly European) that embraced their own Reproductive Health laws, which resulted in a sharp decline in their respective populations to the point that it has continued declining, even if they wanted to stop it.

As if on cue, a couple of days ago, Channelnews Asia, a Singaporean Television network interviewed Singapore aging leader, former President Lee Kuan Yew who admitted that Singapore’s declining population was “disastrous” to Singapore’s economy. This is why Singapore accepts Filipino workers to work in whatever jobs are available in Singapore. But Mr. Less also pointed out that Japan suffered the most in its declining population, which is worsened by Japan’s refusal to accept immigrants or foreign workers except for Japayukis for their entertainment.

Most of those who attended that jampacked hall came from the various Parish Pastoral Councils from Metro Cebu. I gathered from them that when they call for meetings in their respective barangays, very few people respond and often send only their children. This situation tells me that the Parish Councils should be more aggressive in reaching out to their parishioners. I reckon that this is the attitude of most Catholics who think that since we are all considered Catholics, then we do not have to exert extra effort to call on our fellow Catholics. This is what being lukewarm has brought to the Catholic Church.

What is even more disturbing is that the power point presentation given by the Human Life International (HLI) about the dwindling populations of the nations that embraced their RH laws have not even been shown at the Barangay level. Hence I suggested to the group that a shorter version of that power point presentation be shown in all churches in order to educate our fellow Catholics why they should not support the RH Bill.

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It seems that the merger of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) is headed for the rocks even before they could start planning their strategies on how to continue holding on to power when Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) leaves office after the 2010 elections. No less than Lakas-CMD Chairman Emeritus former Pres. Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) questioned the haste of this merger. He also bewailed that Lakas-CMD co-founder Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. was also not present during the official signing of this merger.

With today’s modern satellite communications and instant text messages, I’m sure that FVR already knew that the merger between the two pro-administration parties was in the offing and eventually done. In short, FVR could have derailed this merger if he wanted to. But it’s more than obvious to me that FVR wanted this merger to proceed so he could torpedo it and it seems that’s what FVR wants. So what happens to this newly-merged political parties? Is it already a done deal or will FVR get his way and undo this merger? We’ll find out about this very soon.

 Still on politics, congratulations to my good friend, Rep. Ben-Hur Salimbangon for winning a plurality of 453 votes over former Bogo Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III during the May 14, 2007 elections. Others would call this a slim margin, hence, Martinez elevated this matter to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) chaired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago.

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