RH or RP bill: Kowtowing to US interest?

Disturbing questions are being asked by the public and in the coffee houses of Cebu as to why the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill was all of a sudden renamed Responsible Parenthood (RP) Bill, which is supported by Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III? I would like to believe that deep inside, PNoy knows that the RH Bill was just too controversial and too uncomfortable even for his taste. But since he did not want to back out of his promise to the Americans, he has asked the RH to be renamed RP… which in effect is the same dog with a different collar!

Talking about the bottom line, We proud Filipinos finally had the guts to free ourselves from the bondage of American colonialism or as the Communists would say, American Imperialism by taking the US military bases in Clark and Subic away from American control. But let’s ask ourselves, have we really gotten away from US influence? If you look at the controversy of the RH or RP Bill, we are in effect kowtowing to American interests.

All this stems from a report from former US State Secretary Henry Kissinger who in April 24, 1974 (that’s 37 years and five days ago) came up with a report on “Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security and Overseas Interests.” This report outlined the need for a study of the impact of world population growth on US Security concerns, especially from poor countries like the Philippines. That Kissinger memo resulted in the Kissinger Report 2004 which reveals that the US Government funded the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the leading advocate of abortion in the US.

It is a fact that a couple of weeks ago, the US Government nearly ground to a halt because the Republicans that control Congress and the Democrats that control the Senate were deadlock because pro-life Republicans no longer wanted to fund abortions to the tune of $980 million annually. I can’t put in all of what’s written on this report, but if you’re interested you can Google Kissinger Report 2004 and you will get the truth about this controversy that has embroiled our nation.

The recent report on this issues is that the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and almost all the Protestant Churches that have separated from the Catholic Church are now pushing for the RH-RP bill. There is no doubt that an unseen hand is trying to forge and shift the RH-RP debate with the Catholic Church against these other churches in order to get the heat out of PNoy. But all this is being foisted on the unsuspecting Filipino Catholics that in the end, passing the RH-RP bill will eventually lead to a law supporting abortion which has happened to all nations that embraced their own RH bills. This is why we must fight and kill it now before it’s too late and we shall be cursed with the wrath of God. PNoy ought to look at this more clearly or else.       

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Talking about the Aquino administration, this may be a very minor controversy, but a controversy nonetheless, because it involves one of the most vulnerable sectors in our society, the Persons with Disabilities (PWD), a sector that gave its support to the candidacy of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III because he expressed in more ways than one that his nephew Joshua, the son of PNoy’s mercurial sister Kris Aquino and Philip Salvador was his favorite nephew. 

I’m referring to Executive Order No. 33 signed last April 5, 2011 that effectively transfers the National Council for Disability Affairs (NCDA), previously called the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP), from the Office of the President (OP) back to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

In the past this group was under DSWD, which relegated the PWD sector as just one of the many sectors that the DSWD had to handle, until 2007 when then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo moved it directly under her watch in the Office of the President, which made the PWD sector really happy that their issues can now be given direct attention.

So why is the PWD sector sore at E.O. No. 33? That’s because it was signed, sealed and approved without any consultation with this sector. Now isn’t this one of the campaign promises of then presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III that his government will be one of consultation? Hence the PWD sector believed that the President would have kept this agency close to Malacanang. Sure, he removed many attached agencies in the OP, but this is one sector that PNoy should have kept within his own Office of the President as proof that he truly cares for this truly disadvantaged sector.

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