Affirming a life of dignity

We, the member-churches of the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood, Inc. (IPPRP), composed of various faith-based organizations with a common aspiration to strengthen the institution of marriage and family life, journey with the Filipino people to build a better nation.

We are disturbed by the recent discourses on the proposed Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RP/RH) bill that tend to divide instead of cultivating healthy debates among our kababayans, faith-based groups, academia, government, and civil society organizations to freely discuss science- and evidence-based information as the basis for an intelligent decision. A decision to freely choose the number and spacing of our children according to our religious beliefs, cultural practices, and individual socio-economic circumstance.

After our deep reflections and prayers, we have come to realize not to dwell on divisive debates but focus on more proactive actions on how we can address the issues of poverty, hunger, humanitarian crises caused by natural calamities and hazards, gender inequality, and other social problems brought about or exacerbated by unmanaged population growth.

Compelled by the strength and veracity of the empirical evidence shown to us by experts and the scientific community, we the members of IPPRP, mostly from different Christian churches all over the Philippines, intensify our call to the country’s leaders to work on four major issues that are vital to the welfare and dignity of the Filipino people. We call upon President Aquino to diligently work on: (a) good governance that seriously addresses corruption; (b) rapid and sustained economic growth; (c) minimizing social inequality by giving more economic benefits to the poor; and (d) sound population policy, of which the RP/RH bill is the principal instrument.

We urge our legislators to seriously push for the passage of the long-overdue RP/RH bill toward its immediate implementation. We believe that the bill is truly pro-life, pro-family, pro-poor, and pro-national-development. This is the legacy that you, our leaders, will be remembered by the Filipino people for generations to come.

As pastors and ministers of different churches, we reaffirm our commitment to journey with our leaders and all Filipinos to work on this legacy and fulfill the common mission for a better tomorrow. We are one with the whole nation in its fight to improve the quality of life for each and every Filipino.

We reiterate our plea for the swift passage of the RP/RH bill and its immediate implementation.

—Interfaith Partnership For The Promotion Of Responsible Parenthood, (IPPRP), Inc.