Worst problem of all

Some events of this week about to end apparently have a more significant impact on our country and people. They create lasting impressions and give important messages that can be considered as turning points in our life as a nation.

 One of them is the sudden and unexpected death of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse M. Robredo. His untimely demise really caused grief and a deep sense of loss not only to his immediately family, relatives, close friends and co-workers in government but to a lot of our countrymen, because he is undoubtedly one of the few good men we have in public service. Somehow his death likewise gave a feeling of emptiness and heaviness of heart to many of us, even if we do not know him personally and well enough. It is the same feeling we have every time we learn of the death of outstanding men and women who have served our country faithfully and well.

The accolades he is now reaping for a job well done as a public servant give us a message that the good things men do will not be buried, but will live after them if they are done humbly, sincerely, quietly and without much publicity. Robredo’s death also confirmed once more that life in this world is indeed short and we do not know how and when it will end. Hence we have to seize every moment and make the most of it so that when the end comes and we meet our Maker, we will be ready to show Him that His precious gift of life to us has been put to good use.

The other event of the week also conveying the message of the preciousness of God’s gift of life is the official statement of the Ateneo de Manila University, through its president, Fr. Jose Ramon T. “Jett” Villarin, SJ, that “together with our leaders in the Catholic Church,” the school “does not” likewise “support the passage of House Bill 4244 (The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development bill), because it “contains provisions that could be construed to threaten constitutional rights as well as to weaken commonly shared human and spiritual values.” Hence, Fr. Jett asks the Ateneo community “to continue in depth study of the bill and to support amendments to remove provisions that could be ambiguous or inimical from a legal, moral or religious perspective.” He also asks “those who are engaged in the Christian formation of our students to ensure that the Catholic position on this matter continues to be taught in our classes, as we have always done.”

This statement is clear, categorical and straightforward enough. The Ateneo professors supporting the RH bill should set a good example as all teachers ought to do, and as men and women of principles and integrity, by getting out of the Ateneo and discontinue teaching there. Catholic parents of students studying in Ateneo who adhere to the Catholic position would certainly not want their children to be under their tutelage.

Actually, contraception which the RH bill is establishing and supporting with taxpayers’ money is inherently wrong as it is anti-life and anti-family which the State is called upon to protect and strengthen according to our Constitution. It is inherently evil not because the Church says so, but because it is a truth confirmed without doubt in other countries allowing contraception, where it has been equated with abortion or the killing of the unborn child and where it has caused so many fatal and serious illnesses to mothers and children, not to mention its dire consequences on the inviolable social institution of marriage and family as I have repeatedly cited before in this column.

It is thus quite sad and unfortunate that our legislators and backers of this bill including Malacanang itself have refused to accept this truth. Instead they even tried to show that the bill is also pro life or, “pro quality of life” by adding to its title the phrase “responsible parenthood” but still retaining the provisions on contraception. In this connection, let me quote a portion of Mother Teresa’s speech sent to me by Ateneo Law Professor, Atty. Vic Alimuring giving another dimension to why contraception is inherently evil and I quote: I know that couples have to plan their family, and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self, and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception abortion follows easily. I know that there are great problems in this world — that many spouses do not love each other enough to practice natural family planning. We cannot solve all the problems in this world, but let us never bring the worst problem of all, and that is to destroy love. This is what happens when we tell people to practice contraception and abortion.”

It is really quite mystifying why our legislators and Malacanang still fail to accept this truth about contraception and still believe in the meddling foreign interest groups and their hidden agenda. Every time I try to seek an explanation I am always reminded of what I came across the internet which says that “stupidity is knowing the truth, seeing the truth but still believing in the lies.” Or maybe we can find the explanation by pushing for and supporting Senator Tito Sotto’s appeal that “the meddling foreign interest groups and their hidden agenda should be exposed and investigated” because the funds they are giving to media, politicians and NGOs who manipulate the Filipino people with their propaganda… is a form of grave corruption of the highest degree.” Can we expect Congress to investigate these groups?

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