Filtered By: Topstories
News

Iglesia ni Cristo, other religious groups favor RH bill


UPDATED 2:30 p.m. - Unlike the Catholic Church, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) has expressed support for the highly controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill. "We are ready to support the bills on Reproductive Health as long as there would be no immoral elements in them," INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo said in a letter dated October 12, 2010 to Rep. Rogelio Espina, chairman of the House committee on population and family relations. This is the first time the INC has expressed its stand on the issue. Manalo's letter to Espina was likewise made public only this April. It was revealed to the media by Bishop Rodrigo Tano, chairman of the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthoood (IPPRP), during a weekly forum at the Diamond Hotel on Monday. Manalo explained that they are supporting the bill because it is the "moral imperative" for parents to watch over their children and provide them with food, shelter, clothing, proper education, religious, and moral training. "Hence, parents have a moral obligation to plan the number of their children and keep it under control. The Bible states that a parent who does not provide for the needs of his own household is worse than an unbeliever," he said. "Since modern methods of contraception — by preventing married couples from having any unplanned pregnancies — assist in supporting this Christian principle, we support their use as long as these methods are empirically not abortifacient," he added. The INC executive minister noted, however, said that they do not support the natural family planning method and all its variants. "These methods are not only unnatural and ineffective but they are also immoral, since they contradict the commandment that God has given to married couples... not to deprive one another of intimate marital relations for long, extended periods of time," he said. "Any abstinence at all for a married couple is supposed to be with the mutual consent of husband and wife and not for the purpose of preventing pregnancy," he added. The Catholic Church has opposed the use and state provision of artificial birth control methods like condoms and birth control pills, saying it only supports natural family planning methods for married couples. Other religious groups Bishop Rodrigo Tano, chairman of the IPPRP, said that the support of the INC should be a big help to their campaign for the passage of the controversial measure. "The fact that they are part (of those in favor of the RH bill), dapat malaki yun (that should make a difference)," he told GMA News after a weekly forum at the Diamond Hotel on Monday. Former congresswoman and Akbayan spokesperson Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, who co-authored the RH bill in the 14th Congress, said during the forum that the INC is not the only "major faith community" who is supportive of the RH bill. Tano said that among the other faith-based organizations who are supportive of the measure - as members of the IPPRP - are:
  • the National Council of Churches in the Philippines;
  • United Church of Christ of the Philippines;
  • Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches;
  • United Methodist Church;
  • Philippines for Jesus Movement;
  • Iglesia Filipino Independiente;
  • Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines;
  • Seventh-Day Adventist;
  • Salvation Army;
  • Catholics for Reproductive Health, and
  • Episcopal Church of the Philippines. "We urge our legislators to seriously push for 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," the groups said in a statement on Monday. Tano said they have also tried to talk to representatives of the Catholic Church but that they failed. "We have requested dialogues pero ayaw nila (but they don't want to talk)," he said. Status At the House of Representatives, the controversial RH bill is being discussed in the plenary and awaiting approval on second reading. On the other hand, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's Senate Bill 2378 or “An Act Providing for a National Policy on Reproductive Health and Population and Development is still pending before the Senate health committee. Under SB 2378, the state shall guarantee universal access to medically safe, legal, affordable, and quality reproductive health services, methods, devices, supplies, and relevant information on the matter. However, Senator Panfilo Lacson, who had also authored a bill which encourages reproductive health and population management, said that the bill will probably pass the Senate. "I think it will have a good chance of passing considering no less than the President is an advocate," he said during Monday's forum. President Benigno Aquino III had earlier said he is willing to risk excommunication from the Catholic Church in pushing for the passage of the Responsbible Parenthood (RP) bill. Baraquel and former Health Sec. Esperanza Cabral, however, explained that the RP and RH bills are basically the same. "Even the Church recognizes that it is just a finessing of terms... in the sense that the overarching principles (are the same)," said Cabral during the same forum. - VVP/VS, GMA News
  • LOADING CONTENT