CBCP: No gag order on church officials during 'RH ceasefire'

There is no gag order on church officials during the "RH ceasefire" or the truce on the word war between prolife and prochoice advocates on the Reproductive Health (RH) issue. According to the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), bishops were merely requested not to muddle the issue but to support the holding of a dialogue instead. Tandag Bishop Nereo Odchimar, CBCP President, made the request while the bishops are waiting for the details of the dialogue with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III on the RH issue. “There was no gag order. (But) Bishop Odchimar does not want to expand the issues running around which may not be helpful for a healthy dialogue," said Fr. Francis Lucas, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media. Lucas said Odchimar asked the bishops “to focus more on the dialogue" after Malacañang called for sobriety amid the raging debate on the RH issue. Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life, said on Tuesday they will withdrawing from giving “unnecessary statements" until a formal dialogue is held. “We respect the request of Malacañang for a ceasefire to calm everybody… and as we wait for a face-to-face dialogue with the bishops and the president," said Castro. A Malacañang official said Aquino is seeking a discussion with the Catholic hierarchy about its position on artificial contraception. Presidential spokesperson Atty. Edwin Lacierda said Aquino will designate an official representative to arrange the meeting with members of the CBCP. Brewing tension Tension had been brewing between the Church and the government on the RH issue after Aquino told Filipinos in the United States about his stance on artificial contraception. The tension heightened when Odchimar was quoted as saying on Church-run Radio Veritas that excommunicating Aquino was a possibility but not a "proximate possibility.". Odchimar issued a disclaimer denying he threatened Aquino with excommunication. The Union of Catholic Asian News reported that Radio Veritas insisted the "threat" was a misunderstanding caused by a wrong transcription of Odchimar's interview. RH bill 96 The tension between the Church and the government stems from the filing of the RH bill in Congress. Several versions of the RH bill have been filed in previous congresses. In the present Congress, the RH bill is known as "Bill 96" whose main proponent is Minority Leader Edcel Lagman of Albay. The RH bill is based on the premise that the country's population growth impedes economic development and exacerbates poverty. The bill seeks to “guarantee to universal access to medically-safe, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health care services, methods, devices, supplies and relevant information." The bill also seeks a “consistent and coherent national population policy," citing studies that show that "rapid population growth exacerbates poverty while poverty spawns rapid population growth." Put an end to contraceptive mentality However, CBCP President Nereo Odchimar earlier said the government must protect the sanctity of life by putting an end to a "contraceptive mentality." The bishops hoped the government would not pursue programs that promote the use of contraceptives such as condoms and pills. The Catholic Church promotes only natural family planning (NFP) methods. The NFP has two distinct forms: * Ecological breastfeeding (a form of child care that normally spaces babies about two years apart on the average), and * Systematic NFP (a system that uses a woman’s signs of fertility to determine the fertile and infertile times of her cycle). –VVP, GMANews.TV