The Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill) is one hell of a beast. The Philippines’ Roman Catholic Church literally sees it as such — a beast straight out of hell that will undermine everything that it stands for. It has, today, come down to the vote: Will Philippine Congress approve or reject the bill? It is therefore ultimately (as with most things of consequence for that matter) political.
As with most things political, the epicentre of the politicking needs to be politically correct in order for the right personalities to be on board. The RH Bill has now been made politically-correct beyond recognition. The Bill is now, supposedly about “about health, rights, [and] choices.”
But is it really?
Back in the old days, there was really just one overarching issue that ready-access to artificial contraception really sought to address: population. The short of it is quite simple, really:
The Philippines is over-populated.
We have committed to supporting a 100-million-strong portfolio of humanity despite an inherent inability to generate enough economic output to sustain these numbers in a manner that meets established global standards of human development. This simple reality ties back to my definition of poverty:
Our poverty stems from an inherent inability to honour commitments we have locked ourselves into.
Every child born is a commitment we need to honour. Our commitment to every child born is to raise her so that she develops into a productive adult that can contribute to the economy. People who are not prepared to honour that commitment should not have children lest the children they bear become mere burdens to the lot already crowding and laying waste to this wretched nation.
So whilst ready-access to contraception (which made direct sense in the context of national poverty) has since been re-branded to “reproductive health” (which muddles the whole point), the true essence of the much-needed social re-engineering effort has gone from the real — stemming the increase in numbers of a people renowned for their inability to feed themselves — to the nebulous — “health, rights, and choices” — after all the emo activists and legislators took it all over and articulated it in their peachy slogans, taglines, and now its ultimate form: the flawed construct we call the “RH Bill”.
And we wonder why Da Pinoy story never gets told — because we are a people who never fail to exhibit our talent for losing the plot.
The whole “debate” around “reproductive health” now misses the point — that we are all personally responsible for our future fortunes. Unfortunately, Filipinos are a people not exactly renowned for a strong ethic of personal responsibility.
It is only when we understand that we are all ultimately personally responsible for our own fortunes that we begin to become aware of how many aspects of our culture contribute to propagating a culture of poverty. We are a society imprisoned in a mindset that is grounded on the notions that we cannot influence our own destinies, that employment is owed to us by Government, and that those who have more have in some way deprived us of opportunity simply by being “more fortunateâ€. We think that good fortune is granted to us by “God’s graces†and that bad fortune is “God’s willâ€.
Before there can be “health, rights, and choices” there needs to be enough wealth to underpin all of those. In order to have enough wealth to get around you have to both (1) live within your means and (2) create more wealth to sustain increased consumption. Filipinos have demonstrated a consistent inability to do the latter: create wealth indigenously even in the best of circumstances. Therefore, the choice is clear: Filipinos must live within their means. In the context of population it means that our numbers need to be controlled so that we don’t outstrip our naturally-stunted abilities to feed and employ our lot.
Is it really about “reproductive health”? Think again. History has shown that well-meaning activist rhetoric and, more so, agenda-driven politics does not necessarily equate to the right thinking.
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71 Comments on "Philippine Reproductive Health Bill: politically-corrected beyond recognition"
Oh yeah the yellow bald president is said to have realised a significant problem in schools, and that is —overcrowding of children, and this bill is said to be their answer to this problem… To have these young innocents killed as early as inside their mothers’ womb. That is crazy.
And so it goes, that the future unborn generation is to be blamed for the great possibility of hunger for the entire planet. And not one of the currently existing, adult human being is to be blamed for the obvious lack of jobs, education, conscientious urban planning, unscrupulous abuse of the environment and most of all, the many millions on welfare due to laziness or plain illness or plain old age. How convenient. How very nazi in ideology.
correction: “unconscientious or careless urban planning”
“Only the guilty are guilty. Their children are not.”
-Elie Wiesel
I don’t find the angle of RH Bill as a front for abortion policies that believable yet. But I agree, there are better things to do than this. On school overcrowding, obviously, more schools are needed. But instead, the government wants more recipients of CCT.
Contraception is not infanticide. Contraception prevents conception from taking place. NO conception = No baby. A being is not being killed. Women are simply using technology to control their own bodies. Confusing abortion and contraception makes no sense, at all. That is crazy.
According to the HSBC research, which Malacanang is said to be proud of, the Philippines will rank 16th among the world’s top economies by 2050. But how?!!!…
Here it goes, according to the report the populace will play a vital role for that, considering the country’s looming population, as of now pretty large in size of more or less 93,000,000 Filipinos. Now, how can that be if you are going to restrain the vital tool for growth?
They should be proud, mainly because it will give recognition for the Philippines in the world. PINOYPRIDEFTW! #Sarcasm
Emphasis on 2050.
Why not make it so by 2030? 2025? Or just to twist the proverbial bayonet, 2020?
Kasalanan ni Gloria kung bakit hindi maipasa pasa ang RH bill. Upang makuha nya ang suporta at boto ng simbahang Katolika, hindi nya pinayagan ang pagpasa sa bill na ito. Talaga itong si Gloria, Gloria magnanakaw ka!
Still with the whole yellow propaganda crap I see….
You still wouldn’t realize that you are getting yourself humiliated here time and again.
Your president is the one at fault here.
MORON
Hindi ba si PNoy ang nang-akit sa simbahang Katoliko sa pamamagitan ng pangalan ng kanyang ina upang siya ay manalo sa pagka-presidente?
Yes, he did. Well, he could actually be an anti-RH person, for all we know; he just trying to lure investors in this country with that “wow-cool” legislation. Even then, how could he keep them now; with the sin tax reform bill now in act?
Aaaand now it’s Arroyo’s fault kung bakit hindi naipasa ito. Sarap pala maging isip-bata, ‘no?
In fact, Gloria has her support on the RH Bill but the reason why you say that is because she was demonized by the biased media and even the church, who are staunch Aquino allies. Source for the record or your rotten mouth is full of HEARSAY, idiot.
Talaga tong si Fishball, Fishball SUPER TANGA ka! XD
Sa bagay, fishball palagi ang habol niya. Hindi mga masustansyang pagkain. Kaya pala mapurol ang utak e. Not surprised. 😛
Come to think of it, Fishball is right. It’s Gloria’s fault. It’s always someone else’s fault. PNoy is never wrong. PNoy did not do anything wrong. How could he, he hasn’t done anything, anything at all, in his life. Oh yeah, he did finish Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3, so those must be achievements.
Please get your info right. GMA has stated that she is against the RH Bill.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/39055/ex-president-arroyo-to-oppose-the-rh-bill
I believe she used to support it during her term. Now she’s turned against it. But IMO, I think she dilly-dallied during her term in order to delay it.
@ChinoF: I believe she did support it near the beginning of her term but by the end of it she eventually became undecided and eventually against the bill.
Gloria has her support on the RH Bill but the reason why you say that is because she was demonized by the biased media and even the church, who are staunch Aquino allies. Source for the record or your rotten mouth is full of HEARSAY, idiot.
Yeah, right!
uhmm…ano daw???
Gloria, Gloria, Gloria. Lagi na lang si Gloria.
Why don’t you find another scapegoat, like Tito Noy. Better yet, shut your piehole and support solutions that actually work for the Philippines.
I’m going to make a bet that if the RH Bill passes (which seems increasingly unlikely), the birth rate will not decline.
Interesting. A priest has spoken up about the RH bill. But, he is a Jesuit and would be considered a heretic, yet again, by other Catholics.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/5340/my-stand-on-the-rh-bill
Come on! Responsible Parenthood being advocated by Noynoy? Does he even know how it feels of raising ones own child? You can even say it is the greatest achievement of all achievements because it is in your child whom you will inherit your properties, legacies etc. Palibhasa bakla wahahaha.
Cut Noynoy some slack. He does not know what it feels like to be a responsible leader either.
Well, at least some public schools fully supported sex-ed.
During high school, we had such lessons as part of values education, though much of it looks like part of a scare tactic in hindsight.
But here’s the thing, showing pictures of the effects STDs, viewing a live birth, and computing the amount of money needed to raise a child made us doubt if unsafe sex was worth it. Coincidentally, the number of teen pregnancies became 0 from 2-3 before the curriculum included some sex-ed.
So where do you stand? Anywhere opposite Penoy’s? Too one-track minded. I would have thought you guys to be at least aligned with Penoy on this one, what with your so-called “enlightened” thinking. But then you cling to the church’s medieval age thinking.
Just goes to show your real colors, anywhere opposite Penoy’s, that’s where you go.
Hahaha.
wtf! when will people stop blaming somebody else and just for once DO something! sick and tired of this effing blame game. just DO and keep your effing mouth shut. shessh. anyway, while you’re at it blame gloria for the upcoming end of the world on dec 2012.
Hehe, you’re a total retard like yourself. Only whiny little babies like yourself play the blame game. Am I right, Yellow Zombie? And also, you have squatter mentality so please think. You’re an idiot. 😀
And that Dec. 2012 thingy is just a sham. Like yourself. Ugh. 😛
@daido
please read carefully what i wrote before you shoot your mouth off and hit yourself on the foot. i am actually referring to abnoy for his blaming everybody else other than himself and his Yellow Zombies as well. and stop this name calling. it doesn’t suit you. i thought you were an intellectual person based on what you have written on all the issues here. which i have read and mostly have agreed to. be careful who you call an idiot or a sham.
Hehe, my mistake. 😛 Sometimes, it’s difficult to figure out. The name calling is a hit or miss but I’m glad that we are on the same side.
And one more thing: the current president is doing that. You should tell him to keep his mouth shut and does his job. But he’s a cowardly douche because he is know for his INCOMPETENCE. Arroyo never did that.
Anyways, blame YOURSELF since you have that flawed thinking of yours.
correction: The contraceptives are now available and yet it did NOT help lower the rate of population growth.
Nope, we learned the bad/ugly/scary things from sex-ed.
We learned the “good” things from experience 😉
Good thing you mentioned the biology part. That was actually mentioned in our classes on why the rhythm method may not always be effective.
As for the birth video, I think it was to emphasize the physical pain women in labor may feel, I always thought it was a scare tactic but who knows, maybe they were trying to show the good things that come from sex.
As CBCP’s stand proves, the popular idea is that “proper” sex is just for pro-creation.
I think you know CBCP well, the so-called moral teachers of the Filipino society.
Unfortunately, some teachers (actual, professional teachers) are influenced by their respective priests, bishops, and upbringing to believe that sex is only for pro-creation. Some of the kids these teachers influence also come to believe this as absolute truths.
As long as professionals can’t keep their religion separate from their jobs, the cycle of outdated beliefs and misguided practices continues, especially in the education sector.
CBCP–the Philippines’ answer to Iran’s Council of Ayatollahs.
CBCP – Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
Yes, Aegis-Judex above me has described them in a very succinct way.
btw, a type, it’s Bishops’.
[…] Okay, Ed. Whatever. The Senate has had its TV time for the week, the asylum by the Pasig has issued its de rigueur “we’re totally on top of it, dudes†statement, one dodgy shipment of rice will be sacrificed for the temporary relief of the less fortunate (provided, of course, they have the good sense to be less fortunate in a place that’s reasonably accessible to convoys of politicians and the media), and by next week the entire country will have forgotten all about it in favor of the next hot topic. […]
@T_Ray,
I am very sorry but I mis-read this line written by you:
“What’s happening is that those people are not having children because of some of the reasons you mentioned.”
So pls ignore that part in my response. Thanks.
No worries, mate.
I’m 25 years old, living in Australia. Having kids/settling down is the farthest thing on my mind right now. I need to enjoy me life first, before I go down that road.
I guess its human instinct to want or need to have something/someone to love and care for. I think that same need is why people get a dog.
Well, I still hope the RH bill does gets passed. I think it’s something the country needs. Throw out discussions about morality and religion, we need to be practical.
BTW, anyone here seen the movie “Idiocracy”? Not the best movie in the world but I think it might be relevant to the issues the PI is facing today.