Voice of the People

(Democracy)

In a democracy the government is supposed to represent the voice of the people, because it must follow its own definition as a government of the people, for the people and by the people. Such is therefore the turbulent confrontation in the Philippines today as regards the Reproductive Health Bill that includes use of artificial contraceptives and abortifacients contrary to the Catholic stand. Well, if we are to respect the majority Catholics of our people or even the Muslim population, the government ought to respect Catholic thought and Islamic policies, at least to be true to its name as a true democracy.

After all, the Church is only fostering what is truly the first right of our people, which is LIFE. You cannot promote the other subsequent rights of liberty and property, unless we admit the very first of the rights of man – LIFE. It would be a false and distorted democracy that says it is for people’s welfare, whereas they intend population control by terminating or obstructing life in various ways and methods. In the very first chapter of the Bible God’s word speaks: “God blessed them, saying to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it” (Gen. 1:28). Are we going to allow our minds to be obscured and deviated from the right track just because of the money offers or even the temptations of the world, the devil and the flesh.

The Clear Stand

Last 30th January 2011, the Catholic Church in the Philippines gave its clear stand rejecting the RH bill as contrary to people’s conscience and contrary to the best interest of lives of our people, in the sense that it violates life by terminating its initial phase in the fertilized ovum or by preventing the normal union of sperm and ovum towards the act of fertilization; this being done through artificial contraceptives that are abortifacients and by abortion. The Church position as explained in the Humanae Vitae encyclical is that the union of the male and female in sexual activity must always remain open to the transmission of new life.

The title of the document Choosing Life, Rejecting the RH Bill asks our people to respect always the sacredness of life in all its stages according to the biblical tenet: “So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 7:12). Live and let live. Can you imagine that if the lives of millions of young keep on getting aborted through the various abortifacients and contraceptives, life will be as desolate and lonely as an arid desert. The ironical thing is that some powerful and big nations want to oppress the developing nations and have power over their natural resources, especially through the manipulation of birth and population control. The wombs of mothers will become like a war zone of slaughter of the innocents.

The Christians’ celebration of Christmas is a celebration of life, as Mary and Joseph brought into our world God’s only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, conceived in Mary’s virginal womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Even the Muslim book of the Koran talks of the birth of Jesus from the immaculate womb of Mary in Chapter (Surah) 3 verses 45 to 47.