Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:06:00 10/19/2009
Filed Under: Benigno Aquino III, Population, Family planning, Legislation, Churches (organisations), Human Rights
The son of the woman at whose death a clarion call for Catholic canonization was sounded not exactly unlike those who hollered santo subito from the mammoth crowd of John Paul II’s funeral is now whistling in the dark about his position on artificial contraception and the dignity of human life.In Cebu over the weekend for a Liberal Party sortie, Noynoy Aquino denied that he co-authored the reproductive health bill which is now gasping for dear life, not unlike the victims of typhoon “Ondoy.” He is misunderstood, he said. As chair of the Senate committee on local government, the anti-life Senate Bill 3122 was routed to him. Thereafter he refused, he said, to sign the committee report because he wanted to interpellate on the floor and question some of its provisions.
“Somebody just assumed that I signed the committee report and that I co-authored the bill because the name of the committee chair has prominence in the report,” Noynoy said.
Noynoy said it is the State’s duty to remind parents of their obligations to their children. “But the State cannot mandate how parents should plan their family and how many children they would have,” he said. Imposing a method will violate the Constitution, he added.
Is this the same as saying “I believe in what the Church teaches but . . .”? Last Saturday, Noynoy was at the Carmelite Monastery in Mabolo to see some of the nuns who were friends of his late mother. What could they have told him? What do you tell a Catholic scion who has started to vacillate on his position on the dignity of human life? While in the city, Noynoy started ranting against the Catholic Church as though there was no such thing as a Catholic voter anywhere in the Philippines.
“I don’t care if the Catholic Church will abandon me because of my support for the ‘reproductive health’ bill. I cannot allow a church-run state. The church teaches me that I will follow my conscience. My conscience tells me that we have an overpopulation problem. I have to address it; we need to control the population. We must ensure full availability of contraceptives.”
Conscience. Overpopulation. Church-run state. The familiar lexicon of the usual mantras of anti-lifers. What did they teach him at the Ateneo? What did Cory’s priest-friends tell him about it?
Just as Noynoy started his salvo against human life that is popular with media personalities, his mother’s friend and funeral main celebrant Bishop Soc Villegas, soon to assume the see of Lingayen-Dagupan, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI member of the Pontifical Council for Family and Life. Will the incoming archbishop also tolerate Noynoy just as he did with the anti-lifer Quezon City Councilor Sep Juico?
But Noynoy’s advice will not come from priests, bishops and cardinals. The Church is no theocracy. And the issue on human life is the very proof of that. The pro-life movement is very much a lay-driven advocacy, precisely because it comes from the very mouths of married couples who have had years of experience of communing with the Catholic faith. It is a stand that comes with one’s faith and with a full understanding of what being in the Church community frees one from.
When I likened Noynoy’s familiar path of “I am a Catholic but ...” to that of the late Edward Kennedy, the deluge of positive letters all came from lay people, save one that came from a Dominican priest who too was worried about a Noynoy presidency.
Noynoy will have to listen to lay people such as Romeo Caisido: “He cannot fight the good fight against evil without being pro-life. I would like to vote for him but I cannot compromise my faith.” Catholic politicians before him leave their faith at the door. Noynoy will have to look deep and hard into his own integrity. From Walter Komarnicki comes the reminder that “modern society’s contraceptive mentality shows how even revered politicians are willing to compromise their principles for votes,” and likens Noynoy to “supermarket Catholics whose faith runs no deeper than opinion polls, and whose principles have very shallow roots.”
Reader Susan Tan would like to tell Noynoy that “this is not simply a Church issue. It is a human rights issue—safety of the unborn and the terminally ill. Perhaps he can be more enlightened and persuaded to change his stand.” Reader Rita Linda Dayrit can perhaps bring Noynoy’s feet to the ground: “We all grieve for the loss of lives caused by the flash floods. However, destruction of a greater magnitude happen every day in the womb of women using contraceptives. One can just imagine with horror how the people who died might have clung desperately to anything just to save their lives, but to no avail. This is the same with the conceived child, who upon reaching the womb of his mother, now rendered dangerous because of contraceptives, shatters into pieces and dies. May God have mercy on us all.”
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In my Sept. 7 column, I wrote about little Jiggy Aquino Cruz then asking his president-lola at Arlegui House if a box of chocolates “also belonged to the Filipino people.” I had said that this was narrated by Mercy Arrastia Tuazon at her eulogy for Cory Aquino. That was most uncharitable to Sr. Remy Centeno, a nun of the Daughters of Charity, who was the one who narrated that vignette at her own eulogy at the Manila Cathedral. The fact had escaped my lapsing memory then, and I was most ignorant of who she truly was. “My friendship with President Cory began in 1985. I wrote her pledging my prayers and support and she answered me. Her answer is laminated and is one of the treasures kept in my family.” My apologies, Sister Remy. Now your prayers and that of your sisters of the Daughters of Charity are needed for Noynoy.
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Comments to monta@cu-cdo.edu.ph
Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20091019-230802/Noynoy-meanders
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