A needless ‘war’

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

By taking the lead role and declaring an “all-out war” against the Reproductive Health Bill, the Philippine Roman Catholic Church has put itself in a precarious position where its standing as the most influential religious group in the country would be put to the test.

The great debate on the merits of two measures pending in both the Senate and the House of Representatives heated up last week with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Malacanang exchanging harsh words over each other’s hard stance on the bill.

President Aquino appeared wishy-washy on the issue for several months although he had supported the bill when he was senator and during the campaign, and agreed to hold dialogues with the bishops to try to find a middle ground in the program to put a brake to the runaway population growth that has been perceived as one of the obstacles to combat poverty and put back the country on the path to economic recovery.

But when CBCP President Bishop Nereo Odchimar said during an interview that Aquino’s direct involvement could result in his being excommunicated was a “proximate possibility,” Aquino reiterated that he would not waver in his support of responsible parenthood, which is actually the essence of the Reproductive Health Bill (HB 4244 in the House and SB 2378 in the Senate).

The other week, CBCP said it would no longer hold dialogues with Aquino and later declared an “all-out war” against the bill, saying it would use all means necessary, including using the pulpit, to rally the faithful against the measure. The Church had, in fact, organized a rally among its faithful at the Luneta as a show of force but they were able to gather only about 10,000.

Malacañang said it was astounded at the incendiary rhetoric coming from some elements of the Catholic hierarchy and said men of the cloth should behave properly with circumspect. Aquino also warned that pro-life groups threatening to mount tax boycotts and other forms of civil disobedience faced sedition charges.

Malacañang officials said the bishops should “calm down a bit” and explain their position “within the means of law” on the proposed measure.

But the bishops could not be calmed down. “Will you be calm if you are held at gunpoint?” Archbishop Ramon Arguelles asked. “The Church has been calm on the issue but they have provoked us.”

In the heat of this word war, the bishops should perhaps pause and reflect on what a Catholic priest wrote shortly after the threat of excommunication was poised on Aquino. Fr. Ranhillo Callangan Aquino, in his regular column at the Manila Standard Today, called for sobriety and rationality, and demanded that the Roman Catholic Church should be ready to convince the people – Catholics and non-Catholics alike – that the use of artificial means of contraception is not acceptable.

Fr. Aquino wrote: “If the Catholic Church rejects the reproductive health bill because artificial means of contraception will be readily available under the aegis of such a law, then it should rightly be asked: What does the Catholic Church have against artificial means of contraception? If the only response the Church can give is “Humanae Vitae” and the consistent teaching of the popes and of most (certainly not all!) bishops, then that is not good enough an argument for the public sphere.

“The legitimacy of enactment is determined by its rational acceptability to all whom the law shall govern (presuming, of course the legitimate constitution of the legislature that passed the measure). If all that the Catholic Church can offer in opposition to the reproductive health bill is supposed argument drawn from its own reading of Scripture and the tradition of its teaching, that is argument that cannot be rationally accepted by other members of the Philippine political community who do not share our credal premises.”

For years, proponents of family planning have attempted to pass a law that would slow down the Philippines’ 2.04% annual population growth rate, one of the highest in the world and the highest in Asia, but strong opposition from the Church had shot down all the proposals. The bill sponsors could not get enough votes to even bring the measure to the floor for deliberations because of the constant threat by the Church to campaign against lawmakers and officials who would support the proposed law.

The Church again reiterated its threat to campaign against RH Bill supporters in the last election, forcing several presidential candidates to withdraw their support to the bill. But Aquino stood his ground and still won by a landslide, in the process casting a shadow of doubt on the influence of the Church on the Filipino Catholics.

In November, a Pulse Asia survey showed that 69% of Filipinos favored the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill. This was followed by a report that in one church in Pangasinan where the priest had dared those who supported the RH Bill to leave the church, many of those attending the mass did just that.

The perceived waning influence of the Church, and the aggressive campaign by Aquino have emboldened several legislators to defy the Church position, resulting in a sudden surge of support for the RH Bill. While previously, even known supporters of the controversial bill would just keep quiet, many of them are now willing to talk against the Church position.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, for instance, said the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines should start rethinking its role in modern society or else its members would abandon it.

“The interpretation of dogma is evolving. Before, there was even a papal bull on witchcraft,” Angara said. “If the church is instrumental in the number of the poor, of malnourished and uneducated children, then it is not the church of the poor,” Angara said.

The senator urged the local Roman Catholic Church to keep in step with the times instead of propagating “outdated, unprogressive ideas.” He said that if the Catholic Church confines itself to pulpit preaching and does not back this up with social action, then it will lose moral authority.

By cutting communication lines with the State and declaring an “all-out war” against the RH Bill, the Roman Catholic Church may have overstepped its bounds. The Church has a responsibility to its flock, and the State has a responsibility to its people, Catholic or not. The Church refused to accept this fact, and has drawn the line to a battle it did not have to fight in the first place.

In conclusion, I must reiterate what I wrote in an article entitled “RH Bill: Reason Over Dogma” in October:

“The Church cannot impose on the government its belief that any kind of birth control method other than the natural method should not be allowed. The government has the responsibility, nay duty, to arrest the rapid population growth in the same manner that the Church has the responsibility to promote the spiritual well-being of its faithful according to the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church.

“Obviously, the Church will not back down on its stand. On the other hand, the government must not turn its back on its responsibility to promote the general welfare of the people, which includes keeping the population within the limits of what the government can provide in terms of basic services and what the economy can support.

“East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet” and so be it. Let the State implement a Reproductive Health Bill that’s acceptable to the people, whether they are Catholics or not, and let the Church tell its faithful to stick to the natural method of contraception and reject any other means. After all, the proposed RH Bill does not aim to impose the use of any kind of contraceptive. It only aims to inform the people of their options with regards to planning the size of their family, and to assist them once they have made their choice.

“I don’t see any problem with that arrangement, unless the Church is no longer confident that its dogma can hold its own against reason.”

(valabelgas@aol.com)