First paper for this Academic year

On my way to school, I usually commute from my house all the way to DLSU and every single school day I pass by this crowded place in Recto full of illegal settlers. The fact that they live right beside the streets of Recto does not bother me anymore, I got used to it because they have been there ever since I started college. What bothers me is that every time I pass by there, there are a lot of kids that are left playing in the streets unattended. And if ever they are accompanied by adults, those adults are usually carrying another baby and gossiping.

This brings up the never ending issue about the RH Bill. Right now, the government refers to it as “Responsible Parenthood Bill”.  

An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population Development and for Other Purposes.

This bill is aiming to guarantee universal access to methods and information on birth control and maternal care.

One of the “main concerns” of this bill is our country’s growing population. Right now, the Philippines is the 12^th most populous nation in the world. Also, the rapid population growth of our country exacerbates poverty.

This bill has a lot of supporters however it has also been receiving a lot of criticism from different people from different social status. There are a lot of people who are in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill, especially the Philippine Government, simply because the country’s population has been growing like crazy and it is getting harder for the government to address it. Also according to the empirical studies, poverty incidents are higher as the family gets bigger because you have more kids to send to school and more mouths to feed. Giving birth is also one of the major cause of death in the country, around 10 mothers die each day because of giving birth and lack of proper health care.

Apparently, there are several closed-minded people here in the country who thinks that supporting the RH Bill is a sin. Their reasons are of as follows: It is promoting abortion, The bill takes away limited government funds from treating many high priority medical and food needs and transfers them to fund objectively harmful and deadly devices, contraceptives have deleterious social effects, contraceptives causes cancer, The penal provisions constitute a violation of free choice and conscience, and establishes religious persecution, and the list could go on and on and on.

I honestly am for the passing of the Responsible Parenthood Bill. As well as our president! President Aquino stated he was not an author of the bill. He also stated that he gives full support to a firm population policy, educating parents to be responsible, providing contraceptives to those who ask for them, but he refuses to promote contraceptive use.

I have read the bill back in 2008. Yes, I am that curious about it even at such a very young age. To tell you honestly, there’s actually nothing wrong about it. It doesn’t legalize abortion nor does it promote the use of contraceptives, this is according to my understanding, it only legalizes the use of contraceptives. Those people who have a lot of rebuttals against this bill does not know the difference between the words promoting and legalizing.

There is just one thing that I do not understand when it comes to this issue; it is a question that has been running through my mind for several years now, why is the Catholic Church involved in these kinds of issue? As I remember my history class, the church and the government are two separate institutions and it has been like that for several decades now. So, why is the Catholic Church getting involved?

As Filipino citizens, we ourselves should know and set our own limits. We should be educated about the things like planning our own families! In this way, we can help stop, or at least prevent, these kinds of issues. Yes, we are entitled to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness but we should know where our boundaries are.

This paper has been very one-sided and I honestly don’t know where it is going but I do know where it started, it all started with over population. Hopefully, the government especially our president makes the right choice when it comes to passing this bill.