Support HB4110 or Reproductive Health Care Act

We the undersigned express our support of HB 4110, The Reproductive Health Care Act.

We fully support the bill’s principles as laid out in Section 2.

We all hope for a healthy Filipino society. We believe the bill will help us build such a society where reproductive health care is available to anyone and everyone, free of discrimination on age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, and religious affiliation or non-affiliation. Where policies concerning reproductive health care that affects everyone is not dictated by any particular religion or belief system. We believe in the right to choose one’s method of planning a family and spacing children, or to choose to have no children at all. The rights of the individual to choose according to his conscience don’t fall under the aegis of self-proclaimed moral authorities of the religious establishment.

The Philippines is a nation of diverse religious beliefs/non-beliefs. No single belief system represents the whole diversity of Filipino religious and non-religious thought or belief nor does any of its leaders speak for all its adherents. The continued opposition by the leaders of certain sects is a clear encroachment on the rights to free choice on reproductive health methods and services of every Filipino, and trample on the rights of those who do not adhere to their beliefs. We strongly condemn the negative campaign being waged by these leaders to mislead its adherents by misrepresenting the bill’s content, and by resorting to using dogmatic, unscientific, and outmoded beliefs to support its arguments.

We strongly support the legislation because we believe this is for the well-being our nation in particular and humanity in general as we face the future of a planet with limited resources.

Please read the bill here: http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/population/documents/HB4110.pdf

Please sign the petition here.

Did Rizal Retract?

Rizal was not Catholic. At least for most of his adult life. He was most probably a deist like most freethinkers of his time. Sabi ng Katolikong Simbahan si Rizal daw ay nag-retract ngunit walang matibay na prueba ang Simbahan. Maliban sa testimonya ng pari, ang "ebidensiya" ng Simbahan ay isang sulat daw na pinirmahan ni Rizal nung araw bago siya pinatay. Yung dokumentong ito ay "nawala" daw kasama na rin ng dokumento ng di umano'y Katolikong kasal ni Rizal kay Josephine. Hindi maipakita ng Katolikong Simbahan ang dokumentong sinasabi kahit na mailang ulit na hiningi ng pamilya ni Rizal. "Natagpuan" lang ang mga mahahalagang dokumentong ito noong 1935, o 39 na taon matapos ma-firing squad si Rizal. As suggested already, the Catholic Church should submit the supposed retraction letter to an independent forensic investigating body, for example, the FBI, to settle once and for all the issue that the retraction letter is not a fabrication but the Church has not been frorthcoming in this regard.

Priest as drinking buddy

This article from the Inquirer reminded me of an occasion many many years ago. When a HS friend of mine had his son baptized, one of the godfathers was the Paete parish priest of the time, also named Tony. He was a drinker and being the priest that he was, he can really sing (I always think priests are good singers) likes to sing as well. In fact, he had his own karaoke machine to bring along with him. While drinking, he told us stories and anecdotes about sex. Yes, he was a priest; a Catholic priest. I wonder where he is now?

After Holy Week

Somebody commented that Holy Week must be the happiest holidays in Paete. I can only agree with him. It's during this time of year that friends and family alike gather together like that other holiday - Christmas - only better: no pesky ina-anaks. LOLs. The good part of Holy Week is that Christians or more precisely the Catholics and Aglipayans are not supposed to be obviously happy during this time and must pretend that they are grieving, and hence must not be somewhere else having fun like the heathens in Boracay. So your typical Paetenian Catholic family finds itself holed up in a small town of about 20,000 people with nowhere to go but in spite of it are genuinely happier. What I like about this special week is that people are up and down around town on slippers and pambahay endlessly checking the on-going preparation for the evening prusisyon. Most probably I'd bump into somebody I haven't seen for years. This year, I couldn't take a break since I have a more important reason to take my vacation next month. I wish I can take my usual vacation during next year's Lenten season. Until then, belated Happy Holy Week to the Paetenians!

Rizal No Retracto

I found a gem of a blog. I am sure I will be back for more.

The Unholy Father Apologizes

Holy Cow! Mr. Pope apologized to the Muslims. It's a good sign or what? This pope guy is not "sinless" or "holy" - whatever those words mean. He is just as human as anybody else, prone to commit mistakes. Haha.

Anger with Pope Benedict XVI had intensified across the Muslim world Saturday, uniting Sunni Islam's leading authority, Malaysia's moderate premier, and Afghanistan's extremist Taliban militia.

Now, that's a potently dangerous mix of nutcases to get angry at the pope, don't you think? Is Mr. Pope afraid of going to heaven now courtesy of a fatwa?

Catholic Education: Good or Evil?

My 3 1/2 year old daughter is attending a Catholic-run yochien since they came back last week. This morning, they had an activity for the Marian Festival. They had to bring flowers and offer them to, I presume to be, a graven image of Mary. My wife told me my daughter was asking her WHY do they have to offer flower to it. I couldn't remember if she told me what answer she gave her. I was alarmed because my daughter is just 3 1/2 years old. Even the coloring materials are pictures of Mary! My wife is Catholic. Because the yochien is near our place it is very convenient for us but I feel uncomfortable about the quick turn of events. My wife thinks it's okay because my daughter can always change her mind later just as *I* changed my mind on the matter. I am not worried about that. What I am worried and against is that why do they have to put the kids at such tender age to such activities centering to what I think is a LIE. I am afraid it's gonna make an impression on her and may confuse her later on. I plan to convince my wife to transfer our daughter to another non-religious yochien next year. It's gonna be a long argument about something that I had been avoiding for the longest time. I had given her many reasons why those activities are bad but since she is herself Catholic and a believer, she is quite irritated by my arguments and wont entertain anymore of it so I usually stop before if I see signs of breaking point. I will continue next opportunity to again argue my case but I would like to ask others who have been in the same situation before what have they done, by experience, given a similar situation and what have been the results.

I have many friends who are of different beliefs but at the same time were also Catholic-school educated since, they say, in their place the Catholic-run schools are simply the best in their country. This is of course debatable given that being religion-run, the world-view and frame of reference itself may exclude the teaching of more "radical" theories because the education policies are being decided by religious orders who have something to protect. This is exactly like in the high school I attended where sciences were deplorable. For example, biology should teach evolution as a science devoid of any references to religion but all I could remember being taught were taxonomy, cells, basic anatomy.

Holy Week in Paete, Laguna

If you have visited the Philippine Atheists web recently, I posted two pictures of the traditional afternoon procession of the dead Christ in Paete, Laguna. This procession is called locally as Dapit. In my whole life, I have been only a spectator of the Friday events, except one time when my college friends came over for a visit. But I used to participate in the Wednesday events way back before then. Dapit starts at around 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon so the sun is still blazing and hot. The poon is brought to the Catholic church for the mass later in the evening followed by the evening procession. Here are more pictures that came with those I posted in the website.

In the first set of pictures, the figure is taken from the Catholic church and brought to the house of the family who owns it. Then on Friday afternoon, it's taken out for Dapit (the pictures I took) going back to the church for mass. The Friday evening procession is the "main event" of the Holy Week celebration in this town of about 23,000 people. I hope others will post more pictures later. It's only today I learned that there are more ceremonies/rituals with the same poon.

These Holy Week events have become a popular tourist attraction for some time now. It's also the time where townfolks who have settled elsewhere come back and visit their remaining relatives which is one good reason to go home on these days as the town comes alive with plenty of out-of-towners. It's also the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends who take their vacation during this time of year to come home.

On Good Friday, no marching bands will accompany the processions, neither will the bells be knelt. Instead, pieces of metals attached to small planks of wood will be used like clappers (forgot what its called) together with split bamboos are used throughout the procession for sound effects. The bells will not be knelt until early morning of Easter, when another procession traces its way across town with the poon Risen Christ.