<\/a>Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n
The Catholic Church has started to bring out the big guns in its campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill.<\/p>\n\n
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle on Thursday issued a circular urging the faithful to converge at the Edsa Shrine on Saturday for a Mass and rally against the bill.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cRelying on the power of prayer and the necessity of informed awareness, we will gather together to be informed, enlightened and emboldened once more. We also wish to express why we believe the reproductive health bill is not the solution to our many problems as individuals and as a country as it will even give rise to many other problems more pernicious and pervasive than the ones we face in the present,\u201d Tagle said.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI enjoin all parish priests and leaders of communities and lay movements to rally their members and endorse participation in this important gathering aimed at communicating a strong and sincere appeal to the goodwill of our legislators,\u201d Tagle said in his letter.<\/p>\n\n
The prayer rally will be a show of force for the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) after President Benigno Aquino in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week urged the swift passage of the bill, which would provide universal access and information on natural and modern family methods and reduce the number of mothers and babies dying during childbirth.<\/p>\n\n
On August 7, the House will vote on whether to wrap up debate and move the bill forward.\u00a0 CBCP officials said they would have a vigil at the House on the eve of the vote and that mass actions would also be held in other dioceses.<\/p>\n\n
Time for a vote <\/strong><\/p>\n\nPresident Aquino said Thursday it was time to put the bill to a vote.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI hope that the point when we need to vote comes. Otherwise, Congress may have already adjourned and we\u2019re still in the period of debate; so we won\u2019t know what the people want. Perhaps the debate should be wrapped up, and we should make a decision on this so-called responsible parenthood bill once and for all,\u201d Mr. Aquino told reporters in an ambush interview.<\/p>\n\n
On the anti-RH rally, Mr. Aquino said: \u201cWe\u2019re all prolife, aren\u2019t we? We want an improved quality of life for our countrymen. So that is their right and I\u2019m sure they will not endeavor to do anything against the law. So we will secure this rally if it pushes through.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Malaca\u00f1ang on Thursday also shrugged off an announcement that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is now a Pampanga representative, will vote against the measure and that seven of her allies had withdrawn sponsorship of the measure.<\/p>\n\n
Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said that Arroyo and Catholic bishops have been vocal about their opposition to the bill. He said the Church\u2019s invitation to her to join the anti-RH rally should not be given political meaning. Arroyo was freed last week from eight months of hospital arrest after posting bail on election sabotage charges against her.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI would not want to speak on behalf of the bishops about whether or not this is leading to some kind of support for the former President. This is a measure that should not be viewed in stark political terms because it actually got societal implications,\u201d he said in a briefing.<\/p>\n\n
Not Aquino-Arroyo showdown<\/strong><\/p>\n\nA vote on the bill should not be seen as a showdown between Mr. Aquino, the bill\u2019s chief campaigner, and Arroyo, Carandang said.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an important measure and we\u2019re not viewing it in terms of partisan politics. It\u2019s something that we feel is long overdue. It needs to be done, and we\u2019re doing it in that context. I understand that there are observers who are viewing this (showdown) in that way, but we\u2019re simply looking at it right now as a measure that has oppositors, that needs to go through the process and we\u2019ll leave it at that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
Carandang said Malaca\u00f1ang respected the withdrawal of support by some lawmakers, but did not view the entire anti-RH bill campaign as \u201cArroyo\u2019s effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe respect the democratic space in which the debate is being undertaken. At the same time, we hope that our friends in Congress will see the wisdom of this measure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n
While Catholic bishops have counted 140 lawmakers as opposed to the measure based on survey and public consultations, Carandang said it was too early to tell whether the administration had the numbers to defeat them.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cYou can never tell until the vote is there. But we are confident that we have support,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that those of us who are on the administration\u2019s side will continue to support this effort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Massive Church rally set against RH bill | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Massive Church rally set against RH bill | Inquirer 黑料社","description":"The Catholic Church has started to bring out the big guns in its campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Massive Church rally set against RH bill | Inquirer 黑料社","twitter_description":"The Catholic Church has started to bring out the big guns in its campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2011\/12\/tagle1.jpg","twitter_creator":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_site":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"clopez","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill"},"author":{"name":"clopez","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/person\/91c1a69d7fdbe2f93c3d8d5bad13d454"},"headline":"Massive Church rally set against RH bill","datePublished":"2012-08-02T16:38:32+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-02T21:42:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill"},"wordCount":837,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2011\/12\/tagle1.jpg","keywords":["Congress","Government","Legislation","Politics","Population","Religion","RH bill","Senate","Social Issues"],"articleSection":["Banner Story","Editors' Picks","Headlines","Latest 黑料社 Stories","Nation","Nation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2012","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.inquirer.net\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill","name":"Massive Church rally set against RH bill | Inquirer 黑料社","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2011\/12\/tagle1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-08-02T16:38:32+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-02T21:42:44+00:00","description":"The Catholic Church has started to bring out the big guns in its campaign against the reproductive health (RH) bill.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/241737\/massive-church-rally-set-against-rh-bill#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2011\/12\/tagle1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2011\/12\/tagle1.jpg","width":"600","height":"450","caption":"Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle. 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