“The ratio of tolerance of our bishops towards the excesses of the Arroyo regime is directly proportional to their intolerance for condoms and contraceptives.” – Philip Gilmore
Health secretary Esperanza Cabral decided to distribute free condoms “to those who cannot afford it” because HIV/AIDS cases are spreading at an alarming rate. That earned her the ire of the Catholic Church.
One bishop denounced her timely intervention as immoral and warned her that, “she already has one foot in hell and many more might suffer the same fate” if she did not stop what she was doing.
“It’s very immoral for someone in a government position to support the distribution of condoms which we know, do not really reduce or stop the spread of HIV-AIDS. It’s scary because it’s the morality of our society, especially of our youth, that is at stake. We only wish that Cabral would change because she already has one foot in hell. People might suffer the same fate,” the bishop said.
Another bishop refused to accept the fact that Cabral’s primary duty as the secretary of health is to safeguard the public’s physical wellbeing, not their spiritual health and salvation. He wanted her fired for reasons that would make sense only if the Philippines were a theocratic state like Iran or an Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
“Secretary Cabral should not continue serving until June because the culture and morality of society will be endangered under her. First, she does not respect the big number of Catholics in the country who oppose the distribution of condoms. Second, is she Catholic? I doubt that she is. Because if you are a Catholic and in the government, you should be living the teachings of the Church. But she is doing the opposite.”
Cabral wants to prevent life from becoming a living hell for a lot of people and she gets hell for it. So I’m glad someone, deputy Palace spokesman Gary Olivar, reminded the bishops of the different standards that apply to the secular and religious worlds.
“We should remember that public officials should be judged by standards of public policy interest as set forth in our laws and legal precedents and not the morality of this or that institution,” he said.
Unfortunately Olivar’s colleague, returning deputy spokesman Ricardo Saludo, proved to be a big disappointment. Well, actually he’s not, not to a bishop spinning yarns.
“Long before AIDS spread in the Philippines, it reached alarming levels in countries that strongly promote condoms. Also, condoms may encourage risky sex by making people think that such behavior is made safe by condoms,” Saludo said.
Never mind that the spread of HIV/AIDS is more likely caused by the shortcomings of safe-sex education programs than malfunctioning condoms and never mind that the teachings of self-appointed guardians of morality went unheeded? Or maybe it’s because feigned ignorance from someone who ought to know better helps promote a lie.
Esperanza Cabral is doing the right thing. Gloria Arroyo is doing the right thing. The bishops are barking up the wrong tree. If they are really honest about it, they will admit to their fault and not lay the blame on Cabral and, by implication, Arroyo whom they will never attack frontally. We know why they give her a free pass on corruption and human rights abuses but that’s another matter for another day.
For now, let’s just remind the bishops to do a little self-examination, to find out why they can’t get their parishioners to heed their teachings about morality and sex, and to stay the hell out of the way of a public servant who is doing her job.
Popularity: 2% [?]
To remain rooted in 15th century practices when we are dealing with the wonders of the 21st century gives God a bad name and suggests He can’t adapt to the power and wonders of the intellect He granted man.
Joe
Panalo ‘tong comment na ‘to \m/
MB, Catholic bishops in this country are not open-minded. They are, by and large, thickheaded. Except perhaps for a few, they are self-serving bigots. They should not only do a little but a thorough self-examination and they might find some of them are quite prone to homosexuality and pedophilia.
This calls for a new Oratio Imperata.
Risk avoidance and risk reduction worked in Uganda…
More on ABC of HIV/AIDS here.
I hope Dr. C of DOH will not just Concentrate on the C of the ABC of HIV prevention…
abstinence is unnatural if that is what one wants people to do.
sex is good. the surge of hormones produced by orgasm are better than any pain-relieving or stress-alleviating drug out in the market.
we should have more safe sex.
besides, if one is Catholic and believes one believes it is a matter of faith not to use condoms, then you won’t use it even if it’s given for free.
Surely Noynoy is perfectly aware that reproductive health/safe sex goes beyond his political-slogan of “Parental responsibility”.
As the United nations says:
“…condoms, when distributed with educational materials as part of a comprehensive prevention package, have been shown to significantly lower sexual risk and activity, both among those already sexually active and those who are not.” – UNAIDS, October 2004.4”
People who do not abstain should do everything possible to reduce risk, including using condoms.
All couples (married or not married) should understand the role of condoms with regards unplanned pregnancies.
And a robust educational program should be instituted to reduce the Pilipinas illiteracy on egg- and sperm-cells, the illiteracy about condoms, “the pill” and IUD’s.
ABC (where A is risk avoidance and BC are risk reduction strategies) is in fact a program of our DOH although what is highlighted recently is the C in the ABC.
From the ABC link given above:
further…
toss in a small boy so they’ll fight each other instead
*snicker*
haha!
Ah, the bishops… still have no idea how irrelevant they had become in the modern world, still deluded of the old power and self-importance, contributing a lot in the paralysis of humanity, parasites who live off the hard work of others, promising heaven in the ether.
Let me ask those religious leaders. Is it more sin to bring people
into this world that their parents cannot feed. Or more sin to bring
them in, because your religious dogmas tell it so…
You cannot prevent people from copulating. Making babies. Especially,
if that is the only way of their entertainment.
USE CONDOMS, NO MATTER WHAT THOSE IDIOTS TELL YOU!
i agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a catholic priest said, cabral’s one foot is already in hell! how can he say that? does he look at himself as a prophet? my advice to him, shut up’ and start yellin to those priest who molested childrens, those who have sexual affairs with a married women,doing gambling like sabong and majjong,and stop milking money from those churchgoers just to have a money to spend for their illigitimate children and other bad vices!
Amen, brother, amen!!!
Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases selected highlights:
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
Douglas Kirby, Ph.D., November, 2007
Teka muna, ang gawa ng Pinoy sa Pilipinas hindi katulad ng gawa ng mga Ugandans sa Afrika. Aba, talagang ubod na sikat ang Pilipinas dahil kristiyanong kristiyano ang bayang magiliw.
MB,
so you are implying that overpopulation and the spread of HIV, totally dependent of the influence of religion? Me thinks, it’s economic primarily.
sex maniac siguro mga pinoy? lol. and are those condoms made for Filipino size? Horny Mang Juan normally will not use his brain but will use his manhood. He has no time to think especially when the stomach is hungry.
NATURAL SOLUTIONS : Give the people employment especially women so that they will not work as a prostitute. Reduce illegal drugs in the country so that gay guys will not invite others for a threesome.
Keep mang Juan and Pedro busy with work..
Since the Philippines future is almost doomed anyway, people might as well enjoy sex!!!
Leytenian,
I am not implying, I am saying that condoms can prevent HIV/AIDS transfer during intercourse. Condoms are also effective for birth control.
My article makes no reference to the sexual urges of Filipinos, their religious preference, their economic state, nor their future.
MB,
church teaching is not contributing to the cause of HIV. In fact, the Philippines is a low HIV-prevalence country. And most likely from church teaching on morality. True condoms can prevent the spread of HIV but that strategy alone is not the solution. I agree with the church that Cabral’s primary duty as the secretary of health is to safeguard the public’s physical well being, not their spiritual health and salvation.
To manage the physical well being of this country is not just about condoms. Cabral’s duty is to educate and manage these problems:
Leytenian,
The only reason the Philippines has a low HIV prevalence rate is we have zero reporting/monitoring capacities. Coupled with the ignorance and stigma attached to the disease, nobody wants to come out and be counted. With the number of Filipinos coming and going from all over the world, our rates are impossibly low.
Leytenian,
“to find out why they can’t get their parishioners to heed their teachings about morality and sex,”
That phrase speaks of the religious preference of the bishops who happen to be Filipinos as in all those bishops are Filipinos but not all Filipinos are bishops so what that phrase means is that those filipinos who are bishops who think in a certain way about morality and sex should examine themselves and find out why they can’t sell their religious views to Filipinos.
Sparks,
Not to mention the number of doctors who diagnose appendicitis as malaria, or HIV as UTI.
Joe
Sparks,
good point. It is therefore the job of the DOH to safeguard our border thru collective effort among the other departments such as immigration, employment drug and blood test and many others. It is also the duty of this department to educate the people on Risk factors and prevention. Condoms is only a component to that solution.
The Church’s teaching has been coherent, constant and will not change. Th church teaches us that conscience is not an internal excuse container that permits us to do whatever we please. Rather it is ” the interior voice of a human being, within whose heart the inner law of God is inscribed. Moral conscience is a judgment of practical reason about the moral quality of a human action. It moves a person at the appropriate moment to do good and avoid evil”
MB,
whatever !!!. lol
Leytenian,
Its wrong to murder, commit adultery etc. What’s wrong about using condoms?
sparks,
the Church did not teach us to toss reason out the window but on the truthfulness about generosity and openness to life.
honestly, i hate condoms. what about you?
the bishops should BEGIN TO REALIZE that the catholic church is not the government.
why do they keep talking as if theirs is the final say in governance?
Tremors to the Catholic Church. Can a country with years and years of being under Spain with oligarchs and poverty and all those problems really be able to break from the stranglehold of the Catholic bishops? Does cerveza on a hot summer’s day taste good?! Maybe it is time for pinoys to eat tamales and burritos in addition to arroz.
—————
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican wedding may never be the same.
On March 5, 2010, this sprawling megalopolis will catapult to the front lines of gay rights in Latin America when a city law legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption goes into effect.
The prospect of gay marriage has sent tremors through the Catholic Church, drawn the opposition of President Felipe Calderón and his conservative National Action Party (PAN), and spotlighted the power of Mexico City’s center-left Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) leaders to advance a liberal agenda that contrasts with provincial traditionalism. Is there a drink called cerveza?
The Order of Augustinian Recollects owns the patent for San Miguel pale pilsen. Their head priest sits on the board of Danding’s San Miguel Corporation.
Ano kaya’t mag-reverse donation naman tayo.
Physical health and well being of the people is not the primary duty of the church but the department of health. duh !!!
This should be the advocacy of the Ladlad’s party if they are truly willing to help the country. According to statistics, gay men are at high risk.
It’s advantageous to us people when the church mind other’s business. I think the church is demanding from the department of health to deliver their highest duty and implement what needs to be done.
Me thinks, the DOH is working for an alibi for their own shortcomings and poor governance on people’s Physical health and wellness.
leytenian,
the church is demanding that the DOH stop giving away condoms. Period.
MB,
Please accept the reality that the Church’s teaching has been coherent, constant and will not change. A teaching does not have to be formally announced accurate to be true. This means that when the church teach on a matter of faith and morals, they cannot err.
The distribution of condoms is only a small solution to a very big problem. The DOH can do better than just condoms… if you know what I mean. People needs more than just condoms BUT of grassroots education on Risk and prevention of HIV.
Let me be honest to you, your blog only focus on the church demands against condom without considering the other risk factors and the DUTY of the DOH. Let your commenters speak broadly about your blog unless you want to lose some credibility?
It’s not ” period” yet…
second, what is the DOH’s alternative option to distribute condoms? the church is not responsible to find an alternative solution. There’s a lot of ways to distribute it but it sounded like the DOH is too weak against the church.
Leytenian,
Please accept the reality that Cabral works at the Department of Health an agency of the government of the Philippines not the Catholic Church nor the Vatican.
She is tasked with formulating and implementing health related public policy not Catholic dogma.
Although catholic means universal, Catholic only refers to the a specific sect.
second,
“second, what is the DOH’s alternative option to distribute condoms?”
Borrow knives from the Church and castrate all men?
“the church is not responsible to find an alternative solution.”
Yes but it can offer one besides telling everyone, including non-believers, that condoms don’t work and they should just refrain from Church sanctioned sexual activities.
“There’s a lot of ways to distribute it but it sounded like the DOH is too weak against the church.”
This I honestly do not understand because Cabral is defying the Church and the Church is powerless to do anything about it.
MB,
well, you said, its the excesses of Gloria Arroyo which may also implicate that this department cannot deliver? The church should not be used as an alibi for governance. Private entities , non profit org and other organizations can actually distribute or sell condoms according to the demand. The function of the DON is create the demand of condoms thru educating the public that condoms can prevent aids,can reduce transmission of sexual disease among high rik groups and can control pregnancy. ..
governance using the supply and demand concept. To empower the people, education is key. goodnite..
correction: The function of the DOH is to create the demand of condoms by educating the public about the risk of getting HIV, how sexual disease is transmitted and its consequence. The DOH don’t need to mention about condom or any contraceptives, just basic education for awareness. The public may respond differently.
The problem with DOH is directly opposing the church. A well planned awareness program is crucial.
Laging sinasabi ng simbahan (pasintabi sa mga kandado sagrado de Katoliko) na ang pagbibigay ng condom ay pagpapahayag ng suporta sa pre marital sex at infidelity sa mag asawa. Pero matagal nang nangyayari ito bago pa ang RH Bill at pagkalat ng condom. Ang moralidad ay trabaho ng simbahan, habang ang gobyerno ay population control. Pilit sinasabi ng simbahan ang humayo at magpakarami, pero kaya ba nilang tulungan ang mga pamilyang may sampung anak na ang tanging kita lamang ng isang tatay ay kulang pa sa pansarili niya paano pa ang mga anak at asawa niya. Kaya bang suportahan ng simbahan ang iyan. Lumabas kaya sila at tignan ang totoong problema ng lumalaking populasyon pati na rin ang paglaki ng bilang ng tao ba may sexually transmitted disease at AIDS, yun ba masosolusyunan din nila, I’m sure itataboy pa nila ang mga taong ito dahil immoral ito sa paningin nila.
I am a non-believer, but I think there is a moral question here. The Catholic bishop has a duty to do-to implement the rule of their religion amongst the Catholic faithfuls. It is the duty of the faithfuls to follow the rule of their religion else why join at all then be recalcitrants? I think that a tie-breaker would be that a catholic should not use condom or other forbidden methods, and/or, use condom but get out of the catholic church. The Catholics can’t have it both ways…have their condom (cake) and eat it too :-).
Agree. Go to the INK, Aglipayan, protestant. Quiboloy? you’ll find GMA there.
karamihan sa inyo ay hinde nakakaunawa sa side ng simbahan. kailangan unawain nyo muna bago nyo atakihin.
1) Ang pagtatalik ay handog (gift) of God
2) Ang pagtanggap ng handog ay may kaakibat na responsibilidad
3) Ang pagtatalik ay pagtanggap sa responsibilidad na pwedeng mabuntis
4) Kapag sumiping ka sa asawa mo, di pwede sabihin na “God gusto ko enjoy pero ayaw ko magpalaki ng anak”
5) Sa kantantu ng mag-asawa lagi kasama si Lord di sya pwede etse-pwera.
Yan ang dahilan kung bakit ganoon na lang kagigil ang mga pari.
At pwede rin namang hindi ka sumunod sa mga pari. Pero kung takot kang baka mapunta sa impiyerno, sabi nga ni Bert, lumipat ka na lang ng relihiyon. Meron naman diyan hindi pansin ang kondom, o kaya’y ang turo ay nasa lupa daw ang impiyerno.
hinde mo pa rin gets. its not about susunod ka o hinde sa mga pari. its all about God, from the Catholic point of view. Basahin mo uli ang paliwanag ko.
Hinde pwede na tumutotkan ka kay esmi at sasabihin mo “Lord, di ka kasali dito”
Hindi naman lahat ng tao ay katulad mong naniniwala sa God.
sablay pa rin macapili. first you understand what the priest are saying.
Joma, pari ka siguro, mahirap kausap.
hinde naman. at saka naintindihan kita kasi ako din noong pinaliwanag sa akin halos 3 buwan bago ko naintindihan (not meaning na agree ako).
At the heart of the rejection by the Catholics ay ang pinaliwanag ko. Sundan mo lang without putting your opinion and kung mahirap pa rin then just let it go.
joma,
Gagamit ako ng kondom, sino ang makapipigil sa akin?
for sure, hinde ako.
Joma,
Wala. konsiyensya ko lang. May karapatan ngang magbawal ang pari ng paggamit ng kondom sa kanilang parokyano, pero karapatan din ng mga parokyanong sundin ang sarili nilang kagustuhan. Ang mali, pagbawalan ang gobyerno at takutin ang mga opisyal, malinaw na pakikialam na at pagbabalewala sa prinsipiyo ng paghihiwalay ng simbahan at gobyerno.
Mac,
Wala akong disagreement sa huling sinabi mo sa palitan na ito.
Pareho tayong supporter ng separation of church and the state. Ang pilit kong nilalagyan ng diin ay ang dahilan kung bakit kontra ang mga pari (simbahan) sa pag-gamit ng condom or other means of unnatural birth control, na sa palagay ko ay hinde nauunawaan ng karamihan – including you.
Yung pakikialam ng simbahan? noon pa yan, long before there was condom or maybe long before you and me were born.
But ask yourself: are these priests so stupid they could not understand the secular side of the condom issue?
Ang buhay ay sa Diyos at ang paggamit ng kondom at kontraseptib ay pakikialam sa gawain ng Diyos. Ito ang sabi ng paring katoliko, pero nasa parukyano na ang pagtanggap. Kung ito ang gusto mong pagusapan, ayaw kong sumali dahil marami nang pantas ang nagtalo sa usapin ito at hangga ngayon hiwalay pa rin sa paniniwala ang tao. Sabi nga ni Schopenhauer ang kanyang buhay daw ay hindi kakaiba sa buhay ng lamok na tinampal at namatay sa kanyang palad.
joma,
yan nga ang dahilan ng mga pari. at may karapatan silang sunurin yan at subukan ipatuwad sa kanilang mga parokyano. Pero wala silang pakilalam doon sa mga gustong mag paraos lang o mag enjoy sa pagtatalik. Sa ibang punto de bista pwede na din sabihin sa kanila na sa inyo kaluluwa ko pero ang katawan ko ay akin.
yun ang punto. kung hinde mo tanggap na ang pagtatalik ay handog ng dyos at laging kasama ang dyos at responsibilidad, then di nga tayo magkakasalubong. sa (doctrina) ng katoliko ang condom or artificial means of prevention is putting god out of equation.
to be sure, ang paraos lang (sa iba) is looked as being illegal as compared sa mga legal na misis.
ayun, sa katoliko ang katawan mo ay sa iyo, but when you use the gift of sexual pleasure sa asawa mo kasama lagi ang dyos at di sya pwede etse-pwera.
if we understand their point of view, then mas madali ang paguusap (sana)
joma,
“ayun, sa katoliko ang katawan mo ay sa iyo, but when you use the gift of sexual pleasure sa asawa mo kasama lagi ang dyos at di sya pwede etse-pwera”
Salamat, Joma. Ngayon naiintindihan ko na kung bakit madalas madinig ang Oh God Oh God sa oras ng orgasm
anytime..
Blek. Panay salita naman mga bishops e. If they were really serious, they should begin excommunication proceedings against these Catholic government officials.
Even animals know over population is not good. Some resort to what is called filial cannibalism – they eat their young, selectively. Those that do not grow as fast gets eaten first.
macapili,
Alam mo kasi, ang mga animal, ay hindi “Utak ng Tilapia.” Dito sa Daly City, California na paka sobrang Pilipinos, halos para bang Manila na. LOL!
I was in LA last September and bought a few items at the Eagle Rock mall. Nandoon ang Jollibee, Chow King, Goldilocks, Burger King, at may tinadahan ng bombay na puro Pacquiao t-shirt ang benta. Daming pinoy paroo’t parito. At sa gitna ng pasilyo may aleng nagkakaraoke na bumabanat ng Whitney Houston. Hindi kaya ito pinoy occupation of America na? Kaya siguro narito si Joe sa Pinas. At sa dami na ng OFW, pati China, Russia, Greenland at Antartica meron na, at continue pa rin ang over production ng mga babies, dahil bawal ang kondom, kaya hindi malayong ma take over ng pinoy ang buong mundo. Aaaay, huwag naman sana. Baka sila magaya sa election natin.
UNAIDS data on the Philippines
Religious dogmas tell us there is Hell and Heaven. People are killing
themselves and bombing others to get to Paradise or Heaven. If you
dont follow the religious dogmas. You go to Hell. Ask the Bishops where
Hell is located. What Planet in this universe. I dont believe in Hell.
It is just a mindset concieved by religious people to scare people to
follow them. And to contribute to their Churches. To Hell with all
those dogmas! It is where they belong…
Condoms don’t have upstanding moral values or common sense, people do.
Check that . . .
People don’t either, in this matter of keeping the population growth rate south of insane . . .
Lesson: don’t think like a condom.
Joe
Picking up a line of thought from another overbeaten blog thread and dropping it here, because it is relevant to the rate of babies being popped out into the happy lands.
Curiosity. Point raised by Bert. Are the Filipino poor who accept their lot in life happier than mainstream Americans who are caught up in a competition to always do better than the neighbor and acquire lots of material goods? It is a fascinating question to me, for if Americans suffer in their drive to out-compete others, why should one (one being me, in particular), argue that American style productivity and careers and aspirations are right for the Philippines? Or that the level of birthing in the Philippines should be reduced?
I’m not sure how to answer that, except that I think the purpose of a nation is to provide safety and security and the opportunity to grow, and with growing, to prosper. Certainly a much higher share of Americans have a decent house to live in; there are few squatter’s villages in the US. Not all Americans have access to good health care, but it is much worse in the Philippines. Americans are less secure because the US is the object of terrorist attacks, a result of its global policies; a city could be wiped out with a wayward nuke hauled in undercover by a terrorist. The Philippines does not have to worry about that, having zilch-negative international policies except to ask for money. Of course, the Philippines has to worry about the murderous inclinations of its own people, where every competition or election seems to turn angry, and then to guns. The US has its slaughter on the Freeways, as deaths from road accidents makes Iraq and Afghanistan pale in terms of body count. The Philippines sends its sons and daughters abroad to make a living; does that have any relevance at all? Certainly the trafficking in young girls for sex is a horrible stigma in the Philippines and speaks loudly about the seamier side of poverty. But in the US, the amount of money spent on drugs and booze and porn movies is astounding. So America is no bastion of high moral living, for sure.
I somehow think the notion that the poor are happy is a bit of an illusion, and, if given the choice, the poor would want more money so they could have a nicer home and more clothes and more food on the table. So from that, I would say the motivation to do more and be more and have more exists, just as it does in the US, but the opportunities to realize such gains do not. Hope for a better life is missing, so accepting one’s current lot in life is the outcome, and, with that, happiness wherever it may be found.
Is giving up acceptable? This knowing that there is absolutely no way forward? THAT is what makes for happiness?
I tend to think not. I think the human spirit is fulfilled by striving and by accomplishing, and even by falling down and getting back up again.
So I think the American formula of giving its citizens a whole wide range of opportunities to find self fulfillment is admirable. Happiness achieved by conceding to one’s lot in life is somehow missing a important value: The opportunity to find and be something greater . . . otherwise known as “hope” and “aspiration”.
“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for . . .” Something like that.
And I think the attitude of the Catholic Church that each life is precious, so go out an make a lot of them, is about as backward as it gets, oppressing the masses with hopelessness for years and years.
Joe
This is a story I’m sure you’ve heard many times, but it’s apt to repeat it here. One nice summer day Juan is lying on the beach, smoking a cigarette, with his head resting on his arms while a swaying bamboo pole with a fishing line is held between his legs. A tourist happens to walk along and with an American accent says to Juan: “You are not fishing properly, stand up and wade into the water and there throw your line.” Juan gives him a lazy look and asks: “Why?” “So you can catch more fish.”, answers the tourist. “Why?”, asks Juan. “So you can sell more fish and make more money.”, answers the tourist. “Why?”, Juan asks. “With the money, you can buy a boat and catch more fish.”, says the tourist. “Why”, Juan asks. “So you can make more money and buy a ship?”, answers the tourist. “Why?”, Juan asks. “So you can catch a lot more fish and make a lot more money.”, answers the tourist. “Why?”, Juan asks. “So you can retire and enjoy life.” answers the tourist. Juan puffs his cigarette a little longer, slowly makes circles of smoke, then says to the tourist, “And what do you think am I doing now?” End of story.
macapili,
So is that what you think? Tourists and their ilk should butt out, birth rates are irrelevant, and there is no need for Filipinos to aspire toward a better life, where “better” is defined by having a house with a floor, running water, food on the table, retirement benefits, and health care?
Joe
Joe, sorry for this late reply. I’m on a different time zone though my laptop is still Manila time. I posted the story before I went to bed. Don’t take the story very seriously. It’s just a joke which I find very amusing.
macapili,
Actually, I found it very amusing, too. Thanks.
Joe
hehehehe, nice story, macapili. i hope that sets my friend Joe’s restless mind to rest, :).
Joe Am: Do a google-search for “Jose Rizal Indolence Filipinos”. This dude named Jose Rizal observed things about Filipinos. What he said many years ago matches (some of macapili’s thoughts about white men bearing gifts) some of your observations, Joe Am, and some of what your wife had said. Here are some paragraphs from one of Rizal’s writings:
The very limited training in the home, the tyrannical and sterile
education of the rare centers of learning, that blind subordination of
the youth to one of greater age, influence the mind so that a man may
not aspire to excel those who preceded him but must merely be content
to go along with or march behind them. Stagnation forcibly results
from this, and as he who devotes himself merely to copying divests
himself of other qualities suited to his own nature, he naturally
becomes sterile; hence decadence. Indolence is a corollary derived
from the lack of stimulus and of vitality.
That modesty infused into the convictions of every one, or, to
speak more clearly, that insinuated inferiority, a sort of daily and
constant depreciation of the mind so that, it may not be raised to
the regions of light, deadens the energies, paralyzes all tendency
toward advancement, and at the least struggle a man gives up without
fighting. If by one of those rare accidents, some wild spirit, that
is, some active one, excels, instead of his example stimulating, it
only causes others to persist in their inaction. ‘There’s one who will
work for us: let’s sleep on!’ say his relatives and friends. True it
is that the spirit of rivalry is sometimes awakened, only that then
it awakens with bad humor in the guise of envy, and instead of being
a lever for helping, it is an obstacle that produces discouragement.
Nurtured by the example of….
I found it amusing that nominees to Pilipinas Supreme Court who kept deferring to those older than them. Jose Rizal’s Filipinos remain among the elite of 21st-century Pilipinas.
“There is one (an OFW) who will work for us, let us sleep on!”
Tagay!!!!
——————
Having “said” above, do remember — different folks, different strokes. Many Pinoys (many have gone overseas and many more are in Pinas) do focus on doing better — better jobs, better housing for self and family, a savings account for retirement, yearly beach vacations.
Below is a “gift” from “the white men bearing gifts” that the natives found too good to resist, thus the Filipino’s penchant for inaction Rizal was mentioning, and my friend Joe complaining, about.:
“It is easier for an elephant to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.”
And here’s a similar one: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.”
The gift was a book that contains such mentioned wise words, and more wise words, such as,”Thou shalt not steal”, “Thou shalt not romance your neighbors wife, or girls not your wife”, and other such wise words, but NOT “Thou shall not use a condom or such abominable contrivances…” which was unfair of the bishop’s dipping in hell one of Dra. Cabral’s foot but not throwing in the cauldron of hell those thieves and womanizers high in government.
Theoretically, the Church knows nothing of sex, much less of condoms. It is the Health Department that knows more about it – sexually transmitted disease, prevention, cure, control, et cetera – from the medical point of view.
In other words, there are not exactly conflicting views. Rather, the Church looks the issue from its moral or ethical point of view while the other from a purely scientific if medical viewpoint.
So where is the beef?
On grounds of moral superiority, the Church may indeed be the moral guardian of the flock. On the other hand, on grounds of medical science, the Health Department would be the better field metrician.
As a happy compromise, make wearing condoms not an official state policy. That is where Secretary Cabral may have left her other foot on the hole.
There is nothing ‘moral’ or ‘ethical’ about consensual sex.
The church may claim there is but only if sex was not consensual. Even then SECULAR laws are enough to protect the the victim. After all, the Church is not going to jail a rapist (he might get away with 10 hail marys).
Otherwise, the Church, particularly the Philippine Catholic church, is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT even from a so-called ‘moral’ or ‘ethical’ viewpoint. That is the beef.
Given its track record, the Church is no better a moral guardian than a wolf is a shepherd.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,676497,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6936278.ece
LOOK, it’s simple really:
The Catholic Church is NOT PAYING FOR THE COST OF PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES. nada, zilch, zero.
The church does NOT build hospitals, it does NOT contribute to vaccine research, NOR does it pay for the rearing of children. It talks, but it does not walk where it matters.
It’s the TAXPAYER funded GOVERNMENT which has the sordid task of ACTUALLY keeping its population sustainable and healthy.
This is why when the Pope himself said the same things the CBCP is saying now, the state leaders of France, Germany, and Belgium told him very publicly to shut up..
LOOK, it’s simple really:
The Catholic Church is NOT PAYING FOR THE COST OF PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES. nada, zilch, zero.
The church does NOT build hospitals, it does NOT contribute to vaccine research, NOR does it pay for the rearing of children. It talks, but it does not walk where it matters.
It’s the TAXPAYER funded GOVERNMENT which has the sordid task of ACTUALLY keeping its population sustainable and healthy.
This is why when the Pope himself said the same things the CBCP is saying now, the state leaders of France, Germany, and Belgium told him very publicly to shut the fk up.
Sex, per se, is either moral or immoral, ethical or unethical.
Even consensual sex does not necessarily make the act moral or ethical simply because two parties consented to the act. This applies to cases where there are both legal and moral impediments to consensual sex between two parties into the act but are bound by their marital contracts.
So it is not true what the dissenter says.
Again, even while the Church does not pay for the cost of public health services, it does not frustrate its advocating the moral norm in the affairs of men.
That said, the dissenter may have to reconsider the position he embraced.
Comprehensive sex and STD/HIV education programs are the way to go as evidenced by Dr. Douglas Kirby’s dissertation cited above.
It is part of the solution both in curbing the rise of STD cases and controlling overpopulation.
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One may read:
Promoting Reproductive Health: A Unified Strategy to Achieve the MDGs
Notable in the document is that the conservatives have their misconception:
This has to be supplanted by the fact that: