Message to My Beloved Youth

My dear youth of Pangasinan,

I know how much it saddens you to see your parents fight in front of you—at the dinner table, in the car or anywhere in the house. I know how much such quarrels between your parents confuse you, disillusion you and discourage you deeply yet quietly.

As it is at home so it is in community, in society, in the country. As your Church parents and parents in government “quarrel” again in public over issues of contraception, abortion and birth control, I am worried that you might be left on the fringes as usual to be voiceless spectators. You might start to say “Here they go again!” and walk away angry, confused and misled. You might start to get rebellious against authority and grow cynical about society because we your adults cannot agree.

If our rallies and exchange of harsh words hurt you, please forgive us your elders. It is surely not our intention to cause you distress or to lead you to get discouraged. Believe me my dear sons and daughters, we your Church elders stand against contraception and abortion because we love you, we love God and we love His commandments. Maybe our fault is that we have not clarified it earlier that we are not fighting to win over the other. This quarrel is not for us. It is for you. I am standing to defend you. We are fighting error because you might be misled. We are battling against contraception because we know it can harm your soul. Believe me. Contraception harms your soul. Contraception is corruption.

You heard then candidate now President Noynoy Aquino during his campaign “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap!” He was elected in a landslide victory because he spoke what we carried in our hearts. Corruption is the cancer of the Philippines that prevents us from growing. When he called us his “Boss”, we cheered. When he banned “wang wang” in the streets and the moral “wang wang” in the bureaucracy, we followed his vision.

My dear youth, contraception is corruption. The use of government money, taxpayers’ money, to give out contractive pills is corruption. Contraceptive pills teach us this “It is alright to have sex with someone provided you are safe from babies. Babies are a nuisance.” A culture of contraception looks at babies as reasons for our poverty. Birth control, they say, means more food, more classrooms, more houses and better health for mothers. If more babies are the cause of poverty, are we now saying “Kung walang anak, walang mahirap?” It does not rhyme because it is not correct. We can have more classrooms, more food, more jobs and more hospitals if we would be less corrupt. Send out the corrupt officials not the babies! My dear youth, your birth was not a mistake. Your birth was God’s gift to us your elders. You are not the problem. You are our blessing. The problem is the corruption of your elders, we your elders. We your elders must change so your future can be brighter. Pardon those who say children are a nuisance. No! No! No! You are a blessing and I embrace you all and I love you all!

Contraception always fails like all human inventions. When contraception fails, a birth control generation will give birth to an abortion generation. A contraceptive pill is to be considered an essential medicine. If it is a medicine, what sickness is it curing? Is pregnancy a sickness? If it is a medicine that is supposed to cure, why do healthy women get sick with cancer after taking the contraceptive pills? My dear youth, contraception makes healthy people sick. It makes pure people corrupt. It makes us look at babies as nuisance not gifts. My dear youth, anyone who treats you as nuisance, I will fight. I am against contraception because I am pro-child. I am against contraception because I am pro mother. I love you my dear children. Thank God for mothers who give birth to jewels like you!

I know that many of you my dear youth do not believe in the Church anymore. You thank the Church does not understand. The Church is autistic—“may sariling mundo! The bishops are not listening. The bishops preach from their ivory towers. The bishops are not aware of what the majority of the people undergo. They are distant and unreachable.”

You are somehow correct but not fully.

Matanda na kami! Totoong matanda pero ang matanda ay tagapag paalala sa mga bata. Kung puro bata na lang tayong lahat, wala ng magtuturo at magpapaalala sa mga gintong aral ng kahapon. There is

a wisdom that only age and experience can give. We are old but God made us old so we can be reminders for you not to forget our Filipino values, the commandments of God and the rules of good character. You have jokingly told me to dye my hair so I can look young and handsome. Jokingly yet truthfully I told you, I will not. It took me fifty one years to have this. I am proud to be gray haired and old. Being old makes me different from you but it also gives me a chance to be a reminder of the silver lessons of the past and the golden promises of the life to come. Ang matanda ay tanda! Ang matanda ay living reminder.




When we teach you that contraception is corruption, we are not being insensitive to the challenge of modernity or deaf to surveys of social behaviour. Rather, we are just being protective of you because we know it can destroy you sooner that you think. Europe is on the downtrend. It is losing its soul because it now relies on the influx of migrants to keep it afloat. They are facing a severe wintertime in their child births. It is losing its identity because it does not have children and youth to carry the torch. They started with contraception, they embraced abortion and now they are killing their weak and sick grandparents. Paul VI prophesied that artificial contraception could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. And it is happening in Europe. We your elders plead with you do not follow that path to moral corruption. Dare to be different. Dare to be better!


We want to be a tiger economy in Asia like our neighbour countries. What is a tiger without teeth? What is progress without giggling children? For whom do we envision progress—just for ourselves? What is victory at the expense of our immortal souls? Matanda na kami. Kaya kami tumanda para mayroon kayong tanda sa buhay.

Mga apo, mga anak, mga pamangkin at mahal sa buhay. There is no Tagalog or Pangasinan word for contraception because it is not only ungodly, it is also unFilipino.

Contraception is corruption. Contraception is the mother of abortion. Contraception makes sex pleasure cheap without responsibility. Contraception says babies and children are annoying. Contraception is contra youth. Contraception is contra children. Contraception is against us.

Fight contraception or we perish as a godly nation. Youth of Pangasinan, youth of the Philippines, I love you. Because I love you, I will fight contraception. This battle is for you and I fight for love of you.

From the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, August 4, 2012

+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS

Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan


Apostolic Administrator of San Fernando de La Union

Prayer Rally

So yesterday, mom and I decided to go to the prayer rally even though we're late. Raphael went with us.

The north bound of Ortigas Avenue starting from Meralco was closed. We walked from there to Edsa Shrine. When we got there, the Mass already started. Around 40k people gathered though it was raining.  Upon the 'peace be with you' part, you could see how the people were really united. When the communion began, it was kinda hard to get to the front, but the people would really make their way so that everybody could have the Bread of Life. We were all singing 'Heal Our Land' and it made me teary-eyed.

This. This is the true meaning of unity.

Perhaps some pro RH are irritated. 'Cause there was a time when the rector banned the rallies in EDSA vs. GMA. But what was his point in doing so? And why is it that the prayer rally pursued amidst the said 'ban'?

 I think the rector’s decision before, to ban the rallies, was acceptable. Those were the times of the ZTE scandal, hello Garci tape. I'm not a GMA-biased, but then come to think of it, isn't that we were the one who put GMA in her place before? We went to that very place, the EDSA Shrine, to fought for what we think was right back then (Erap times). And in that scandal, people would rally again to bring her down to her place? Ate, kuya, tao din kayo, nagkakamali. I mean, do we need to rally every time, every fault of our leader, or anytime we want 'cause we're in a country full of freedom? Democracy is a great word, but sometimes it's misinterpreted. Porke't democratic country, maka-express naman tayo wala na sa lugar kung minsan. Lahat tayo tao. Lahat ng tao nagkakamali. And that doesn't spare them. No one's perfect. Ano pa silbi ng mga nakaraan na People Power? And, how many People Powers do we have to make for us to be satisfied?

Remember when people went to EDSA during GMA's term and they said it was called EDSA tres? What happened to that EDSA tres? Nothing. Because it wasn't permitted by the Church, and it wasn't blessed by God. The first two People Powers, were greatly recognized because it symbolized the meaning of harmony.   

                                                    

third point

Today’s the scheduled Anti RH bill prayer rally at the EDSA Shrine. Mom and I are supposed to go, but the weather’s not good. So we decided to stay at home and just pray along with the people there.

When I was eating my brunch (btw thanks mom!), PDI and Pilipino Star are the newspapers on the table. I read about Tito Sen, Honasan and JPE coming to the said rally. Tito Sen and JPE are really against the bill. Tito Sen even said that when it’s his turn to speak again in the Senate, he will reveal the name of the pharmaceutical company that supports the campaign of the bill, and also,  he’ll expose that there’s a certain foreign group that’ll try to smuggle abortion in the bill(PDI).  Honasan said that he hasn’t made the decision yet, but he’s coming in the rally for the nation’s unity (which I’m not surprised, I was thinking he’s using it for the upcoming elections, hellooo what’s new.) He said that rampant change will definitely occur after this bill has been passed, and no one knows if it’s going to be good or not.

I hate Hontiveros. Just read the PDI p.A4 to know why. (basa basa din ‘dre.)

Yes, it just made me realized a couple of things again, like, people with power would try to empathize with their subordinates, but in the future, they would use them as their puppets for their own good.

And thus, it leads me to my……

Third point. Why on earth do people have to be so envious of their neighbor?  Why do people lack values and yet they say they have one?  Because people are NEVER EVER contented. A priest once asked us in his homily, when is enough, enough? And the answer is that, it’ll never be enough. CONTENTMENT comes along with the word GRATITUDE. For if we are contented, we are gratitude of Him, we don’t ask for more. What’s the point here? Three billion pesos is an enormous amount of money. It can feed millions of people starving, it can turn children’s lives, it can home thousands of families, etc. But why is this large amount of money given to that bill? (kung itulak nila ito akala mo katapusan na ng mundo) Do you believe that every single centavo of that 3 billion will be allotted on you? I don’t. As far as I know, Philippines is on top of the world when it comes to CORRUPTION. You conlude on this.

My heart is in rage, my soul is at war. I bet these intermittent rains are not from any low pressure area or whatsoever, I think it’s God Himself, crying because the last nation which He thought would change the world, is tearing apart. What’s the essence of those successful People Powers if right now, all of us are confused in what or where to believe in. IMULAT MO MATA MO SA KATOTOHANAN. Cling to Him, have faith in Him. 

Sabi nga ni Maya (Jodi Sta. Maria) at ng pamilya niya sa ‘Be Careful With My Heart’, “KAPIT-BISIG!” (hi Papa Chen!:))

The first two major points

I’ve been trying to sleep for the past hour. It's now almost 1am. 30 mins on bed, forcing yourself to sleep, is NOT a good idea. Since I think it isn’t gonna happen in the next couple of hours,  I made this account and blog just to say what’s bugging me.

RH Bill. Are we fully aware what this bill contains?

I’ve read it a couple of times, trying to understand what this bill really has, that congressmen, senators, and even our president would try to brainwash everyone on this matter. It’s been years that this had been a critical issue for the Filipinos. In Catholic churches, every Eucharistic celebration, we pray the Oratio Imperata, Prayer for the Respect of All Human Life (I’m not sure if some religions have it too). So I thought, this is important. This MUST be important. Because if not, why are they willing to spend 3 billion pesos just for this instead of using it in other things like education etc.? And why is the Catholic church against it?

While reading the bill for the first time, I knew I was against it.

The big question is, why?

First point. I’m not smart, I’m not good at anything, but I'm still trying to nurture myself to be a spiritual person. Not religious, but spiritual. There’s a big difference in that. Sr. May taught me that spirituality is something internal, it comes from within. It’s your own covenant with Him. A priest from the EDSA Shrine even said, for you to be truly called a spiritual person, you should just not be prayerful outside (like in churches, office, etc), but you should also be prayerful when you are alone, just by yourself in your own sacred room. Being religious is external, it’s like being ritualistic. Like when you’re praying the rosary, it’s as if you’re a machine gun ‘cause words just come out of your mouth without feeling every bit of it. How can you say that you are a spiritual person? IF AND ONLY IF you have VALUES. Why am I saying this? Isn’t that each of us have different personalities? But all of us, are either or neither of this 2 characteristics. If you are a spiritual person, and if you’ve read about the bill, you SHOULD BE against it. WHY? Because you are a spiritual person and a spiritual person has inculcated values in him. Period.

Second point.  I know that the Gabriela only wants the best for the benefit of every single Filipina and their families as well. They’re after the prevention of numerous diseases occurring to the women. Diseases that make the women unproductive, and worse, leads them to death. My point is, those women, wouldn’t acquire such if they are loyal to their partner. I’m not stereotyping. But most of the diseases are sexually transmitted. The use of the different contraceptive methods are inevitable, but  the church offers us numerous teachings about abstinence and fidelity with regards to this. Teenage pregnancies occur often. Why? Because those teenagers were not taught properly by their parents, or worse, their parents didn’t teach them. RH bill is not the answer to bring down the maternal mortality. In fact, it can also be the cause of it. Contraceptives prevent women from getting pregnant, but it DOESN’T prevent STD’s from entering into one's body. So if Gabriela partylist wants improvement on women's health, this is NOT the answer.

Since the cock's crowing already, I shall continue this later. :)

P.S.
forgive me if it's not as colorful, izzz my first time. will definitely get this whole thing in no time