MANILA, Philippines?Two days before the 15th Congress opens, the Catholic Church hierarchy flexed its political influence and asked President Benigno Aquino III to reject a revived reproductive health bill and to put a stop to sex education in schools beginning fifth grade.

In a lengthy pastoral statement issued Saturday, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines reminded Mr Aquino of his mother, the late president Corazon Aquino's ?moral legacy? as it called on him to reject any proposal promoting artificial contraceptives.

The Catholic Church advocates ?natural family planning programs.?

Through its president, Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur, the CBCP invoked ?moral and religious truths? and served notice that it would oppose the proposed ?Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2010? that was re-filed by Rep. Edcel Lagman as House Bill 96.

The Catholic Church succeeded during the last Congress to block the passage of the bill, which proponents say would strengthen programs to promote maternal and child health and responsible parenthood.

?With the utmost concern and urgency we express our strong objection to the fundamental aspects of House Bill 96. The basis of our moral objection is once again the central religious truth of the divine origin and divine image of the human person, of one?s being and life,? said the CBCP.

?Science has proven that some contraceptives render the mother?s womb inhospitable, thereby causing abortion,? it added.

The CBCP, however, supported House Bill 13 or the proposed ?Act Providing for the Safety and Protection of the Unborn Child and for Other Purposes? filed by Rep. Roilo Golez, saying the bill recognized that the government should protect the life of the unborn from conception, ?and conception is the moment of fertilization.?

?If its ambiguous stand on contraceptives that are not abortifacients is corrected in favor of moral truth, a house bill such as the new House Bill No. 13 is laudable,? said the CBCP.

?The constitutional protection of the unborn child from the first instant of conception is a legacy given to us some 20 years ago during the presidency of President Corazon Aquino. In spite of all the foreseeable opposition of politicians and powerful lobby groups, we pray that (her) moral legacy could be finally and fully realized during the term of her son, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III,? it said.

The CBCP also continued to lobby against the Deparment of Education's sex education program, which was piloted this school year, supposedly because it ?further highlights and fortifies the concept that contraceptives provide safe and satisfying sex. ?

The CBCP insisted that the promotion of the use of contraceptives has not prevented the high incidence of teen pregnancy in the United States, nor has it brought down the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. It also suspected contraceptive pills to be carcinogenic.

?We reiterate that the Church is not against sex education. But for reasons of morality and religious faith, we strongly object to the proposed sex education program. The program is devoid of any substantive moral and religious value formation,? the CBCP said.

It insisted that sex education should not take place in school but at home by parents.

?In matters of character formation and nurturance in moral values, it is the parents who possess the fundamental and natural right and duty, a right acknowledged in the Constitution, a right which government may not take away and arrogate unto itself,? it said.

The CBCP also rejected any ?population control program? as a way to address poverty because such program is biased against poor families.

?It is social injustice that is at the root of poverty. And social injustice is simply another name for moral and spiritual corruption, the jettisoning of moral and spiritual values from private and public life.... These are the causes of poverty, the removal of which would comprehensively transform our social order and establish social justice,? said the CBCP.