MANILA, Philippines—It’s now an “all-out war” and the Catholic Church will say it with red.
Despite cutting communication lines with Malacañang on the reproductive health (RH) bill, Catholic Church leaders Wednesday vowed to mount a campaign opposing the family planning measure using pulpits and red-colored pro-life bumper stickers.
“The next step of the Church is to continue with its own ways of propagating and promoting the Gospel of Life and preaching the sanctity of life,” said Msgr. Juanito Figura, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Figura on Tuesday announced in a news conference the Church’s decision to discontinue its dialogue with Malacañang after President Benigno Aquino III disclosed plans to implement his own responsible parenthood agenda, which bishops deemed as the same as House Bill No. 4244.
Halting the dialogues, the Catholic Church would continue with its own means to fight the RH bill, Figura said. “We will also speak against HB 4244 if necessary.”
Red symbolizes life
Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said Wednesday the Church should step up its “all-out war” against the bill that would espouse and make available the use of artificial birth control methods among Filipino couples.
“It’s natural for us to declare an all-out war against the RH bill,” said Arguelles over Church-run Radio Veritas. “We should persist to campaign against it and to educate the people against the legislative measure.”
Catholic bishops agreed to the prolife advocates’ idea of asking people hostile to the RH bill being pushed in Congress to tie red ribbons and put up anti-RH bill stickers and posters in their homes, business establishments and even in their vehicles.
Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo has expressed his support for the sticker campaign to fight the RH bill. He said it was one way of raising public awareness on the family planning bill.
He even suggested that families can also put red ribbons outside their homes. Red symbolizes life, noted the prelate.
Issues not personalities
During the National Day of Prayer on Monday, Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos encouraged people to observe the occasion by wearing blue or white shirts or ribbons to show their solidarity against the bill.
“The Church will continue to air its views and sentiments against the bills, not in dialogues but in pulpits and during homilies,” Figura told reporters.
“Part of the mission of the Church is to teach in season and out of season on the sanctity of life,” added the CBCP official.
He also stressed that the Church’s campaign against the RH bill was not centered on its proponents and supporters.
“We are talking of issues here, not of personalities … we don’t take it against [them] personally … we take it against the bill itself.”