Catholic Church to lose in RH bill rift

CATHOLIC bishops and priests should think twice before urging their followers to disobey laws, like evading taxes, to pressure the government not to pass the responsible parenthood bill.

What the local Catholic Church leaders plan to do is illegal and they might end up in jail.

If President Noy stands pat on his administration reproductive health (RH) bill, there will be a clash between the Church and State.

The Catholic Church will lose. It will not only be humiliated because its leaders will be jailed, it will find itself alienated from the faithful, most of whom think the country will benefit when the RH bill becomes a law.

Those against the RH bill are fanatics and there are only very few of them.

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When former Health Secretary Juan Flavier ran for the Senate, the Catholic Church urged the faithful not to vote for him because of his strong advocacy on family planning.

He was denounced in the pulpit during the campaign.

Flavier won big despite, or even because of his family planning advocacy.

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Nereo Acosta, who is being groomed by P-Noy to become secretary of environment and natural resources, writes to say the accusation that he used his pork barrel to finance a family-owned corporation is not true.

Bukidnon Integrated Network of Home Industries (BINHI), the firm in question, is a non-stock, non-profit organization formed in 1989 to initiate micro-financing program for poor women in Bukidnon, according to Acosta.

Yes, his father was one of the members of the BINHI board along with 15 other community leaders in the province, he said.

Acosta added that his family never benefited from BINHI, which is a non-government organization and not a private foundation.

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Customs officials at the Cagayan de Oro port were responsible for the release of cars and motorcycles stolen in the US, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

One of the officials in the Mindanao port owns a brokerage firm that operates at the port, the bureau said.

The NBI should keep close watch on the Cebu port where used clothing from abroad that end up in “ukay-ukay” (used clothes and accessories) shops, and high-end construction materials, like lavatory and shower assembly kits, are allegedly brought out daily with only a minimal payment of duties.

Used clothes are banned items.