Controversy, concordance and celebration
The heavy downpour of rain here in Cebu City last Sunday provided a cooling respite from the searing days of summer. It’s been a year that has also heated up over a lot of controversies in the local and national political scene, among others. One of these is the debate over the RH bill which I have been following as reported on daily by the news media and analyzed with varying opinions by opinion makers.
The apparent conflict in opinions involves the Catholic Church and the State, both concerned for the spiritual and physical welfare of their constituents. I find in Fr. Joaquin Bernas’ column “Sounding Board” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), which I quoted in my column last March 8th, as well this week where he gave his 10-point stand on the RH bill, a reconciliation of both stands, writing as he does “as a student of the Constitution and of church-state relations,” and to “leave the debate on population control to the sociologists.”
Meanwhile, in his PDI column “Public Lives,” Randy David proposes to “start on shared ethical ground—the development of the family as the basic unit of society (as) a collective responsibility that we must urgently and sensibly attend to.” And “the goal of family planning is …to provide the information that couples need so that the number of children they bear is consistent with the number of children they desire.” That while there are no formal schools for parents, yet increasingly, parenting can no longer be left to chance.” So “Church and State can agree … to instill reproductive consciousness and responsibility in couples.”
Thankfully, this week it seems like a considered revising of the RH bill will eventually be acceptable.
On the other hand, another hotly debated subject is that of reproductive health education for children: How soon in schools and by whom? I believe it should start in the home with responsible parents aided by Church and community, and in school with responsibly planned sessions by properly trained teachers.
For a bit of digression here, reproductive health education termed in earlier years as “sex education” used to start with “the birds and the bees.” Well, very recently, media reported swarms of bees (and earlier, birds) threatened the safety of and held down flights from the NAIA in Manila.
Speaking of education, with the opening of classes next month, the same problems are cropping up again. While more schoolhouses have already been built through the years, some are sadly beginning to show structural defects due to poor (or “corrupt profiteering”?) building practices. Thankfully, though, a number of well-built schoolhouses have recently been put up and donated by responsible and reputable business and civic groups, who have also contributed funds and services for the renovation and maintenance of some aging public school buildings.
Other problems: rising tuition costs in private schools, the transfer of some of their students to the overloaded public school system, the need for more qualified teachers and better salaries and the still-controversial (for financial and quality control reasons) new K-12 educational system. Not to mention parents’ funding for school wear and school supplies.
With all else that is going on here and in the rest of the world: political unrest in the Middle East and parts of Africa; climatic and environmental disturbances in tornados, floods and earthquakes; and even that failed “Judgement Day, end-of-the-world” prediction “postponed to October” this year (!), I look forward to sharing with you next week inspiring and uplifting events I attended and witnessed this week.
Among these are the delightful French Pop Circus last Saturday at the Ayala Center, and the conferment of the papal award by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma on nine Dames of the Order of St. Sylvester at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral last Wednesday, the “Gabii sa Kabilin” tonight, and other religious and cultural observances including the Flores de Mayo an the Santacruzan in this National Heritage Month of May.
Till next week, then, may God continue to bless us one and all!
