The Senate impeachment trial is not the only one that has resumed in Congress, which is perhaps on its final phase and we can only pin our hopes that the truth will really come out. Honestly, I find it hard to believe that one person can have 82 bank accounts in 5 banks. So while we wait for CJ Corona to testify… let’s move our discussion to a very important issue that has been left hanging over our heads. I’m referring to the fight against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill which has also resumed.
There’s no doubt that we have already exhausted all avenues on the pros and cons why we should not allow the RH bill to become a law of the land. We’ve given you the moral point of view of Catholic Doctrine and the demographic view using Japan as an example of what would happen to a country when its population goes into a steep decline... something that is already beginning to happen to us in the Philippines.
Perhaps our biggest problem is the millions of lobby money coming from foreign sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF). Proof of the pudding is in the eating… a few days ago, The Philippine STAR had a paid advertisement by the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) that was pushing for support of the RH bill. Come now…where did these students get the money to pay for that expensive advertisement? I reckon that in supporting the RH Bill… some officials of student organizations are being handsomely paid.
Remember what our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal said about the youth? “The Youth is the Hope of the Fatherland.” Apparently for getting money today… these students have literally “sold” the future of their country, for they do not know that when our population decreases… in the future, our economy will also go into a steep decline. We can see it happening now in Japan and it is happening elsewhere in many developed nations.
If you’re looking for a new twist on our discussion on the RH bill, please read an article written by the famous former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew that came out in Forbes Magazine only two Mondays ago on May 7, 2012. I don’t have the space to write the whole article here, but it is entitled “Warning Bell for Developed Countries: Declining Birth Rates: The Senior Minister of Singapore says, “There will be a shift in power unless birth rates increase in the developed world.”
This is a very interesting piece and in the last paragraph Lee Kuan Yew says, “To encourage marriage and parenthood, Singapore’s government has instituted a wide array of measures: improved accessibility to quality child care, leave entitlements for new mothers and parents of young children and financial incentives to help defray the cost of raising children. We created a special account for each child in which parents’ savings have been matched, dollar for dollar, by the government, which caps ranging from S$6,000 to S$18,000 depending on the birth order of the child. This was done to encourage parents to have three or four or more children.”
I’m not saying that suddenly, Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee have now embraced the doctrines of the Catholic Faith. But his message is crystal clear… force your nation to reduce its population and your economy will falter. It is happening to many countries today… and we should tell our people of the dangers that lie ahead if our Legislators do the most stupid act and approve the RH Bill.
A few weeks ago, my daughter Dr. Fara Avila Tequillo (she is on the family way for my 4th grandchild) and her husband Atty. Jennoh Tequillo went to Beijing with my three grandchildren. They were surprised that at the hotel lobby, they were treated like celebrities with Chinese people asking to pose with them for a photograph. Someone even asked if they were rich as no one in China is allowed so many children. Indeed, even in highly-populated China… their One-Child policy is taking its toll.
Most Chinese of my generation still remembers the huge families that they used to have. This is not to mention that many Chinese men often have other families on the side. Many male Chinese children would like to have a brother or a sister. But then that’s against the policies of the government. What’s missing in China is a nice family of four… the ideal size.
In fact… today there is a serious imbalance in China… where there are millions more males than females. This is why many Chinese men go abroad to seek a wife. Today, I heard that the Chinese government no longer allows ultrasound check to find out the baby’s sex… because many women would abort the child it the baby is a female. God forbid that this would happen to the Philippines… but it will if we approve the RH Bill.
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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mo-pzcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.