Divided nation

The long standing speculation that Aquino indeed lobbied in Congress at the height of the Corona impeachment trial had been established beyond doubt by Senator Bong Revilla, one of the Senators now under investigation on charges of plunder apparently instigated by Aquino. Revilla confirmed for the first time after more than a year it occurred that he was “picked up” and brought to Malacanang to talk about the impeachment case. Why he revealed it only now renders his motive in doing so, really questionable although Aquino himself has already admitted such lobbying.

This lobbying is actually an open secret for quite some time now which is neither confirmed nor denied by Aquino. This time however he cannot deny it anymore. He has to, and can only deny Revilla’s allegation that he exerted influence to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona during the impeachment trial in 2012. He explained that he only sought Revilla’s help in ensuring a smooth conduct of the impeachment trial as some parties want it to be dismissed without hearing the merits of the case.

Nonetheless, such explanation is still a confirmation that he exerted influence on the Senators regarding their decision to impeach Corona because during the impeachment trial he had publicly and repeatedly called for the latter’s ouster. In fact in another privilege speech by Senator Jinggoy Estrada, he admitted that he and the other Senators who voted to impeach Corona, received additional pork barrel ranging from P50 million to P100 million. Besides, the timing of the lobbying and the clandestine manner of calling the four Senators to Malacanang are circumstantial proof all leading to the conclusion that Aquino’s main purpose in meeting them is to convince them to vote for the ouster of the former Chief Justice.

At any rate, whatever transpired in those Malacanang trysts, and regardless of whether or not Aquino committed  an impeachable offense or only an improper act, what is more important to consider here is that  this is one of his numerous political moves that created sharp division and serious discord among our people. Ironically at about the same time this divisive political move was being confirmed in the Senate, Aquino was leading the “One Nation in Prayer” at Malacañang.     

Clearly palpable in these contrasting events is hypocrisy and some kind of sarcasm. Leading the prayer for national unity while creating divisiveness in our country clearly show that this president is once again resorting to another political gimmickry that has characterized his administration. It is all for show intended to project an image that like most of us Filipinos, he is really a man of great faith and a leader who only wants unity in the country, although actually, he   has adopted or staunchly supported exactly opposite measures causing serious rift and disunity among our people.

The most divisive move he has taken so far is of course his aggressive and open support of the Reproductive Health (RH) law. This is a law sponsored by foreign lobby groups, International agencies and countries particularly the US promoting abortion to control population as a means of solving the problem of poverty under the guise of granting women especially the poor, sexual and reproductive health rights. For more than ten years, the bill has been introduced and re-introduced in Congress, but never approved precisely because it really promotes abortion and thus runs counter to the constitutional provision protecting the life of the unborn from conception (Section 12 Article II).

But when Aquino became President, he actively and openly worked for the passage of the bill in favor of the foreign lobbyists and against a great majority of our people who value the right to life as the first and foremost right and the source of all other human rights. Like what he did in the impeachment cases of former CJ Corona and former Ombudsman Gutierrez, he openly lobbied in Congress for the passage of the bill. The prevailing public perception is that he also used the pork barrel to “convince” members of Congress to pass the bill.

The discord and dissension worsened when the backers of the bill including Aquino insisted that it does not actually promote abortion but only contraception as a means of enabling women especially the poor, to exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights. Obviously there is some misinformation here because it is already admitted by the Obama administration particularly Hillary Clinton that abortion is one of the means to promote reproductive health. In fact as my colleague in this paper, Bobit Avila, recently wrote, our RH law is actually patterned after the Obama Care law which requires abortion as a health care measure.

Thus even if the title of the RH law says that it is an act to promote “Responsible Parenthood,” it is still a law that really allows or results in abortion. The doubt regarding this issue is more or less erased when the Aquino Government agreed to host the 7th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (APCRSHR) which opened last January 22, 2014 at the PICC. One of the active organizers of this conference is the International Planned Parenthood, which has abortion clinics all over the US and other countries where reports say an average of 157 babies are killed each day through abortion. Hosting this conference confirms that this government is not really against abortion despite its statement to the contrary. Once more we have seen Aquino’s penchant of saying one thing but doing exactly the opposite.

Our country is now really disunited and divided because this administration continues to play partisan politics that antagonize political enemies, dissenters and critics. This is not what the people expected of Aquino. They thought that since he can serve as President only for six years, he will forget about partisan politics and work for the good of the entire country, not only for the interest of his party mates. We are really a divided nation now.

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