Gary Pekas
By Estanislao C. Albano, Jr.
Instead of tutoring his laggard son, the father went to the Department of Education (DepEd) to ask that the curriculum be adjusted so that his child could pass. Because he could not stop his boy from badgering him for money with which to buy candies everytime they pass a store, he asked the storekeepers to shut their stores whenever they see him and his son about to pass by. When the barangay was in the process of deliberating an ordinance imposing a curfew on minors, he urged the barangay officials to forgo the legislation on the ground that the moment it is passed into law, his children will start coming home late at night because it is their wont to do the prohibited. He contended that because of the proclivity of his children to break the law, it is much better if there was no curfew regulation at all.
That’s precisely the kind of impossible parents the RH Bill controversy has exposed the Roman Catholic (RC) clergy to be. In one of his tirades against the bill and the people who support it, Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the jueteng fame declared that once the bill becomes a law, there will be no stopping immorality and promiscuity from engulfing the country. He is trying to impress upon us that when the bill becomes a law, at the mere sight of condoms which will then be there for the asking, many Filipinos will start salivating and then jumping out of their clothes; the country will crawl with people who do nothing but look for sinful sexual gratification as a result of the free access to contraceptives. When the CBCP waves this bogey of promiscuity and immorality becoming uncontrollable when the bill becomes a law, they are saying that the moral fiber of Filipinos is so tattered the accessibility of contraceptives will be their utter ruin. This is unfair to a lot of Filipinos including many members of the RC.
Now, what is the meaning of the RC clergy invoking the alleged moral dangers the public will face when contraceptives become almost ubiquitous and easy to obtain as a ground to abort the RH Bill? First, it is an admission that as preachers of the teachings of Christ, they are pathetic failures. For almost 500 years, they have been here but they were unable to teach Filipinos just 10 commandments. Now, they want the Filipino nation to make allowances for their failure.
Second, they do not really care for their children. A good father would not be the first one to expose the weaknesses of his children to the public for the sake of his own his children, of himself and the family. There is an idiom for that: washing dirty linen in public. The act boomerangs on the doer as well as destroys the members of the family so exposed. A father who genuinely cares for his children when he sees faults or even wrongdoing in the latter would tirelessly work to correct the same in the privacy of the home. He does not announce to the world what a bad excuse of a father he is because for one thing, he will lose whatever remaining respect his children have for him and, as a result, any hope of reformation on the part of the children due to his efforts evaporates.
If the RC clergy were a good father, instead of raving, ranting and engaging in scare tactics all for the purpose of frustrating the RH Bill one more time, they should be working double time to prepare their flocks to be able to handle the situation the moment the “evil” bill becomes a law because it just might. At the risk of repeating myself, there is no basis in the Scriptures for the church to try and influence governmet decisions. In fact Christ and the Apostles were very clear in their instructions that Christians should respect and obey government authorities.
Third, the RC clergy are willing to sacrifice their spiritual flesh and blood to gain a selfish advantage. Imagine using an unfortunate situation in the family to block the passage of a government law! The real reason for their determined and unreasoning resistance to the bill is they do not want their authority to be challenged by anyone and they desire to hold on to their power over Filipinos indefinitely. They act as though there is no tomorrow relative to the RH Bill because it is simply unthinkable to them to yield to the government. They claim time and again that they are not violating the principle of the separation of the Church and the State but, just like any citizen of the republic, are merely expressing their opinion on the RH Bill. But how come the arm-twisting, the threats, the deployment of the full might of the church against the bill and its the exponents?
What is despicable is they do not think twice about using their children as props towards the perpetuation of their power.
For better appreciation of the kind of parent and pastor the RC clergy are, let’s contrast them with their counterparts in the Iglesia ni Cristo and the Prorestant churches which have declared their support for the RH Bill. They are not scared of the law wreaking immorality and other evils on their congregations because they are confident that even if the country will be flooded with contraceptives, their members will not fall into sexual sin. They have done their duties by their congregations and are certain that the latter are mature Christians who know what is right and wrong and will act accordingly. There is no need to adjust the laws of the country for the sake of their flocks.
In invoking the possible effects of the RH Bill on the morality of the public which happens to be 85 percent Catholic, the RC clergy is merely announcing to the whole wide world that they are derelicts as spiritual parents to their congregation because it takes more than easy access to contraceptives to lead sound and solid Christians astray. They are merely trying to make the rest of the Filipino society make allowances for the results of their failed spiritual tutelage and parenting.
Let me repeat: In opposing the RH Bill on the allegation that it will spawn immorality and promiscuity not to include more abortion and fatherless children, the RC clergy is like the parent of a school laggard who, instead of trying to correct the problem within the confines of the home and on his own, had petitioned the DepEd to lower its academic standards. An execrable parent indeed.
