Notes from the North

By Estanislao C. Albano, Jr.  

Naneng is the second to the last barangay of Tabuk City on the way to Mt. Province. The main village is located on a strip of flat land along the Chico River. On one end of the village which has 83  houses is the Roman Catholic church, the first ever religious outpost in Tabuk after the Philippine Revolution. The revolution had stopped all Catholic mission activities in the area. Up until recently when various born-again denominations gained some following in the  barangay, Roman Catholicism was the only religion of the Nanengs.  

On the gently sloping land between the village and the national road to the west is the 54-hectare ricefield. This used to adequately supply the staple needs of the residents.  That is in the past tense because for some decades now and due to a combination of natural and man-made causes, the traditional source of the village’s rice can no longer keep up with the consumption.  

From a conversation with barangay secretary Andres Amla, 73, and housewives Reynalyn Albert, 40, and Blesilda Albert, 50, I learned that before the Second World War, there were only few families in the main Naneng village. The average number of children of each family was  two to three. Reynalyn theorizes that one reason for the small families during that period was that the back-breaking work involved in eking out a living then when modern technology was not still available must have adversely affected the fertility of the people. With the low population  and there being sufficient irrigation water then, the produce of the ricefields exceeded the consumption so that there was no need for people to augment their staple needs by engaging in slash and burn farming or kaingin.  

But right after the war, the picture drastically changed as the big family became the ideal. The three said that because of the war, the villagers had come to think that it is good to have many children so that if another war happens, there would be more members of the family helping each other and that’s even if a member or two would go to war. They said that during that period, most of the families had more than 10 children with one family even having 16 children.  

The sudden increase in the population put pressure on the  traditional source of rice supply of the villagers and later on when it was time for the post-war children to marry and start their own families, also pressure on the space available for residential purposes in the village. One of the results was that some families have to resort to kaingin farming to complement their harvest from their rice paddies. Another effect was for some of the new families having to look for new locations on which to build their houses. That meant the clearing of   erstwhile forest lands in the barangay.  

The three said that the average number of  broods in the village in the 60s and 70s was eight and in the 80s to 90s six to seven. Blesilda said that  the hardship of sending too many children to school brought about the slight decrease in the average number of children.  

The steady increase in the village’s population impacted on the environment. The three related that starting in the 70s and with the denudation of the forest primarily due to the kaingin system,  there was a steady decline in the volume of irrigation water reaching the  riceland of the village. They said  that it was not just the cutting of trees which caused the dwindling of their water source but likewise the earthquakes sometime in the 60s and in 1990. Blesilda related that in 2003, the situation forced  the villagers to institute irrigation water rationing.  The scheme brought about a semblance of order in the usage of the irrigation water but as the water became more scarce, the demand for the precious resource has become a potential source of conflict among the farmers. To make sure that the schedule is maximized, a farmer has to stand guard in his farm otherwise neighbors would steal the water. It came to a point that Blesilda decided to do the guarding herself taking advantage of the Kalinga cultural trait of sparing women from violence. For her, that means going to the rice field at 4 AM and staying there until morning.  

Blesilda said that after the 1990 earthquake, what was unthinkable in the village which for centuries used to be self-sufficient in rice took place: some villagers started going to town to buy rice. At first, such a sight was rare but as the population of the village continued to grow, it soon became a common occurrence.  

The three picture the current situation of the village rice resource as follows: During the wet season or main crop, all 54 hectares are tilled. What makes that possible is that the rains bring to life the creeks from which the farmers could draw the water which the Gapang irrigation system, the original water source of the ricefields, can no longer supply. During the second cropping when the creeks are dry, only around three hectares are made productive by the water from Gapang. During our visit yesterday, I personally saw several paddies with half inch-wide cracks. The farmers harvesting the rice in the adjoining paddy said that the crop in the waterless paddies can no longer be salvaged.    

And according to Reynalyn, a new phenomenon is compounding the troubles of  Naneng’s farmers. She related that for around eight instances already, the creeks have overflowed during heavy rains flooding the rice lands and even the village. She informed that the last time that the flooding occurred which was in August of last year, a portion of her family’s ricefield was covered with silt rendering it unarable. She blames the flooding on the development of the erstwhile forested area above the village where over the years, people with no more land in the village to build their houses on or to grow their rice have moved. Some 63 households are located there now. Back in the 70s, there was only one house in the area. With the trees gone, there is nothing more to hold the soil when it rains thus the top soil-laden floods, Reynalyn observed.   

I gleaned from the conversation that the worsening food situation in the village was and is one of the main factors women in the village were  and are receptive to the family planning program which government health personnel are promoting to them. Reynalyn and Blesilda said that there are other reasons such as the difficulty of sending children to school. They said that except for a few, women in the village have embraced artificial family planning methods as one response to their current condition. They said that the mere realization that things in the village are no longer as they used to has combined with the family planning campaign of the government to bring down the average number of children among young couples in the village. They allege that the maximum number of children for families there now is four.  

Reynalyn unabashedly revealed that she herself underwent ligation several years ago. She said that she and her husband would have stopped at three or four had they been blessed with a girl by that time but since they were not, they decided to give themselves more chances but when their seventh child turned out to be yet another boy, they decided it was time to quit and to ensure that no more children will come, she underwent ligation.

When I asked the three how come the villagers are defying their church on the issue of artificial contraceptives, Reynalyn answered: “Religion is not the only basis for decision when it comes to the number of children a couple will have. The government and the church have conflicting positions and it is up for people to choose which to follow. As far as I am concerned, bringing into this world children whose basic needs you cannot adequately provide and whom you cannot send to school is far worse than using contraceptives.” Blesilda and Amla did not voice any objection.  

About the reaction of their church, Reynalyn related that at the time the villagers were faced with the decision whether or not to accept artificial family planning methods, some members of the congregation consulted the priest, a foreign missionary. According to Reynalyn, the priest readily understood the reasons of the villagers for being open to contraceptives as he was aware of their hardships and had encouraged  the members who approached him to lend rice to the villagers who could not afford to go buy rice in the market. From that time on also, he often included in his homilies the topics of responsible parenthood and proper nurture of children in  moral values. Reynalyn said that the priest never  commented on the usage of contraceptives.  

I chanced upon these  Naneng men harvesting  rice during my visit to the village on March 23,2011. Take note of the paddies in the distance that were not planted this cropping season due to lack of irrigation. The men said that the rice plants in the adjoining paddies which run out of irrigation water for sometime have no chance of surviving. 

This was how the paddy the men were harvesting rice looked like. 

by Estanislao Albano, Jr.

Congressman Roilo Golez of  Paranaque is playing to the hilt his role as one of the main articulators of the anti-RH Bill position in and out of the halls of Congress. Nearly every time  there is a development in the population controversy, the solon is quoted in the media as having said this or that all in furtherance of the anti-RH Bill cause. At times he himself creates the news by making this or that statement against the bill. 

But I notice that for all his reputation as one of the best debaters in Congress, the veteran lawmaker  is not above resorting to misleading and deceptive arguments in his running debate with RH Bill proponents.  Whatever is convenient to his position, he exploits it sometimes to the disregard of truth and public enlightenment. Let’s take his comments on the population issue-related pronouncements made by former US president Bill Clinton and population and health expert Malcolm Potts. Golez made hay of the passing comment of Clinton in his speech on the challenge of globalization that more babies are a boon to the country. He gloated that Clinton could see what RH Bill exponents do not see: that babies are assets instead of liabilities. He did not stop to think whether or not Clinton is knowledgeable of specific conditions prevailing in the country before he uttered those words. For one, did  Clinton know before he opened his mouth that in this country there are hundreds of thousands of couples who bring into the world more children than they could reasonably provide for? Had he known that, would Clinton still have said that we are blessed because of our big population?  

Later when Potts, with his solid credentials as an international population expert he being  a professor at the Bixby Center for Population, Health and Sustainability at the University of California warned that we will soon become a failed state like Somalia if the population growth of  the country is not immediately checked, instead of answering the points raised by the professor, Golez called the attention of the public to Pott’s alleged crimes. He demanded that  Potts be deported for  insulting the Philippines by comparing it to  “super backward” Somalia  and for promoting abortion. If I remember my lessons well, that’s what we call argumentum ad hominem where instead of answering the issues, a person attacks the character of the one he is arguing with.   

My guess is that Golez has no answer to Pott’s comparison of  Thailand and the Philippines. Potts cited the historical fact that in the 1970s, the two countries were comparable in economy and population but that Thais now have a better life because their government has been aggressively promotion condoms while Filipinos continue to multiply without thought of consequence. That’s the very reason he raked up the dirt on Potts and wanted the poor guy deported because  of the danger that if the population expert stays longer in the country, he will do more damage to the  anti-RH crusade.   

Now comes the results of the recent Pulse Asia survey which states that 69 percent of Filipinos support the RH Bill. Immediately, Golez impugned the findings saying among others that the question used by the survey firm was defective because it only asked the respondents if they have heard or read  about the RH Bill. According to him, the respondents should have been asked whether or not they read the bill itself and if they answered in the negative, the interview should have been stopped. He asked how the respondents could make an informed answer if they have not read the bill.   

Golez is suffering from the notion that  if   Filipinos read the RH Bill, they could not help but puke.  Going by his reasoning, the 26 law professors of  the University of the Philippines and the 69 professors from different departments of the  Ateneo de Manila University who issued manifestos in support of the RH Bill also did not read the proposed legislation. Their manifesto proceeded from lack of complete understanding of the bill because they merely heard about it from friends or just from the radio on their way to school and did not bother to read the bill. 

In contending that only a reading of the full text of the bill could someone be equipped to render judgment on it, Golez  is also belittling the capability of  the media to provide adequate  information and  enlightenment for informed decision-making.  Golez will say and do anything to discredit the bill and the people who believe in it including committing something inconsistent with his own actions. You see, for a person who questions the capability of the media to make people decide wisely, Golez is a very frequent user of various media to advocate his causes. Just like I already told you, he almost never misses commenting in the media about the latest developments in the RH Bill issue. Golez even posts in the Internet newspaper articles which side with him in the issue.  It is possible that in his thinking,  the media is only capable of effective information dissemination when it’s his side that are published there. 

To end this piece, let’s have a sampling of Golez’s anti-RH Bill arguments  courtesy of a video of his debate  with RH Bill proponent Congressman Edcel Lagman on the bill posted in the youtube.  He presented a photo of some poor children declaring that they should not be considered as burden to society but assets because many of them in the photo have become professionals and OFWs. He continued that whether or not poor children become assets to society depends on how the government help them in terms of education, social services and health. He concluded that poor children also have a chance of making something of themselves so they should not be prevented from coming into the world.  He tried to impress in the minds of his colleagues that what happened to the children in the photo is also happening in all the slums in the country. He seemed oblivious of the fact that in a lot of instances, poor children could not go to school because their parents do not have the means of sending them so how could they become professionals and OFWs like he claims many in the photo did?

It would be interesting to hear Golez define his word  “marami” or many referring to children  in his slide becoming successful in life.  Just how many percent  does it mean? And could he say honestly if the percentage applies to  the poor children in the second district of Paranaque? 

Let me point out that from his own statement, it appears that Golez’s brand of responsible parenthood allows bringing children into the world and then holding the government responsible for their education and health.  

By Estanislao C. Albano, Jr.

One  unwittingly stumbled into the RH Bill controversy while the  other  intentionally came to  lend his support to local anti-artificial family planning forces. The first is a former politicians who  is accustomed to trying to say something he thought his host would want to hear while the other is on personal mission to fight contraceptives, abortion and all that he thinks threatens the stability of the family. The first opened his mouth without the benefit of adequate data while the other consciously mouthed anti-artificial family planning propaganda. As would be expected,  their pronouncements, instead  of helping, further roiled the population debate.  

Speaking on the challenge of globalization at the Manila Hotel as part of  his 12-hour visit to the country, former US President Bill Clinton carelessly declared that more babies will do the country   a lot of good. The papers quoted him as saying “you Filipinos have huge population, which is positive and you have massive natural resources.” I understand that it was only a passing comment but later, anti-RH Bill solon Roilo Golez seized on it as an indorsement of their untenable position.

By Estanislao C. Albano, Jr.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should make up its mind what it really thinks of  the late President Corazon Aquino. Sometime ago after the President declared his support for the RH bill, they told the latter that he should follow the example of his mother who, during her term, toed the line of the church when it came to the issue of family planning.

Now Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has just blamed the parents of the exponents of the RH bill for what he calls the absence of consciences of their children.

It is now apparent that these people do not stop at anything to attain their goal of defeating the RH bill including using the memory of a dead person who they pretend to respect but actually look down on.   

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That should have been the CBCP’s  course of action right from the very start of the RH controversy. Go to their constituents and convince them that the position of the church in the family planning issue is superior to the proposed government solution and to tell them what to do in the event the RH bill is passed. But their first option which was effective before but is now losing its magic is to interfere in the process of government legislation.

The CBCP is no different from some local politicians. Instead of fairly competing for the votes of the populace, they shoot their opponents.

It is possible the CBCP is afraid it really has no sway on its constituents thus, the option to try to bully government instead.  

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Clearly, the CBCP does not realize and accept that it is living in a democratic order where there is freedom to hold different opinions and positions and to espouse the same. They cannot brook any dissension. Fairness which is one of the basic ingredients of democracy is not in their vocabulary. As far as they are concerned, they have the right to disagree and fight with the government, a right which right they in turn deny to government officials from the president down when the position of the latter differs from theirs.     

They alone know what is good for the people and woe to anyone who dares disagree with them because all the weapons in the arsenal of the church  will be unleashed on him. The usage of excommunication and civil disobedience have already been mentioned in connection with the RH bill and I do not think that was a slip of the tongue as they want to make it appear after receiving flak for their threats.

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One of the most inane pronouncements that has come from the anti-RH bill ranks recently is that they are ready to go to jail when the RH bill is passed into law. Like I told you, they do not accept that we are in a democracy so they assume that everybody in this country thinks like they do.

If  the CBCP were the government, the RH bill exponents or anybody who challenges the official position would have been locked in jail a long time ago.

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To expose the arrant hypocrisy of the CBCP,  just what is the Roman Catholic Church in the country doing for all the unwanted children born into the world thanks to its hard line opposition to artificial family planning? None whatsoever. In fact, it does not even have funds and programs to promote natural family planning among its parishioners. What the CBCP wants is that after ramming down into the throat of the government its brand of family planning, the latter will also foot the bill for its promotion to the public.  

And it also wants the government to hire additional teachers and build additional school rooms for the additional babies it wants to enter the world in the name of its doctrine that contraception is murder.

To the CBCP, there is nothing  contradictory  in defending the rights of children to be born into this world even if the parents could never dream of getting them delivered in a Catholic hospital and sending them to  a Catholic school.

What kind of life Filipino children it helps come to the world is of no concern to the CBCP. Its only interest is that the reproductive process be free from something the church disapproves of.  Never mind if the child will be born in a leaking barong-barong and will never have chance to see the inside of a school.

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The government is already up to its neck with the bloated population. The exponents of the RH bill and a lot of other people in government are convinced that the population is one of the main reasons the country is not moving forward economically and why there is always a shortage of government services. That has compelled our lawmakers to propose a law that would somehow slow down our population growth to manageable levels. And here comes the CBCP moving heaven and earth to block the passage of the legislation.

Now isn’t it but proper then that the CBCP should do something for the children the government does not want to be born but  it is fiercely fighting to be born?  Shouldn’t it be building and running schools for the children of  the poor alongside its schools for the elite for a change and opening up its hospitals to the poor? Not on your life. All the CBCP wants is that its supremacy remains unchallenged like during the times of Padre Damaso.

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I challenge these self-deceiving anti-RH bill people to answer the following questions: If there is a fire in a squatters’ area, which has the better chance of escaping unscathed – the family with two kids or the family with 10 kids? And which of the two families has the better chance of eventually moving out of the blighted neighborhood to a better location?

I suppose their answer would be as follows: If the government just stopped being corrupt and really did its job, the squatters’ areas all over the land will disappear in no time at all.

These people are really hopeless. You cannot reason with them.  

by Estanislao Albano, Jr.

It will not only be a risen-from-the-dead Dr. Jose Rizal that the  Padre Damasos in our midst will try to run out of town.  If the origin of Christianity itself, Jesus Christ,  and his disciples were to come back and live among us, they and their minions will do all within their powers to banish them

After going to the extent of dying on the cross to establish a kingdom that is “not of this world,”  I do not think Jesus Christ if he comes back to live among men now will be interested in temporal power. He will still say “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21) He will still recognize and respect the existence of the state as distinct from the church. He will not approve of  making threats and moving heaven and earth to abort  the RH bill.  

In all his acts recorded in the Scriptures, Jesus Christ who was very generous with denunciations of the Pharisees never criticized the government. And I do not think that if he comes back to earth now, He would start doing so.  The Padre Damasos will not take kindly to being exposed they have  been and are up to something that the Person they claim to be representatives of does not approve.

Neither will they like the Apostle Paul who in his first lifetime wrote to the believers in Rome the following: “Let every soul be subject to the government authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’s sake.” (Romans 13:1-6)

Paul also wrote his protégé Titus as follows: “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work.” (Titus 3:1)

And irony of ironies, the Padre Damasos will also reject the Apostle Peter who they claim to be the first Pope. You see, just like Paul, Peter also advocates subjecting oneself to temporal authorities. Let’s listen to him: “Therefore submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme. Or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.” (I Peter 2:13, 14)

Certainly, just like he had a mouthful to say about the Pharisees,  Jesus Christ will also rebuke the present day Padre Damasos for their obsession of meddling in affairs of government and in the process, losing sight of the main mission of the church for which he and his disciples died: reconciling men to God and changing men spiritually and morally.

Of course the Padre Damasos will lot change its position on there being no demarcation line between church and state which would prevent them from bullying government officials to do their will at the mere say so of Jesus Christ, Paul and Peter so it is highly likely they will warn the trio to keep their mouth shut  on this very delicate issue or they will exert pressure on the government to deport them for the crime of preaching heresy.  

Seriously now, I just want to know how come the Roman Catholic clergy persists in trying to dictate on government to do what pleases them when the Scriptures is very clear that church people should subject themselves to temporal authorities. My guess is they justify their meddling in government on the basis of the claim of the Roman Catholic church that the Bible is not the only authority when it comes to matters of Christian faith. There are traditions, etc., etc. But traditions that go against the pronouncements of the very originator of Christianity as recorded in the book acknowledged by Christendom as the very Word of God? Traditions or sources that supersede  Jesus Christ Himself? Come on.

By Estanislao Albano, Jr.

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Roman Catholic (RC) clergy only talks about natural family planning methods but is doing nothing to promote it among their members.

That is the observation of Dr. Rosendo Roque, a full professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the RC-run University of Santo Tomas and a past president of the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS).

Roque led a team of 14 obstetricians and gynecologists  who  came to the province October 8 to conduct a medical mission and lecture on teenage pregnancy.

“The church is adamant on refusing to accept artificial contraction methods and yet there are no strong moves on its part to immerse in the community to strengthen natural family planning methods. If you talk, you offer options and alternatives to what is offered by the other side so you will offer an equal choice so that the population can make a decision on their own,” Roque said.

He added that the church cannot go on “imposing urgent sensitive matters concerning people without adequate study and consideration of what the people really need and what they really desire to improve their situation.”

Regarding the emotion-charged debate on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, Roque said that the government and the church should strike a compromise because of the survey finding showing  that majority of RC people favor the passage of the bill.

“I wish that all the parties will try to analyze in detail the contents of the RH bill that needs to  compromise approach so that we can approach our goal to finally improve our society’s conditions because this is just a matter of supply and demand. The bigger the number of people, the bigger is their need for food, housing social services, infrastructure and jobs,” Roque said.

 Once both sides understand the contentious provisions, then they can work out compromises that will be acceptable to both, the doctor said.

Citing as sample the issue of the participation of the government in providing contraceptive methods to the population, Roque said that the two parties could talk about alternatives which could include the church strengthening its education efforts on the subject of natural family planning method.

“If they don’t want condoms, they can teach the rhythm method,” Roque said.

He clarified that he is not talking for the POGS albeit he claimed that most members of the organization share his opinion.  

Regarding the POGS advocacy against teenage pregnancy, Roque who heads the project said that they teach teenagers “abstinence and substitution of their activities to help them mature responsibly.”

He said that since sexual development is natural, the POGS want the teenagers to be aware that they can channel their excess energy to other productive activities.

“Most teenagers are left to themselves and they cannot cope with the rapid changes in their physical, emotional and social development. A good majority have no guidance especially so that many parents are overseas.