MANILA: The Philippines president has signed a law that will promote contraception, sexual education and family planning programs vigorously opposed by the country’s Roman Catholic Church.
President Benigno Aquino III signed the law on December 21 and his administration announced it only on Saturday because of the “sensitivity” of the issue, said deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte.
Valte said the passage of the law “closes a highly divisive chapter of our history” and “opens the possibility of cooperation and reconciliation” among those who oppose and support the “Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.”
One of the most outspoken opponents of the legislation while it was still being debated in Congress, retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz, said Aquino is dividing the country while adopting a “first world country value system.” He warned that the law will be followed by the passage of a divorce bill and same-sex marriage, both strongly opposed by the Church.
Cruz, a former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, criticized the secret signing of the law despite the presidential certification that it was an urgent measure. “What is that? He is either ashamed of it or he is afraid of the repercussion of that bill,” Cruz said.
“My first objection there is why don’t you call a spade a spade? Why do you have to call it `reproductive health?’ Come on. That is population-control legislation,” he said. “From the onset there is already deception.”
He said responsible parenthood as taught by the church entails using only natural family planning methods. Providing artificial contraceptives will “separate pleasure from the hardship” of bringing up a family. “This government has now entered the bedroom bringing with it the condom and the pill…. That is very irresponsible,” Cruz said. He said a Catholic group is planning to question the law at the Supreme Court. Women’s groups and other supporters of the law have praised Aquino for pushing its passage within the first half of his six-year term after the measure languished in Congress for 13 years largely because legislators were reluctant to pass it because of the strong opposition of the Catholic Church.
The Aquino administration “should be commended for its political will to see this law through,” said Carlos Conde, Asia Researcher for the US-based Human Rights Watch. (AP)