VARIOUS REACTIONS were hurled against the Diocese of Bacolod when it launched, as part of its Anti-RH Law campaign, the position not to support the “Team Patay” senatorial candidates and to support “Team Buhay” candidates.
Once more, WE, the Bishop, the clergy and the Catholic Faithful of the Diocese of Bacolod declare with firmness our conviction that respect for life from conception until its natural termination is fundamental and sacrosanct and thus, should not be subject to any compromises that shall endanger it.
Although there are claims by some senatorial candidates, particularly Team Patay senatorial candidate Loren Legarda that the RH Law does not include any provision on abortion, we, however think otherwise. In fact, this is the TRAGEDY about the whole thing.
If all the pro-RH lawmakers only read what they championed and passed, it will not take 5 minutes for them to realize that RH Law did not criminalize the distribution, use, and sale of abortifacients. While the RH Law claimed that the use of abortifacients is not included in the reproductive health rights, the same law imposes no punishment to anyone using, dispensing, or selling abortifacients.
To this effect, the RH Law absolutely failed to protect the life of the unborn at conception leading us to ask whether the real intention of the RH Law, as it seems to claim, was really to protect the life of the unborn.
This deafening silence in the law that is now passed is “very loud”. The RH Law only pays lip service to protecting the life of the unborn at conception, for there is nothing else in the law that assures to protect life at all costs. Nothing at all! If in Criminal Law there is such a thing as homicide by reckless imprudence, equivalently the RH Law is almost a “zygoticide or feticide by inconceivable forgetfulness.”
Moreover, Team Patay Senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros and others claimed that selection of candidates should not be based on a “single issue” alone like the RH Law but rather on the whole track record and stand of the candidates on a whole range of issues like human rights, environment, economy, etc.
To this objection, the Diocese believes that respect and care for human life, especially of the unborn at conception, is primordial, basic, and fundamental.
The RIGHT TO LIFE, hence, is the mother of all rights. We cannot speak of and claim to champion any other rights, if the basic right to life is not upheld. If the basic right to life is compromised, how would everything else matter? All other issues cannot compensate for the terrible failure to ensure the protection of the life of the unborn at conception.
While there are some who commented that the Diocese should have avoided naming names, the Diocese finds its justification on the fact that Jesus Christ clearly said, “He who is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30). God is for life. If you are not pro-life, you are not with God. Amidst this controversy, the Diocese of Bacolod will continue do our best to take our stand to the farthest and widest spectrum of audience as possible, especially at the grassroots.
For decades the Diocese of Bacolod has stood for the “least among us”, devoting its focus and attention to the promotion of social justice. As part of our continued advocacy and obedience to the Lord, the Diocese has taken on the issue of the RH Law as part of her mission.
People like Fr. Joel Tabora of Ateneo de Davao University, considered our action as “silly” and “arrogant”. He is certainly entitled to his own opinion, in the same certain way that we are.
We will staunchly stand firm as a Diocese with our mission “to fight the good fight, to run the race to the finish and to KEEP THE FAITH” (cf. 2 Timothy 4:7) against the inherent dangers of the RH Law. We cannot stand mute and passive because “all that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”
Finally, since it is the opinion of most politicians that there is no Catholic vote, no church vote, then there should be no cause for them to be alarmed by the tarpaulin at the San Sebastian Cathedral. Ours is just a free expression of our freedom of conscience and a conspicuously exquisite manifestation of our CATHOLIC EFFORT!
Meanwhile until this is over, the red flags of courage and martyrdom, for the protection of the life of the unborn, shall fly high in the skies of the Diocese of Bacolod
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