Archive for September 28th, 2008

Don’t Pray For My Soul (Abortion, Reproductive Health, and HB 16)

Don’t Pray For My Soul (Abortion, Reproductive Health, and HB 16)

Before I outline my stand on reproductive health, let me give you a good idea of where I stand on the issue of sex and RH in general:

  1. I am for responsible, prudent sex, but sex should be enjoyed to its fullest.
  2. I write “Roman Catholic” on legal forms for purposes of filling out those forms.  I was born, raised, and educated as a Roman Catholic, but I am – for all intents and purposes – an atheist.  There are, however, times that I go to Church out of duress, or a kind of desperation that makes me a temporary God-believer.

Let me get to my points…

Point #1. I am pro-abortion on two counts:

  1. If pregnancy and/or childbirth directly threatens the survival of mother and child.
  2. Unwanted pregnancies under exceptionally meritorious circumstances (i.e., the complete inability to raise the child, or if the pregnancy and childbirth gravely threatens the social standing of an unwed or underaged mother).

Point #2. I am for contraception on two counts:

  1. I’d rather have a 95% effective condom protecting me and my schlong than the extreme Catholic view of 0% protection.
  2. The problem of overpopulation in the Philippines is a serious one, and if it takes condoms and other contraceptives to at least partially address the issues, then the measure is welcome.

Let’s talk about the Catholic concept of Hell for a bit.  I’m sure that pious, Church-going Catholics and/or Christians are legitimately afraid of burning sulfur and oceans of flame, but there’s also hell in hunger and poverty.

Just because I am for abortion doesn’t mean that I’m a baby-killer, and I advocate infanticide, or we should “decriminalize” abortion.  There are situations that pregnancy or childbirth can threaten the survival of both the mother and the child.  There are some situations that an unwanted pregnancy can bring so much shame, hunger, and other extreme compromises that I’m sure women – and their children – should not endure.

As someone who believes in the merits of abortion, I do not advocate dilation and curettage done with a wire-hanger.  There should be a legal clause that allows for medically-supervised abortion, one done with the proper instruments, technique, and under exceptionally meritorious circumstances.

Oooh, boldface.

I am aware that abortion is NOT legal under HB 16, it violates the Constitution, and it violates the sensibilities of right-thinking, decent people.  RH is not an endorsement of abortion, and HB 16 is NOT A PRO-ABORTION BILL.

So just because there are pro-choice advocates like myself doesn’t mean that the RH bill is automatically a triumph for abortion.  HB 16 is a triumph of our laws addressing the pressing problems of society.  Do we favor existing norms and beliefs in society and ignore the need for something to address overpopulation?  Heck no; reproductive health is a public issue.

As Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel pointed out in her privilege speech, RH is a secular issue debated as a form of public policy.  I may be an atheist, but I don’t think that God will smite the godless condom-wearing Sodomites of the Philippines with pillars of fire and turn us all into pillars of salt because of an RH bill.  The RH bill seeks to prevent and address the problem of overpopulation and encourage safe sex practices, not to enforce the wearing of a condom.

Besides, there’s already solid proof that condoms are a good way to help prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted illnesses, not to mention sperm cells.  If you don’t trust the liberal anti-Christian stuff found on the World Wide Intarnets, then go see your doctor.

HB 16 is a rare instance that I actually agree with the Government (OK, shoot me now).  Let’s deal with issues of corruption, much less Hell, later on, and judge this bill on the basis of it being a public policy. To say that we should maintain a “Christian” or “Catholic” perspective is to spit at the very foundations of free expression: not to merely say that not every Filipino is a Christian, but also to say that 40% of Filipino Catholics believe in the merits of an RH bill.  Let us take this bill as a means to address overpopulation because of a long-overdue means to manage our growing population.

All ideas, no matter how wrong they sound, should always be tested in the crucible of debate.  In a democracy, there is room for all sorts of ideas and all opposition.  So don’t pray for my soul; enlighten me with ideas – a sound opposition – to why an RH bill should not be passed in the Philippines.

September 28, 2008 2 comments Read More
Degree Six

Degree Six

“I am bound to this planet by a trail of six people.”

- John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation (1990)

At last week’s Philippine Blog Awards, where I accepted my “defeat” over some delicious Caesar’s salad rolls (whatever Yaya, I’m such a gracious loser), I made the idle threat to The Jester-in-Exile that the six-degrees-of-separation thing may be enough reason for me to “quit blogging,” although I still have to make a flame-bait article that will make me obscenely famous.

I’m already the next big thing to hit the Baltic States (yes, I already have a bookmark from the Estonians), but I’m still not contented.

Although really, it bothers me to know the following things over at the PBA and this weekend’s Bloggers’ Oktoberfest:

  1. The Blogger in Black and the Man in the Floppy Hat are hometown neighbors (I live in Brookside and he lives in Navy Base).
  2. Me and Shari were former schoolmates (to think that we belonged to the same organization, went to the same computer shop, and never – at those moments, at least – even talked).
  3. The Warrior Lawyer is a true-blue Baguio boy like myself (strangely enough, Atty. Butch has family in La Trinidad, which is like a jeepney ride from my place).
  4. Myuzeeshun and I have a common friend, Santaflor, who I can now conveniently call my “blogging mom” (it’s Santaflor’s old blog that inspired me to start blogging).
  5. Josiah’s Catering, who fed the bloggers with those Caesar’s salad rolls I love so much, is where Xaris works for.
  6. Myself and Marcelle Fabie both have a thing for Bluetooth headsets placed just above the right ear (that’s destiny, dude).

You think that you already have enough of the six-degrees thing going on in Friendster or Facebook, but it never occurred to me that this can all happen in real life.  It begs for a bad karaoke hit from the olden times:

The world is getting smaller, the population grows
Where oh where can sweethearts go when they wanna be alone
Out to the park we went walking, to a quiet spot by the lake
We found some kids playing cowboy there and they wouldn’t go away
So no romance that day…

Dum didlee-hi-dee, dum-didlee yea, where can you hide away
Dum didlee-hi-dee, dum-didlee yea, where can you hide away

- Mark Dinning, “The World Is Getting Smaller”

September 28, 2008 1 comment Read More
“Satsat” Sundays

“Satsat” Sundays

(I hate to be a stereotypical bastard… no, wait, I happen to be a stereotypical bastard…)

I have a pretty good reason to not be married. I figure that 61% of marry-able women will eventually evolve into the one monster capable of defeating Godzilla. Frizzy hair, house dress made from curtain textiles, big beady earrings, colossal triceps, tree-trunk legs, and the ability to stand there with their hands on their hips, talking in a fast, high-pitched rant.

I am, of course, talking about the housewife.

You know you married the wrong girl when you’re satsat-ized on a hot Sunday afternoon.  Take the jeepney driver awhile ago, who had to drive his passengers and stand the stream of admonitions from his wife, who was riding alongside him out front.  Or that woman next door, who has been ranting for the better part of 30 minutes about heaven-knows-what.

“Tinatalakan mo na naman ako,” the man says, shy that his manhood is literally being crucified in public.

“Hindi kita tinatalakan alam mo namang nagpapaliwanag ako susme naman kung umuwi ka lang sana nang maaga kagabi at hindi inuwian yung kerida mo di sana nakapagpamanicure pa ako kanina ano ba naman yan magkano lang sweldo mo maghanap ka naman ng ibang trabaho kesyo drayber ka lang ng jeep sige na alam mo naman kailangan ko pang bayaran yung utang nating sabon sa tindahan at bakit aalis ka na naman alam mo namang may lakad pa ako at magpapakulot pa ako ng buhok…”

Ah, yes, married life.

September 28, 2008 2 comments Read More
Fingering the Point

Fingering the Point

I’m sure that “Direct to the Point,” or is it “Straight to the Point,” on IBC-13 is a fine social and political commentary program, although I’m not so sure about the giant finger of the mustachioed host pointing to the unwashed, uninformed masses crossing to the Quezon Avenue MRT Station.

It scares the shit out of me.

Nothing screams “punditry” more than the classic finger-pointing pose: I can imagine the likes of Ted Failon, Mike Enriquez, Manolo Quezon and Ricky Carandang pose like that on print ads for their respective TV programs.  Finger-pointing gives you an air of authority and reputability.  You have to be taken seriously.  To be perceived as a no-nonsense public service program host, you either fold your arms over like Clark Kent, or point your finger like Kent Brockman.

On more finger-pointing news, it seems that the UAAP Finals between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the De La Salle Green Archers was caused by a “dirty finger” incident involving Archers forward Rico Maierhofer.  In a September 26 article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Coach Franz Pumaren defended his star player by saying that the gesture was a play signal, not an offensive gesture.  An incensed Pumaren saw the conclusion of the two-game sweep as “the worst officiating ever seen in the Finals.”  You have to give it to the Archer fans for the “sore loser” bits thrown around the Intarnets; if you’re going to lose the most prestigious college basketball award, you should lose it in a better way than having a man down just because of a finger-flickin’-good moment.

It’s hard to make a point with your big toe, so you have to “finger” the point every now and then.  Whenever I gesticulate, I prefer to “hand” my point.  I use a lot of flowing hand-motions, or I gesticulate with my cigarette (or other props, like a rolled-up newspaper, a can of Coke, a spoon and fork, a pen, or whatever is at hand).  Besides, my fingers are not exactly manly enough to do a competent finger-pointing gesture.  I’ve been known to employ a lot of offensive gestures in public, though:

  • The middle finger (the old reliable)
  • The Shocker (I heart this insult, so I use it very sparingly)
  • The Bras d’Honneur (also called the Brazilian Banana or the Gest Kozakiewicza, so offensive that even Bayani Fernando managed to sneak it into his giant “less than one thousand pesos” tarpaulin banners all over EDSA)

On one last note: when I was a kid, penis size was measured through a guy poking his index finger through a piece of folded paper.  If you’ve seen my fingers before…

September 28, 2008 1 comment Read More