HOW THE NEW REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL PROVIDES PROTECTION

WHO DOES SECTION 3 PARAGRAPH 13 OF THE CONSOLIDATED RH BILL PROTECT?

LIMITED RESOURCES

Sec 3 on Guiding Principles of “The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011” stated at paragraph 13: The limited resources of the country cannot be suffered to, be spread so thinly to service a burgeoning multitude that makes the allocations grossly inadequate and effectively meaningless.

Is it because the rate of increase of number of lives to be sustained, is faster than the rate of increase of amount of resources that could provide sustenance?

I agree that our material resources are finite as all materials in this world are finite. 

Back to thousands of years earlier than 2000 years ago, did the people live in a situation of abundance of material resources for sustenance?  Sustenance for material resources was derived merely from gathering and hunting.  Was that abundance compared to today?  Even during the later period, when agriculture became the technology for material resources sustenance, there was no such mass movements to suppress population growth.  There were those who lived with enough.  But there were those like the rich and powerful kingdoms who conquered other territories of other kingdoms and slaughtered or enslaved the vanquished and looted their resources as a means to sustain the conqueror kingdom.  They lived then, as if resources for them were limited.  From those events, was there actually a shortage of material resources at that time?  Or was it more of fear due to greed?  Was the behavior of people then, towards the share of material resources any different from that of now?  The technology then, was mass murder of the living.

TOMORROW- WHAT YESTERDAY AND TODAY FEAR

Today, the same fear of limited resources is gripping us.  Yet, despite of all the supposedly more advanced technology for material resources sustenance of the world, why is it that not all families can have food available for them?  How is it that today, we can have one family who, aside from owning long chain of supermarkets and large tracks of lands, could very well afford to feed each member of that family of say 12, the quantity equivalent of more than one hundred meals at three times a day if they could accommodate that much in their stomach?  Is this amount, not more than the equivalent of three good meals a day for 70 families with 12 children each?  Is this amount of food not excess?  Yet how is it that today, there are families who could afford to eat that much quantity of food, while there are families of 3 children who could not eat three adequate meals a day?  Is this not greed causing hunger? 

WHAT DOES RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2011 DEVELOP?

Some of those who belong to such families who could well afford to be fed more than a hundred meals in one mealtime if their stomach could accommodate that much, have blamed families who could not afford to have three meals a day to be lazy but high in offspring productivity.  Have they not seen family members with 3 children who had to labor 12 hours a day to be able to eat two times a day everyday because that is the only capability they have as a result of the business of this well-fed family members which: control markets; have contractual policies; have oppressive compensation policies; or which have been displacing small retailers from the areas they have established their own giant businesses?  Is this hunger the general result of laziness or too many mouths to feed?  Is not the RPRHPD Act of 2011, promoting greed for blaming high population growth as cause of hunger while ignoring greed as the cause?  Or is it sustaining lust by providing artificial technology to an imbalance of nature which can be corrected by a long and hard working natural behavioral developmental process?

Is the fear that drove the technology for material resources sustenance of many of the powerful people back in the period of more than 2000 years ago, any different from that of the fear that drives the guiding principles in the RPRHPD Act of 2011 today?  Is the technology being pushed not just that of a more subtle technology to block others from opportunities to life so that those who have the capacity to satisfy their greed can have all the opportunities of pursuing it without any hindrance?


CONDOMIZATION OF LIFE

Do we really think that this material world we live in, can be exempted from the universal material process of wear and tear, and from a finite existence?  If we believe in this, then if human population existence in it is extended to infinity, this world may be able to sustain it.

But if we think as we have seen from the universal process, that this material world we live in can not be exempted from a finite existence, then why do we attempt to extend human population existence to infinity?  Moreover, if we extend material world to infinity assuming we are able to, how are we again to take population management into our hands before a situation where there will be more elderly who by that time again have decreased capacity to carry the burden of the world but by them, increased the load to be carried by the young?  Such a burden definitely hampers our life of pleasure.

We are already laying the foundation for a culture of condomization of life reproductive parts or putting in our hands alone, when life of another human being should start.  This is based on our life of pleasure.  What should stop as now from developing towards condomization of life sustaining parts like the nose or mouth, or putting in our hands alone, when life of another human being should end?  This is based on our life of unhampered pleasure.

Is the culture of condomization, the culture of taking life from others so that we may live, the meaning of our life?

Based on scriptures, God our maker taught us to give our life so that others may live.  Based on scriptures, he sent his only Son Jesus Christ to pay with his own life here for the damage of our life which we, in our ignorance, indulged into here in this material world.  If we do not believe in God, this guide to the meaning of our life can only be validated thru experience.  I am not a good person.  But in a number of times in my own experiences, I have seen that having given a little of my life so that others may live have given me more than just a little joy seeing what amount of life, recipients around me have received.

José Miguel García

‘My Parents Learned Porn from Neighbor’

By Ador Vincent Mayol
Cebu Daily News

8:05 am | Saturday, June 4th, 2011

DO WE CONSIDER PORNOGRAPHY PATHOLOGICAL OR NOT?


The married couple who was arrested for allegedly using their children for cyber pornography in barangay Ibabao, Cordova town, learned about the trade from a neighbor.

So said their eldest son who executed a sworn affidavit to the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) against them yesterday.

The 15-year-old boy was assisted by a psychologist and a social worker in executing the affidavit.

“It is already quite known in the community that other families area also doing these webcam shows from my conversation with my friends and neighbors. In fact, one of my neighbors taught my parents to do these webcam shows to earn money,” he said.

The boy, along with four underage siblings and a female cousin, are now under the custody of the Provincial Women’s Commission.

The boy said he saw his parents order his younger sisters to perform lewd acts against their will.

Based on an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7), the couple maintained two Yahoo e-mail accounts to lure online clients.

The man and his spouse, who is six months pregnant, are detained at the NBI-7 stockade.

The eldest son recounted how he first witnessed a “webcam” show involving his sisters two years ago.

He said he entered his parents’ room to get a T-shirt and saw his three sisters stripping down in front of a web camera.

“My mother was chatting over the Internet with some foreigners who were viewing them,” said the affidavit obtained by Cebu Daily News.

The boy was at home when NBI agents arrested his parents last Wednesday and rescued the children.

He said his mother and his three siblings and a female cousin were chatting with foreigners over the Internet.

The other children were nude and performed lewd actions in front of the web camera for a fee.

“This is not the first time that my mother and my father told my sisters and even my (13-year-old) brother to strip nude and perform lewd actions in front of foreigners,” he said.

After watching this, the boy said he no longer questioned his parents because he saw them buy groceries and other needs of the house, and understood that was how they earned money even though they were jobless.

He said his parents started to engage in cyber pornography two years ago.

He said his sisters would be told to perform lewd shows in front of the web camera “almost thrice a week.”

“I talked to my sisters, pitied them and urged them to stop but they told me that although they did not like to do these shows, they were forced to do it by my parents since this is the only way for them to earn money.”

So far, only the eldest son issued an affidavit against his parents who face charges of violating Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and qualified trafficking.

They were also accused of violating Republic Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law.

The charges will be elevated before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Lapu-Lapu City on Monday.


WHAT MAY BE THE EFFECT OF PORNOGRAPHY ALONE ON THE INDIVIDUAL?

The following report from this link of GMA Report may provide a prognosis: "GIRL, 9, MISSING FOR 12 DAYS, FOUND DEAD IN CAVITA" by Gian C. Geronimo, GMA NEWS, 2013 Jan 11, 15:23 A 9-year-old girl who went missing on Christmas Day last year was found dead last Saturday, Jan. 5, in Dasmariñas City in Cavite province. Police said she was raped by four men, one of them a minor, who have been taken into custody. The body of rape victim Zosimae Magluyan was found...  


THE CAUSE OF SEXUAL DRIVE

This mindset of having "Safe and satisfying sex", and "pleasurable sex" as contained in the Reproductive Health Law recently passed in the Philippines, is not helping at all in checking such pathological behaviours.  It only reinforces the mindset that the desires of the flesh is at the center of our drive while love of the one who created us and our neighbour is merely along the peripheral. 

Huge Stash of Corals, Shells Found in Zambo Warehouses

By Julie S. Alipala
Inquirer Mindanao

6:31 pm | Saturday, June 4th, 2011

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Workers arrange rare black corals and endangered green sea turtles as they are presented to media in Manila on May 30. AP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Two days of inspections of warehouses and buying stations of a Zamboanga-based trading company have yielded such a large stash of protected corals, shells and other marine species that two 20-foot container vans were not enough to hold them, the head of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said here Saturday.

BFAR Director Asis Perez said the authorities discovered tons of corals and shells in one warehouse they inspected Saturday in the village of San Roque .

“We saw a still undetermined, huge volume (of corals and shells), much bigger than what were seized in Manila,” he told the Inquirer.

Asked to give an estimate, he said the shells and corals in that particular warehouse of the Li and Lim Trading would not fit in two 20-foot container vans. “I guess more than that and we need to evaluate how large this stash is,” Perez added.

He said a team of experts was expected in Zamboanga “to help us identify, determine and categorize the type of species found at one of the warehouses.”

“We have conducted a thorough search,” he said. “There’s indication of illegal items, we can see illegal items even if we don’t open the boxes, and in the second premises, shells are in boxes and sealed and there were several cuts of still undetermined items,” Perez said.

Rosella Contreras, head of the BFAR’s Fish Inspection and Quarantine Services in Western Mindanao, said among the items they saw inside one of the warehouses were porcelain clams or Hippopus porcellanus, a protected species harvesting of which is banned.

Ahadulla Sajili, BFAR Western Mindanao director, said the fact-finding team has inspected a total of three warehouses since Friday.

Sajili said they also inspected a warehouse operated by Uan Huat Trading, which he said is owned by Joe Pring, also known as Joe Ping, whom he identified as Taiwanese and the husband of Olivia Li and Lim Trading who has made herself scarce in the wake of the seizure in Manila late last months of two container vans filled with black corals and stuffed marine turtles.

In 2007, the authorities also seized protected marine species from Uan Uat’s warehouse and Pring was charged with violating the country’s fisheries laws. The case is still pending.

Chief Superintendent Elpidio de Asis, chief of the Western Mindanao police, said Pring personally welcomed the fact-finding team and allowed it to conduct the inspection of his warehouse.

Meanwhile, Lim found a defender in De Asis.

Citing the permit obtained by Li from the city’s business licensing office, De Asis said the businesswoman was operating a legitimate business.

“This does not look to me like smuggling. Some people were trying to make money and they did not know they were gathering banned marine products,” he said.

But BFAR’s Perez disagreed, saying that a highly organized syndicate could be behind the smuggling of protected corals and shells from this city.

“So many people were involved. People who are gathering and selling, consolidating… there are people making sure it’s transported and people who hide their real identities like the consignee of the one shipped and seized in Metro Manila,” he said.

Perez said, “There’s really a pattern. In other words it’s a pretty well thought of operation, it’s not something you do by impulse, well thought process, well planned, by all indications it’s a syndicated crime.”

Hadji Alano Alihuddin, provincial fisheries officer of Basilan also backed Perez’s statement.

He said village officials in his province could testify that those gathering corals there were escorted by heavily armed men.

But De Asis again rejected the idea of syndicated crime, saying the gathering and selling of corals have become a cottage industry for some fishermen in the Western Mindanao area.

In a related development, the Bureau of Customs said during a meeting with BFAR and other government officials here Friday that it could not possibly detect illegal items shipped out of the port here to other parts of the country.

The BOC said it inspects only cargoes bound for foreign destinations and not inter-island shipments, and pointed to the Philippine Ports Authority as the responsible agency. But PPA officials also washed their hands, saying it was the job of the BOC.

Officials of the Maritime Industry Authority said shipping companies should have also known they were transporting contraband. They said it was unlikely for shipping companies to just allow cargoes without knowing what they were.

Owners of Company in Coral Smuggling Nowhere to be Found

By Julie S. Alipala

Inquirer Mindanao

6:37 pm | Friday, June 3rd, 2011

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Customs officers show to photographers rare black corals as they are presented to media in Manila on Monday. AP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—The owners of the company reportedly behind the seized illegal shipment of corals and other marine species worth about P35 have made themselves scarce.

A worker for Olivia Li of Li and Lim Trading on Magay Road here told the Inquirer that she and her husband left for Manila last week.

The worker, who refused to give his name, said they had no idea what their employers were doing in Manila or when they were coming back.

Ahadulla Sajili, director of the Western Mindanao office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, (BFAR), said they have been trying to locate Li, “but no one is providing us information of her whereabouts or that of her husband.”

A source who asked not to be named told the Inquirer that the Lis may have been trying to get out of the country if they have not done so yet.

Elmer Apolinario, deputy city administrator, said he got information that the Lis were actually Taiwanese.

Asis Perez, national director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said charges for violation of the Fisheries Code were filed against Li and several others on Friday. He said Li and her associates could also face charges of smuggling.

On Friday, Western Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Elpidio de Asis ordered the city police to immediately secure Li’s warehouse and buying station here.

“We are under instruction to secure and prevent any possible entry or exit of any marine products,” said Senior Supt. Edwin De Ocampo, acting city police chief.

He said policemen were deployed to guard Yacom Bldg. in Barangay San Roque and Li’s office on Magay Road.

Demetrio Escoto, BFAR legal officer, said that aside from Li, several other persons have been charged for violating the fisheries laws.

They included Exequiel D. Navarro, listed in the shipment’s manifest and bill of lading as the consignee of the seized marine items; Kim L. Atillano, owner of the Zamboanga-based JKA Transport System, the alleged cargo forwarder; and an Ireneo Penuliar.

De Ocampo said despite the cases filed against those allegedly behind the illegal trade in marine species, there had been no instruction for them to search or seize anything from either Li’s warehouse or office.

Apolinario said Li and Lim Trading has a permit to operate and is engaged in “exporting seashells.”

Meanwhile, another source who was trying to help the Inquirer get as much information on Li and Lim Trading, said Friday he had warned against asking too much about the smuggling activities.

The source said that among those who warned him were from the Chinese-Filipino community here.

“I’ve been asking around about this (company) but everybody was mum and all of them told me to go slow as it could be dangerous, that a big syndicate could be behind this (smuggling),” the source said.

The existence of a syndicate in the illicit marine trade was earlier brought to the Inquirer’s attention by Rosella Contreras of the BFAR’s Fish Inspection and Quarantine Services here.

Contreras said the smuggling of corals and other marine species had been going on since 2008 without any meaningful seizures or arrests made.

“Smuggling is a non-stop activity at the Zamboanga City Port. Syndicates abound,” she said.

Contreras said that as much as the BFAR wanted to inspect cargoes to ensure they did not include protected marine species, they could barely move inside the port.

“If we receive positive reports, we immediately act on them. But sometimes, armed men would confront us. We could only take notes and make reports,” she said, without saying who the armed men were.

Contreras said while there had been seizures in the past, no one actually went to jail for smuggling protected marine species.

“There were several apprehensions but they could easily get away after paying certain dues,” she said.

During a meeting with local and other government officials, Asis said he was informed that the stuffed turtles and other species confiscated in Manila last week had come from waters around Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

“These were being collected by deep sea diving and the use of air compressors and were mostly done by ordinary fishermen, who were not so aware of the laws,” he said.

Sajili said buyers of marine species go around these provinces and tell fishermen what types of corals they need.

The collected marine items are then shipped to the buyers through small wharfs and ports, Perez said.

Mayor Celso Lobregat said the city has about 28 mini-ports and wharves and most are not licensed.

Black corals , Crime , Environment , Smuggling , wildlife trade