We are currently in the process of putting up a website to support the consolidated Reproductive Health Care Act now filed in the 14th Congress. Once it’s setup, we’ll let everybody know. Please keep yourself informed by reading the bill yourself first-hand and maybe you can write your congressman to express your support for this very important but still pending legislation.
We the undersigned express our support of HB 4110, The Reproductive Health Care Act.
We fully support the bill’s principles as laid out in Section 2.
We all hope for a healthy Filipino society. We believe the bill will help us build such a society where reproductive health care is available to anyone and everyone, free of discrimination on age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, and religious affiliation or non-affiliation. Where policies concerning reproductive health care that affects everyone is not dictated by any particular religion or belief system. We believe in the right to choose one’s method of planning a family and spacing children, or to choose to have no children at all. The rights of the individual to choose according to his conscience don’t fall under the aegis of self-proclaimed moral authorities of the religious establishment.
The Philippines is a nation of diverse religious beliefs/non-beliefs. No single belief system represents the whole diversity of Filipino religious and non-religious thought or belief nor does any of its leaders speak for all its adherents. The continued opposition by the leaders of certain sects is a clear encroachment on the rights to free choice on reproductive health methods and services of every Filipino, and trample on the rights of those who do not adhere to their beliefs. We strongly condemn the negative campaign being waged by these leaders to mislead its adherents by misrepresenting the bill’s content, and by resorting to using dogmatic, unscientific, and outmoded beliefs to support its arguments.
We strongly support the legislation because we believe this is for the well-being our nation in particular and humanity in general as we face the future of a planet with limited resources.
Please read the bill here:
http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/population/documents/HB4110.pdf
Please sign the petition here.
There is an ongoing discussion in the Pinoy atheists mailing list about drafting a letter of support for HB 4110, otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Care Act. Please join the list and participate in the discussion.
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They did it again. And I’m angry.
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Excerpt of an article in Inquirer:
“For an official of the Roman Catholic Church, the commission of a homosexual act is the real issue behind the rectal surgery in Cebu City that exploded into a scandal on YouTube.
Msgr. Achilles Dakay, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu, Wednesday said the doctors and nurses who had made fun of an anesthetized male patient in the operation room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and uploaded a video of the surgery on YouTube should not be blamed solely for the scandal.
“We are asking everyone not to forget or to bypass the main issue: the wrong act of a guy with another man,” Dakay said in an interview over the Church-run Radio Veritas. “People are not talking about what happened before the operation—the homosexual act that was done very badly.”
(by Margaux Ortiz, Philippine Daily Inquirer. First posted 04:48:00 04/24/2008)
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First of all, let’s state the obvious: the Catholic Church is ignorant, backwards, arrogant, bigoted, delusional, and false.
The “commission of a homosexual act” is NOT the issue behind the scandal. For this dumb priest to even say that it is, means he’s just not paying attention. Senile much?
His assertion that the doctors and nurses who made fun of the operation, captured a video of the operation, and humiliated the patient on the internet, should not be blamed makes clear the bigotry and distorted values of the Catholic Church.
They are quite accepting of people who ridicule the different, tolerant of oppression as long as it is directed toward people with other values, and praising of those who do evil, immoral, and unconscionable acts as long as they wear God’s cross.
We must not believe the Church when they preach compassion for the sick for the simple reason that IT IS NOT TRUE. They don’t believe that, they may think they believe that but in their hearts they will condemn the next AIDS patient they see, maybe for homosexuality or for having sex at all.
If the Catholic Church believes what it believes and continues to spew their disgusting opinions in our society, then it is a lie when they say they value the dignity of peoples. What they value are their bigotry, hatred, and this scripture from the medieval period they use to back up their bigotry and hatred with.
By the way, these are the names of the people who are involved in the “canister scandal”, count the Monsignor as one of these despicable creatures.
Dr. Philips Leo Arias
Dr. Angelo Alinawagan
Dr. Max Joseph Montecillo
Nursing Attendant Rosemarie Villareal
Nurse Carmiña Sapio
and Msgr. Achilles Dakay
Posted by JJGarcia in Pinoy atheists.
In my case it was not a conscious decision. It’s more like a rope that was slowly snapping thread by thread until one particular day when my mind was a bit busier than normal tackling the usual questions of the day (why evil? why poverty? why life is unfair? why many priests and bishops seem stupid or lying or ignorant? why? why? why?), the rope snapped completely - I “realized” that the existence of “god” and the hypotheses that are built around this “god” was what was distorting the picture of reality. That the reality that supposes the existence of such a being is an illusion we created; the universe doesn’t care and it doesn’t need a “god” to explain many things we - I - already knew. I wasn’t particularly examining the evidence for or against “god”. I was looking at the world trying to make some sense out of what I see and accept as obvious but I wasn’t being satisfied with the “standard” answers that were so far given me by the Truth authorities. I was trying to unintentionally systematize my thoughts and ideas by trying to resolve the fundamental issues not knowing what it would lead me to. I wasn’t even thinking that I was weighing “god” and the arguments for or against it. Then I crossed the line - it’s “god” itself that was muddling things. I didn’t know “god”, I was only made to believe it. At least that’s how I remember it.
I remember feeling proud and happy about my big “discovery”. 
I came back from the meet-up about two hours ago. It was as expected a lot of fun. I met two new people both Japanese. It’s unusual in the sense that most Japanese people I suspect are not into religion and consequently irreligion should not be a big deal with Japan being a country teeming with heathens. All in all, seven people attended. I almost couldn’t make it though as when I was leaving work, something urgent came up - a production problem. I was just too happy after I got hold of the morning support guy in the US to take over n look after the problem even if it’s a Tokyo- local issue.
Last Sunday evening, I chanced upon this lady selling religious merchandise just outside the Akabane Catholic Church in north Tokyo. I decided to hang out here after coming from work and for thirty minutes I watched her sell magic Catholic stuffs like rosaries, statuettes, and banners. She said that the rosaries were blessed at Baclaran Church and that they bring all kinds of luck - mas gaganda ang guhit ng palad mo - according to one of her sales pitch. The bracelet even had a proper method of removing from the wrist by slowly sliding it instead of stretching it. But I thought, maybe it’s because if you stretch it, it may snap due to poor quality in both material and craftsmanship as usually is the case. Listening to her gives an impression of how Pinoys combine elements of traditional native superstition and pseudo-science with the cult that is Catholicism. And judging from the attention and appreciation by the buyers, gives the impression that the masa is also so well into it. For example, she said the beads of the rosary have powers which is not much different from magic crystals while saying the statuettes improve the lines of your palm combines elements of palmistry with Catholic garbage. Believe it or not, they sell like cupcakes! That’s how gullible our church-going kababayans here are.
When one is exposed to an act that supposedly showcases self-sacrifice and love that seeks nothing in return, it’s easy to get lost in the melodrama and forget the nuances of the entire situation. Who wouldn’t be moved at the thought of someone you don’t know willingly suffering through hours of flagellation and a brutal crucifixion? Who wouldn’t be humbled when someone regarded as superior voluntarily gives up the position to just be up to the mercy of crazed men?
Millions. Yes, those were rhetorical questions, but once you really take a step back from this overly romanticized lie fabricated by people from two thousand years ago, it would be clear that the logic that they used was clearly flawed if not terribly lacking. The idea of having a nobleman choosing to take of his fancy garb along with his status to be subject to the worst that man could dish out is touching to say the least, but one factor is different here. That nobleman is a mere human. He did not choose to be put into that situation and sacrificing himself for the supposed greater good were decisions that he made based on the limited variables that he could control.
Let’s try it this way then.
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