Who’s spreading disinformation?

ALBAY representative Edcel Lagman bluntly accuses the Catholic Church of “deliberately spreading ‘falsehoods’ about the government’s consolidated bills regarding reproductive health and family planning,” as quoted by national dailies.

He calls the upcoming prayer rally on July 25 as “this vaudeville of misinformation” and blurts that “it is, however, disheartening that those who claim to be purveyors of truth are, in fact, peddling misinformation,” referring to the contents of a document entitled “Manifesto of Filipinos Families” which was adopted liberally by the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.

And he laments that the manifesto “will only mire the faithful in ignorance and shackle our women to a life of unremitting pregnancies because it contains deliberate falsehoods.”

Obviously used to derailing bigger issues on the floor by swatting an iota of technicality, the gentleman from Albay has nit-picked on the manifesto’s allegation that “congress is railroading the family planning bills.” Lagman says this is not true, and by virtue of it now calls the Catholic Church as “spreading falsehoods”.

Whether the railroading of family planning bills in congress is true or not, is definitely not the real issue. The big issues are the bills themselves which are attractively and euphemistically, and therefore, deceptively, called “Reproductive Health and Population Management Bills.”

It is true, for instance, that in Section 3 of the substitute bill approved by the Committee on Health, it states that “nothing in this act changes the law on abortion, as abortion remains a crime and punishable.” But in the same section it talks about “post abortion complications” of women “who shall be treated and counseled in a humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.” Simply put, if the bill does not promote abortion, then why provide for “post abortion complications”?

Without being too naïve, the bill actually promotes abortion because in another section it gives women the right to choose between the artificial and natural family planning means of birth control and makes available a wide range of contraceptives. And, Virginia, there is an unbreakable link between contraception and abortion—otherwise, go and tell it to the marines!

The bigger disinformation, of course, is to link the poverty of Filipinos to the growing population as a cause to an effect. Lagman pontificates, “An inordinately huge population growth rate of 2.04 percent imperils family life as a ballooning population impacts adversely on health, education, food, security, employment, shelter and the environment—the very essentials of sustainable family life.” This is an old myth. Until today, population control and reproductive rights movements have not produced a single piece of evidence showing the direct connection between family planning and economic development.

What is undeniably true is Filipinos are getting poorer because of massive extravagance and endemic corruption in Lagman’s government. If only congressmen are honest with their pork barrels, which they are afraid to part with, and forego of their expensive junkets abroad, and get dead serious about running after their corrupt peers, the country will have saved annually billions of pesos enough to buy food, health, education and basic services to the impoverished Pinoy.

But in fact the gigantic deception, disinformation and lies are the regular modus operandi of the global conspirators against life. These are the gods and the seemingly inexhaustible fund sources of local hirelings in congress. Without even backtracking to the NSSM 200 of Henry Kissenger, already an organized platform of action against life loomed in the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo on September 1994. This was sealed in September 1995 during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

Aside from bullying, financing and massive media campaign, these global conspirators against life has succeeded, or so it seems, in equivocating the meanings of eugenics, health and environment, maternal and child care, gender rights, and reproductive health in a sweeter lexicon that is otherwise grim and horrible.

So, who are telling lies? Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus Dosado, CM, should be hailed for calling a spade a spade and withholding Holy Communion to persistent public sinners.