Math teacher makes addition mistake. Hilarity ensues

Here is a funny (?) story my Grade-5 son related to me the other day.

So they had this live math contest in their classroom presided over by the math teacher. The teacher was adding up the points on the board and was adding 10 and 4, and inadvertently (or so) she wrote 17 as the result. Huh?

10+4 = 17 ?!?

As the pupils were glued to the results being written on the board - by their math teacher no less - they were instantly astounded although their astonishment was quickly transformed into hilarity as many of them laughed out loud in reaction (LoL!). My son glanced at his classmates and saw that some of them were even rolling on the floor laughing (RoFL!)

The math teacher, a trifle embarrassed, quickly erased her booboo, stomped her foot on the floor and threw her chalk backwards. The red-faced teacher then faced the class, grabbed her desk, lifted it a few inches and slammed it hard on the floor.

Silence follows and then the booming voice of the teacher:

"ANO BA KAYO!! BASTOS!!! ANG AGA AGA PA ANG GUGULO NYO NA!!!!"

The teacher then commanded everyone to take out one full sheet of paper and fill it up writing something over and over again, back to back. I suppose what they were required to write repeatedly was: "I will always behave in class.". I think they call this a "JUG"  - a typical punishment for misbehavior.

Perhaps the teacher paused and reflected a bit, and then asked some pupils to stop writing. These few students are normally the composed ones and were behaved throughout the incident. My son was among these boys, and it is with a lot of pride (and some amusement) that he was relating this story to me. "You did right son!" I proudly exclaimed, even as I was unable to control a few laughs myself.

Ahh, grade 5 boys. Strange though that I myself at this age couldn't help laughing at the incident. Could have rolled on the floor too, hahaha.

A question for which there is no answer

In the Old Testament we find Job asking the same quintessential question: "Why do His faithful never see His justice?"
(Jb 24:1). The Psalmist likewise finds himself in a dejected state as he pleads: "Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?" (Ps 44:24).  In both cases there are no answers, and neither does Pope Francis have one when a 12-year old ex-street kid asked him essentially the same question:

"There are many children neglected by their own parents," Glyzelle said Sunday at a ceremony at a 400-year-old Catholic  university in Manila. "There are also many who became victims and many terrible things happened to them like drugs or  prostitution. "Why is God allowing such things to happen, even if it is not the fault of the children?" she asked the Pope, breaking down into tears as she spoke.

Rather than expounding on a theological treatise, the Pope did right: he simply embraced the crying child.

"She is the only one who has put a question for which there is no answer and she wasn't even able to express it in words but in tears", the Pope later said.

For me it was one of the most moving event in the recent papal visit. All we need is Christ's embrace, for we are sure His justice prevails in the end.

To space and beyond!

OMGosh! Have you heard of this?

Mankind must abandon earth or face extinction!

LONDON—Mankind's only chance of long-term survival lies in colonizing space, as humans drain Earth of resources and face a terrifying array of new threats, warned British scientist Stephen Hawking on Monday…

"Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill."…

If we want to survive beyond the next century, "our future is in space," added the scientist.

"That is why I'm in favor of manned, or should I say 'personed', space flight."…
/
Shiver me timbers! The stuff of Michael Crichton sci-fi novels now approaches reality. Only this time, the doomsday scenario is predicted by a real McCoy – renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking who predicts the dire future even while not forgetting to be politically correct: "personed" space flight?. At least we’re sure it won’t be a monkey piloting the spacecraft of the future, but who knows? At the rate the secular world has been redefining the biological and fundamental norms of society, we really can’t be sure what a "person" would mean in the future, can we.

At any rate, we are given one century to conquer space because we are steadily burning out ourselves and the earth! The "terrifying array of threats" will slowly but surely snuff life as we know it on earth. In the next few decades, the population will continue to grow but will peak out by the year 2100. This development will finally make the doomsday Malthusians happy (yes, they’re still around) , but not for long. Many big companies like Toys-R-Us would be wiped out of the economy. So will an entire gamut of industries catering to kids like infant formula, disposable diapers, MacDonalds Kiddie meals, and the like. No wonder because at this time, there are almost no kids around, and the average worldwide age would be at about 55 years of age. Meanwhile, the worldwide shortage of goods makes its dire presence felt, starting with the scarcity of commodities like adult diapers, rheumatism medication, hearing aids, and false teeth adhesives. From its peak in 2100, the world population now goes on a rapid plunge, owing further to science’s utter failure to discover how to make same-sex unions (hugely popular at this time) produce natural offspring. Like Hawkins predicted, mankind (or is it personkind?) will at this time find the frustrating limits of its technical ability to change the environment (along with its failure to change the nature of humans, of course). Meanwhile, Singapore is still at it. The country is now offering 10 billion dollars to each couple for every child they bring into the world. It is probably a tad late anyway, because Singapore at this time will have a country population of exactly 1,003 people – 90% of whom are senior citizens.

But wait! At this time, a heretofore small and insignificant country in the Far East, the Philippines, has emerged as the new world superpower! While the rest of the world has been grappling with its myriad problems, the Philippines has quickly made giant strides in super-technology, while maintaining its population at a healthy, replacement rate. Its emergence as a world power can be traced to its bucking the trend of an ultra-liberal, disastrous "postmodernism" with the heroic efforts of an innovative, value-oriented, and incorruptible populace starting in the year 2016. Unlike the rest of the world, this country has shunned contraceptive mentality and concentrated in tapping the productivity of its best resource – its people. Also in large part due to the migration of Filipinos around the world, key leadership positions were cornered by the best and brightest Filipinos in their various countries of residencies. The best scientists of the world, now young Filipinos, were able to solve the fuel and food problems of the whole world! Thanks to the ingenuity of these scientists, one grain of palay can now grow into 100 sacks of rice. A single super-solar cell can now light the whole of Metro Manila. Global warming has finally been conquered. It is now the year 2110, and there is no more need to conquer outer space!!! Stephen Hawking was right about the problems of the world, but he grossly underestimated the resilience and ingenuity of these hardy people from a small country in the Far East.

Meanwhile in local politics, Congressman Edcel Lagman XXVI, Jr., has refiled the controversial RH-bill on the very first day of the opening of the 214th session of Congress, in the year 2110. Reminded that this is the RH bill's 204th try for approval, Lagman XXVI, Jr, replied: "We'll have it passed into law this time around. We have the numbers. If not, we will have it passed on the moon".
/

Dante's inferno in the year 2102

As Dante arrived home he felt very tired, and hungry as his dog Scruffy welcomes him home with playful yelps.  He had been toiling fourteen hours on two jobs day after day and it was as exhausting as it can get, as far as he can remember.  It was already way past 11pm and he decides to reheat a quick dinner from the fridge. As he opened the fridge he found out that there was only one frozen dinner left.  He sighed and took only half of it, knowing that his beloved partner would arrive a bit later and would be hungry for food too.  He strokes his dog Scruffy and throws him a morsel from his dinner.

Things are getting tighter and tighter for Dante,  as it has always been as far as he can remember. Taxes are getting higher each time, even as wages are going down assuming one gets lucky enough to find a job. He and his partner did not have children, yet they had to support  four elderly people in the house: his own parents and that of his partner.  He resents the fact they had no choice but to support their elderly parents but he knew there was no other way. He, like his partner was sole offspring, and besides the state required them to support their parents under the force of the law. The state had long ago given up on public institutions for the elderly, doling out only paltry monthly pensions for them that was hardly enough even for their food alone. Anyway, he knew that their household arrangement was typical. It is after all in the year 2102, just into the twenty-secondth century and indeed much has changed over the past hundred years.

Over the last half-century, major companies and even cities have declared bankruptcy. He remembered his grandfather say they used to live prosperously in Detroit many years ago, and they left due to the city declaring bankruptcy after a long hemorrhage. Then one city came after another, and after another. The government had no more resources to bail them all out, being in dire financial straits itself. Many businesses have shrunk along with the population, and recent reports declared that the median age for his aging country was 46 yearsof age, a stark reality that was the result of  disastrous population policy along with government's heavy push for contraceptives and abortion over the last hundred years or so. He suddenly remembered it was so long since he had seen couples pushing baby carriages  around the malls. Nowadays his typical sight was of elderly people moving around in canes or motorized wheelchairs, and it was the younger breed who were assisting them around.

As he took the last  bite of his dinner, Dante wondered what the world looked like a hundred years ago. Were there many happy families strolling around in the parks and malls with their children? Did people manage on single jobs alone? Was it easier to find a decent job for a double-Masters degree holder like him? As he pondered these thoughts his domestic partner, Marko arrives. He had a dejected look on his face. What happened? asks Dante as he plants a kiss on Marko's lips.  Got laid off again, replies Marko curtly, and goes straight to rest in the bedroom which he shares with everyone. Marko looks even more tired than he was, he did not even eat the half-dinner I left over for him, rues Dante.

This situation is getting unbearable, Dante decides. Now I have to support five people. Marko is certainly getting to be a tough burden around, and he decides it was time to divorce him. That would rid him of three people off his back. It would be his sixth divorce in as many years, but he would take a half-day off tomorrow to get the paperwork done over with.  As he pats his playful dog Scruffy, it dawns on him that it might be a better arrangement for him to marry his dog, and a lot less expensive too. It would even be more practical and makes a lot more sense than marrying a bridge, for example. After all, he loves the dog - that is all that matters for the government to legally recognize the marriage - while the paperwork it will require will not be much of a problem. Sigh, too many problems he concludes…and then falls asleep on the couch beside his dog, away from the heavy snores of the five people in the shared bedroom.

Kay Mitos Magsaysay na!

Kung gusto ng pagbabago, dapat bago!

Bullying the bearer

"gracious madam, I that do bring the news made not the match"
- messenger to Cleopatra in Henry IV, part 2 by William Shakespeare
//
Sotto: Online critics can’t answer issues vs RH bill 

MANILA, August 29, 2012–Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday hit back at his rabid online critics, saying they would rather do a demolition job on him than answer questions raised on the “reproductive health” (RH) bill. 

Indeed. It appears that Sotto's critics who do not want the message, would rather shoot the messenger.  Earlier on, Senator Sotto delivered part 2 of his 'turno en contra' wherein he stated:

"And so, I will prove that this bill has been significantly influenced by various organizations, both local and international, which are of doubtful character. They have been pushing for the passage of this bill to serve their ulterior motives far-off from the aims of the proponents of the bill.". 

What was he referring to? Let us track back a bit to parts of Sotto's speech against the bill back in December 2011.  Among other things, Senator Sotto bared here that:

"... one particular lobby group – the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) – has a budget for “nurturing legislators” from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been criticized for its coercive abortion policies. The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) has also been getting millions of dollars in subsidies from UNFPA and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the largest abortion provider in the world founded by the eugenicist Margaret Sanger..."

Sotto further cites the list of resource organizations who helped craft the bill, and said the database of the Securities and Exchange Commission yielded the following results:

• Pinasamang Lakas ng Kababaihan at Kabataan – “Not Found”
• Program for Adolescent Reproductive Health – “Not Found”
• Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines – “Does Not Exist”
• Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development – “Revoked”
• HIV-AIDS Network – “Revoked”
• Likhaan – “Revoked”
• RHAN – “No Records”
• Institute of Maternal and Child Health – “Does Not Exist”

Hmm, this is part of the message that they do not want, for they have avoided challenging it altogether just like the rest of the issues that Sotto raised. They would rather hit the person of Sotto to divert the flak. In other words, it is called Ad hominem. I have a few directly-related questions though.

 * If these organizations are receiving foreign funding for their advocacy, then are they not required to report all donations to the BIR?
* If they are really legit NGOs then they are supposed to file audited financial statements to the SEC. Have they done so?
* How are they supposed to report if they are not registered with the SEC anyway?
* Did these organizations tell their donors that they are not duly registered? Have they given receipts or certificates of donations to the donors?
* Why would a foreign donor donate to a non-registered entity? It would mean that the donations are not non-taxable.
* If an organization such as RHAN is not duly registered, why does it allocate a budget for "nurturing legislators".
* Sotto reveals that FPOP received $625,095 or almost P27.5 million from UNFPA in 2011. Have they denied it?
* Who are these donors? And what do they want?
* Why do Sotto's critics not face these questions and instead attack Sotto on the (non)charge of plagiarism?
* Why did Cleopatra get mad?
//

Seeking Justice

Seeking Justice

(real names withheld)

Juancho is a man who has 3 daughters, aged 10, 5 and 3. He works as an IT staff at a large firm while his wife Dina stays home to mind the household. They have a house helper named Carla. He is also a leader in a Catholic Charismatic community, where their family's lives are centered upon. He is cheerful, always there to help others, a God-fearing person.

He was also recently arrested for the crime of rape-homicide.

It all happened quickly enough. As usual Juancho worked Friday in his office in Ortigas from 8:00am to 6:00pm. He fetched his wife from the mall, and they arrived home together at around 10:00pm. Upon arriving at their house, there was already a commotion among the villagers. A six-year old child was being searched with the help of the police. She was reported missing to the authorities at around 4:30pm that day, and the child has not been found yet. Juancho is friends with the parents of the child (they were actually neighbors), and it pained him so much that the child was missing. They all slept fitfully that night, with the child not being found so far.

Early the next day Saturday, Carla the house helper saw what seemed like a piece of cloth at the back area outside their house. She called the attention of Juancho to examine it more closely. It was the lifeless body of the child.

The village was consumed with grief and outrage, as it was discovered that the six-year old was apparently sexually molested. Her death was attributed to suffocation due to tissues stuffed in her mouth. It was indeed a numbing and horrifying incident.

The next day, actually the third day from the time the child was found missing, Carla found a strange thing in the washing machine situated at their backyard. It was the school bag of the child, right there in the wash basin of the machine. It was not there for two days, yet all of a sudden the bag was there. She told her kuya Juancho about the find. Juancho could not think rightly what was happening, so he bundled off the family to hear mass that day. By the time they came back home, he took a closer look at the bag, and henceforth reported the matter to the police authorities. In a short while the police came, and arrested Juancho as a prime suspect in the brutal rape-slay of a six-year old child.

It is now the sixth day since the day the child went missing, and Juancho is presently detained in the municipal jail awaiting the inquest proceedings. It is likely that this case will go on trial, according to Juancho's lawyer. Meanwhile his wife and three small children will have to go on without him. God gives, God takes away, but God's justice will prevail in the end.

“What do you mean by that word, ‘choice’”?

LINK

Hitler Nabuang sa Hindi Pagpasa ng RH Bill Ngayong Taon

RH Bill won't be passed this year: Hitler goes into a tantrum. LoL.



Fact References:

1. 350 pesos per hakot -- see Inquirer article: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/103857/no-delay-but-rh-bill-won%E2%80%99t-be-pas... -- The group scheduled the "peak" of its pro-RH rally for September and set aside P1,750,000 to organize a rally of "at least 5,000 people." Each participant was supposed to receive P350.
...
2. More Pro-life People than Anti-Life -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_Health_Bill#Rallies

3. RH Bill can be defeated at Senate: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/109363/hasty-vote-will-kill-rh-bill%E2%80%94enrile

4. Million of dollars of funding -- http://cbcpforlife.com/?p=5141

5. Pro-RH Groups back abortion -- http://cbcpforlife.com/?p=3477

6. Cabral admitted that pills cause breast cancer - http://opinion.inquirer.net/5067/chant-the-rh-mantras

7. TV Debates won by Pro-life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_Health_Bill#Opinion_polls_and_TV_de...

8. Pro RH stats are wrong (maternal death, abortion) - http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/49029/studies-show-maternal-deaths-in-philippine... / http://cbcpforlife.com/?p=3512

9. Non-existent lobby groups (not registered or revoked) getting massive funding -- http://cbcpforlife.com/?p=5178

10. Pro-Life Victory of 2011 - http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/12/11/anti-rh-groups-declare...

11. Population Control connection with Hitler- http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=399988 / http://newworldorderuniversity.com/?p=3930

FOREIGN FUNDING TO PUSH RH BILL: No surprise here

(Reposted from The Catholic Position on the RH Bill)

What we've been saying all along: foreign money funds pro-RH activities

A pro-lifer's speculation on what the people in this anti-Catholic protest might actually have been thinking.

An article published on December 2 of this year by Philippine Daily Inquirer brought to a wider audience some of the details of a state of affairs that has been known for a long time to the pro-life movement, and which many activists of the "pro-RH camp" have been denying without success. I am, of course, referring to the continued infusion into our country of money from foreign countries and institutions, earmarked for the propagation of the RH Bill and of other similar bills that espouse the Culture of Death and the anti-values of sexual anarchy.

In particular, the Inquirer article "No delay but RH bill won't be passed this year - Enrile" showed that the pro-RH camp has been practicing the age-old tactic of corrupt politicians: the "hakot" (paid) crowd:

Early this year, the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) received P4.4 million from the United Nations Population Fund to push for the passage of the RH bill before the end of 2011. Dr. Junice Melgar, RHAN secretary general, admitted that her group solicited the amount because it “has no ongoing funding.”

Based on RHAN’s budget proposal, the amount was to be spent on activities such as “education and mobilization” program. One item worth P2,837,500 was to go to organize “two nationally coordinated (and) high-profile mobs.”

The group scheduled the “peak” of its pro-RH rally for September and set aside P1,750,000 to organize a rally of “at least 5,000 people.” Each participant was supposed to receive P350.

In response to this report, Filipinos for Life has published an official statement delving in greater detail and with many proofs into the foreign funding that has been propping up numerous anti-life initiatives in the Philippines:

Official Statement: Documents bare millions of dollars in funding for RH lobbyists

***
CBCP for Life also published the following article regarding the Filipinos for Life statement linked above:

Documents bare millions of dollars in funding for RH lobbyists

MANILA, Dec. 2, 2011–Pro-abortion groups have been showering “reproductive health” (RH) lobbyists with millions of dollars in funding for years to promote the Western agenda of contraception and population control, documents showed.

Funders include Planned Parenthood and its international arm, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Marie Stopes International, the Packard Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In a statement, the group Filipinos for Life (F4L) said the paper trail of multimillion-dollar lobby funds reveal the hand of foreign interest groups out to dictate what policy the Philippine government should follow.

“Nearly a decade ago, lawmakers condemned the presence of the American lobby group AGILE in Congress. This time, however, the RH lobby is apparently succeeding, thanks to a formidable war chest from pro-abortion groups,” it said.

Documents revealed the following financial grants for RH lobby groups:

* $90,000 to the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) for promotion, from the UN Population Fund or UNFPA (2011);

* $6.6 million to Planned Parenthood arm Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) from UNFPA (2009);

* $1.6 million to FPOP from IPPF for the years 2005, 2009, and 2010;

* $1.2 million to PSPI from Marie Stopes (2009);

* $39,000 to Likhaan from Planned Parenthood (2007);

* $88,000 to FPOP in 2009 from Marie Stopes for RH kits; and

* $75,000 to “Catholics” for Choice to promote RH, from the Wallace Global Fund (2009).

This was aside from $6.8 million from the Packard Foundation for the years 2006-2008; $18.4 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from 1997 to 2008; $8.86 million from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2004 for a “social acceptance” project; and $239.5 million from the World Bank for 2010-2012.These amounts could have better been used for direct poverty alleviation programs, F4L said.

F4L said pro-RH lobbyists cannot deny the overt abortion agenda of most of their financial backers, notably Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider, and UNFPA, which has been condemned for its coercive abortion programs.

“Abortion was not legalized in the US overnight. It started with the birth control movement founded by Margaret Sanger, which today is called Planned Parenthood,” F4L pointed out.

Where are the millions going?

Meanwhile, the Philippine Daily Inquirer today ran a story containing a more detailed breakdown of RHAN’s budget earmarked for a more aggressive push for RH. According to the article, the millions in pesos provided by the UNFPA were to be spent on “education and mobilization.” Based on the same document, nearly P3 million was allocated for “two nationally coordinated (and) high-profile mobs.”

“The group scheduled the ‘peak’ of its pro-RH rally for September and set aside P1,750,000 to organize a rally of ‘at least 5,000 people.’ Each participant was supposed to receive P350,” the article further stated.

F4L called on lawmakers to examine further the lobby groups behind the RH bill, saying interpellations should be exhausted to unmask the real intentions of those promoting it.

“Pro-RH groups and Malacañang spokesmen are being irresponsible by calling for a vote and an abrupt end to debates,” the group said. (CBCP for Life)

More on NFP-BOM

From an upskill NFP-Billings Ovulation Method seminar I attended last Sunday, some bullet points:

Correlating the signs and symptoms of fertility

-new CYCLE commences
-HYPOTHALAMUS produces GnRH, tells PITUITARY to produce FSH
-reaching THRESHOLD for a few of the most sensitive FOLLICLES
-these follicles begin their RAPID GROWTH PHASE
-OESTROGEN is produced
-FSH rises to INTERMEDIATE level, follicles continue rapidly growing
-rising oestrogen levels stimulate growth of ENDOMETRIUM (proliferative phase)
-and CERVIX responds (produces mucus)
-36 hours after beginning of LH surge,
-17 hours after LH peak,
-rupture of follicle,
-OVULATION occurs
-ruptured follicle is transformed into the CORPUS LUTEUM
-if fertilisation has not occurred, corpus luteum REGRESSES after 6-7 days
-OESTROGEN and PROGESTERONE levels fall
-suppression of FSH and LH lifted
-MENSTRUATION commences 11-16 days after ovulation


Some more highlights:

-When a young woman is on the pill, her OESTROGEN and PROGESTERONE are flat all
throughout, similar to imposing a menopause on her young body. That is why she is prone to depression, among other things.

-The ovulatory cycle is an intricate system, all occurrences affect other factors in the
body in an amazing complexity of nature-driven cause-and-effect. Thus if you disrupt the
system, you naturally wreak havoc on the body in ways you cannot imagine - besides cancer.

-Q: At what age does a woman produce the healthiest egg?
-A: At around 16 years of age. Interestingly, the NFP expert said that marrying at a young
age for the woman is customary in the olden times. She is married to a man that is considerably older than she is, so the element of financial and moral support is addressed. It is only in modern times that couples tend to marry at a later age due to economic reasons. Nowadays marrying couples also choose a partner within their age range.

-Q: What about the other NFP methods (SDM, Two-Days, BBT)
-A: SDM relies on beads which are NOT part of the woman's body. SDM also considers all
pre-ovulatory days as fertile days. Two-Days method is not compatible with what NFP-BOM
teaches in fertility monitoring, and in fact contradict the concepts. BBT is the only method compatible with BOM, but one needs an accurate digital thermometer which may not be available everytime.

-Some terms equivalence:

-GnRH = Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone
-FSH = Follicle Stimulating Hormone
-LH = luteinizing hormone
-SDM = Standard Days Method
-BBT = Basal Body Temperature
-MP = Manny Pacquiao. Good that the seminar already ended at 1pm, I was still able to catch the telecast at home.

related post
somewhat related post
another somewhat related post

The 2 o'clock duwende

(A Halloween story)

My wife and I were sleeping quite soundly one night and as usual our 2 year-old child Raphael lies sleeping between us on the bed as he used to. All of a sudden my child sits upright from bed, he was screaming in apparent fright. My wife and I were startled and realized Raphael was having a bad dream. He had this terrified look in his eyes. We hug him tight and reassured him everything was ok, mama and papa are here beside you. He whimpered more for a few minutes until he fell asleep again. I look at the clock - it is 2 in the morning.

The next night the same disturbing thing happened. My son Raphael seemed to be terrified of a certain presence inside the room. We turned on the lights and looked around but there was nothing. There was also no sound at all except the soft whirring of the electric fan and the occasional chirping of night crickets. Again we hugged and comforted our son back to sleep. I turned off the lights and before Iying down I glanced at the clock. It was 2AM.

The third night it was the same thing all over again. This time my son jumped up the bed and ran around the room as if trying to scamper away from something. He jumped at the middle of the bed and pointed at the dark corner of the room with a terrified look in his eyes. We turn on the lights and gingerly looked at the corner of the room where he was pointing at. There was nothing there, even as my son hugged me and shut his eyes. My wife and I looked at each other and this time both of us were terrified too. We prayed the Our Father together and went back to sleep fitfully. Yes it occured at around 2AM too.

This happened two more nights even as we dreaded the approach of 2 o'clock in the morning. Now my wife and I are not the least bit superstitious, but this uncanny and dreadful event seemed the work of some dark and unknown evil preying on our kid. There was nothing unusual about Raphael. He was just a normal boy in every respect except that at that age he was not yet very articulate with words, so it was futile asking him what was transpiring and what was that
he was terrified of in the dead of the night. Five straight days of the same occurrence was too much.

That weekend I happened to relate our experience to my sister. She told me that she knew of a male mystic who is gifted to drive away evil spirits. I asked her what does he do? Apparently he goes around the house lighting candles while praying the Our Father and Hail Mary. Well, I suppose there is nothing wrong with a gifted mystic who goes around praying Catholic prayers. The service is free, I just had to pay a small sum for the colored candles he is bringing.
Ok, let us give it a go then.

The following morning the mystic arrived accompanied by my sister. He greets me and my father-in-law who was there at the time. He conveyed some trivial personal details about us and it was uncanny that he knew such small private details without us being acquainted beforehand. Hmm...

So there he goes about planting candles in some areas of the house, lighting them and saying some prayers as he goes along. He said it was the presence of a dark duwende that must be driven away. In due time the whole exercise was over, and the mystic paid his leave while we thanked him.

That night my son Raphael slept soundly all through the night. 2AM passed by without any incident. The terrifying incident was never repeated again.

This happened around 15 years ago.

There goes my Halloween special but it is not meant to be an endorsement of belief in the occult in any way. I am just trying my hand at fiction.
/

Porta Fidei

[link]

1. The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return.
[...]
Confessing with the lips indicates in turn that faith implies public testimony and commitment. A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him. This “standing with him” points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing. Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes. The Church on the day of Pentecost demonstrates with utter clarity this public dimension of believing and proclaiming one’s faith fearlessly to every person. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us fit for mission and strengthens our witness, making it frank and courageous.
[...]
“That the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph” (2 Th 3:1): may this Year of Faith make our relationship with Christ the Lord increasingly firm, since only in him is there the certitude for looking to the future and the guarantee of an authentic and lasting love. The words of Saint Peter shed one final ray of light on faith: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:6-9). The life of Christians knows the experience of joy as well as the experience of suffering. How many of the saints have lived in solitude! How many believers, even in our own day, are tested by God’s silence when they would rather hear his consoling voice! The trials of life, while helping us to understand the mystery of the Cross and to participate in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col 1:24), are a prelude to the joy and hope to which faith leads: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). We believe with firm certitude that the Lord Jesus has conquered evil and death. With this sure confidence we entrust ourselves to him: he, present in our midst, overcomes the power of the evil one (cf. Lk 11:20); and the Church, the visible community of his mercy, abides in him as a sign of definitive reconciliation with the Father.

Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed “blessed because she believed” (Lk 1:45).

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 11 October in the year 2011, the seventh of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

PNoy on same-sex marriages this time

Does he understand?

If one still has any doubts that the current sitting President, Benigno Aquino III Jr, has firmly decided to alienate himself from his Catholic identity, then his recent pronouncement should leave no more doubts. His defiant attitude towards the Church by his unabashed support of the RH bill is now firmly reinforced by his recent pronouncement in apparent support of same-sex marriage.

President Noynoy Aquino, who prides himself in being Jesuit-educated, says in response to a query on same-sex marriage:

"Gay marriage—I don’t think I’m ready to tackle that fight right now. But the perspective... it is their choice. Normally I would say, you’re adults, you should be able to do whatever you want so long as it doesn’t harm anybody else...."

One wonders whether PNoy's "principled" stand is simply contingent on whether or not he is ready to "tackle that fight". One further wonders whether his principle is simply dependent on his targeted mass popularity by kowtowing to the liberal public. His perspective on placing individual "choice" over and above an essential principle in Catholic doctrine clearly puts himself in direct contradiction to a "non-negotiable" in the public sphere which is clearly spelled out by the Catholic Church of which he claims to be a follower.

Pope Benedict XVI emphasizes that the Church is consciously drawing particular attention to three principles which are non-negotiable, wherein the second non-negotiable goes as follows:

[The] recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

Yet perhaps the president is a devout advocate of the principle of "Separation of Church and State", which is pretty much interpreted these days as equivalent to saying that just about anything the Church says should be altogether disregarded and repudiated in these modern times. Pope Benedict XVI in his recent address to the German Bundestag shreds such a positivist approach to nature and reason as being opposed to true human freedom, but then again it may be too much to expect PNoy to train his ears towards the Holy Father's words. Perhaps his ears may have been too much attuned to the proclamations of the self-proclaimed "messiah": President Obama of the United States.

Be as it may, with regards to Church-State separation and its misguided interpretations, we may yet look into what the State - specifically the Philippine State - has to say on the matter. It is no secret that the Philippine Constitution enshrines the principle in Article II Section 12:

"The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution"

Unless the Philippine president has purposely ignored this fundamental constitutional provision with the same nonchalance he has shown to fundamental Catholic teachings, it would be at least charitable to say that his phalanx of presidential advisers have taken a vacation - since day one of his presidency. Perhaps even with the same strange stance on PNoy's part, it is worth remembering that his own mother (God bless her), the late President Corazon Aquino was the very person who in 1987 promulgated the Family Code of the Philippines, which in Article II states to wit:

"No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present: (1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female"

Note: must be male and female. In supporting same-sex marriages, PNoy has chosen to contradict the Church, the State, and his own mother in his dalliance with his own shadow. Let it be said that today's Gospel is about obedience, even if one does not understand fully. Apparently, PNoy's dillema is more about not being able to understand more than having the virtue of obedience. But maybe, perhaps both.

Family and Life Ministry Articles

(draft articles for Q4 2011 Family and Life Ministry Newsletter)


NFP

Renato Manzano (brother Along to his many friends), once gave an NFP seminar on the Standard Days Method (SDM) to Family and Life Ministry coordinators at the Cubao Diocese formation center. Brother Along spiced his NFP lecture with many interesting and humorous anecdotes that made the short seminar entertaining as well as very educational. He emphasizes that husbands should not move the beads two or three at a time beyond the wife’s knowledge - an amusing reference to the counting of beads that is a simple method in the SDM to keep track of fertility cycles.

Brother Along is one of the many Family and Life coordinators and NFP volunteer resource persons who have been trained under the auspices of the Cubao Diocese and its various parishes. In the Christ the King Parish of the Sta Rita Vicariate where brother Along is the Family and Life coordinator, he joins hands with 5 other NFP volunteer consultants to provide NFP consultancy to its parishioners. They have been trained in all modern NFP methods such as the Billings Ovulation Method, Standard Days Method, Two-Days Method, Thermal, and Sympto-Thermal NFP methods. Under the pastoral stewardship of Fr. Henry, these NFP volunteers are available on-call, anytime to render able assistance to those who seek NFP consulting services. This initiative is replicated in at least three other parishes of the Sta Rita Vicariate, where 11 others Parish NFP “consultants” likewise selflessly devote their time and effort towards reinforcing the promotion of NFP which is a major Diocese-wide thrust of the Family and Life Ministry. Brother Along’s group is set to stage an NFP seminar in their vicariate this coming October to beef up their resources, a strategy that is similarly meant to be sustained Diocese-wide.

This NFP program has been envisioned by the Diocesan Family and Life Ministry as a practical effort to counter anti-life forces in the country, a step beyond the usual campaigns of conducting pro-life forums which the Diocese has already undertaken many times in the past. So anytime any parishioner feels the need to get informed about NFP towards its practical use, they can always seek the services of Family and Life workers like brother Along and many others in the Diocesean NFP program who are ever willing to instruct, evangelize, and at the same time – entertain.
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PRE-CANA


The Christ The King Parish in Green Meadows is one of the busiest parishes in the diocese in terms of number of marriages solemnized. According to CK FLM coordinator brother (Doctor) Doy Lopez, they can average over 20 marriages in a month! It is therefore fitting that we chose them to share their experiences in conducting precana seminars.

CK’s precana team is composed of 12 couples who alternate in delivering 7 precana topics over a successive two-day, 8am to 5pm weekend schedule two months before the actual wedding. Each session numbers around 24 to 30 couple participants. NFP is delivered as the concluding topic to wrap up the seminar.

The husband and wife team of Dr Doy and Estrelle Lopez has been fully dedicated in coordinating the precana seminars, which is scheduled bi-monthly. They have been very active as coordinators of the Family and Life Ministry since 1996. With parish workers such as the Lopez couple and their precana team, those who tie the knot are assured of starting married bliss on the right path – with boundless blessings for a happy family devoted to God.
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SIMBANG PAMILYA


Lina Espina goes to Mass every Sunday at 7:15am. She actually arrives 15 minutes before the Mass to ensure the families that assigned to lead the Prayers of the Faithful as well as the Family offerors are all set and ready. When a volunteer family fails to show up for some unexpected reason, she approaches another family right there in the church to ensure that the Prayers for the Faithful and the Mass offering is covered. She not only does this for the 7:15am mass but for the rest of the seven Sunday masses as well.

Sister Lina, as parishioners fondly call her, has been at the service of the Family and Life Ministry at the Holy Family Parish Kamias, St Joseph Vicariate for over 20 years. For the past 5 years, she has untiringly focused her service to the “Simbang Pamilya” program of the Family and Life Ministry. She has well over 50 families in her “database” of volunteer families who serve either as Prayers for the Faithful leaders or Mass offerors.

Ever since 5 years ago when Bishop Ongtioco pioneered the “Simbang Pamilya” program for the Cubao Diocese, the Family and Life Ministry of the Holy Family Parish in Kamias has implemented it on all Sunday Masses (except the 6AM Mass). It has helped that 18 parish organizations have been tapped to invite families for the Simbang Pamilya either as readers or offerors. Each organization is assigned a mass slot every Sunday, with the encouragement of the Parish Priest Fr Ben Arceño. A similar approach is being practised Diocese-wide.

Sister Lina has many stories to tell in her service in the Family and Life Ministry. Once, she happened to invite a family where the father is not on speaking terms with the eldest son due to a long-standing argument. The family hesitantly obliged and went on to lead the Prayers for the faithful on one Sunday Mass. The reconciliation between the father and the son was sparked by that prayerful event and since then, they have patched up their differences and the entire family now goes to mass together consistently. Simbang Pamilya is truly a blessing to the Church, and parish workers all over the diocese like Sister Lina serve as powerful instruments of God to keep the family together.
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The ultimate Pro-RH Bill Combox Guide against Prolifers

I LOL'ed at Matthew Archbold's post in NCR entitled "The Anti-Catholic's Guide to Catholic Comboxes". It gave me an idea to come up with a Top 10 List to guide Pro-RH Bill advocates in haranguing prolifers in the comboxes. Here goes

The ultimate Pro-RH Bill Combox Guide against Prolifers

10. Let the women decide for their own bodies, don't worry we are indoctrinating them.
9. What outdated views you have. Did you not know that St Augustine favored abortion? I am atheist by the way.
8. Unscientific! It's just a clump of cells, and my science says life starts at implantation, you clump!
7. You just do not understand separation of church and state, yeah we redefined that too.
6. Sure it causes breast cancer that kills, but its good for the cervix.
5. Your morality is different from my morality! (it sounds better in Tagalog).
4. Overpopulation !!! Who cares about steadily decreasing TFRs anyway?
3. We must be right because 90% of Filipinos are in favor (from surveys they don't understand)
2. You crazy prolife bigots are devoid of arguments and just resort to name-calling and character assassination. You #%@*# !!!!

1. The WHO said so, why don't you just adore everything they say? ...oops

F4L: Akbayan’s tirade vs. Sotto unfair, out of context, narrow-minded

Maybe Senator Tito Sotto just wants to echo Mark Twain, but that is just my hunch.

Anyway...

ProLife advocacy group FilipinosForLife reacts (rightly so) by assailing the vitriol directed at Senator Tito Sotto for his interpellation of the sponsors of the RH bill in the Senate. Here goes...
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FILIPINOS FOR LIFE OFFICIAL STATEMENT:

Akbayan’s tirade vs. Sotto unfair, out of context, narrow-minded

FILIPINOS FOR LIFE (F4L) strongly condemns Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party for unfairly and maliciously accusing Senator Tito Sotto of ignoring the plight of women.

The statement by Akbayan’s youth leader is at best narrow-minded and out of context.

Sotto was merely questioning the basis of the oft-repeated statistic of 11 maternal deaths a day, in the context of a legislative debate on a bill that seeks to establish a wide-ranging national policy. It is therefore fair to examine the basis of this bill. THERE IS NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR.

In the first place, there was no derogatory statement on women, and the sarcasm, if at all, is directed at foreign lobby groups, some of them pro-abortion, that routinely peddle this statistic. The supposed offense is in the creative, nay, malicious imagination of Akbayan’s propagandists.
...
Likewise, may we remind former Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel to elevate the level of the debate on RH. Her repeated references in social networks to an incident decades ago involving a dead movie starlet are uncalled for and below the belt.

Read the full statement here.
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Indeed there is NOTHING, absolutely nothing to apologize for. Imagine, demanding an apology to ALL mothers for simply questioning a questionable statistic being irresponsibly bandied about ad nauseam: 11 mothers die everyday due to pregnancy. The corollary is that if contraceptives are freely distributed at taxpayers expense, the tragedy of mothers dying would be thwarted. The illogic behind this silly presumption has long been thrashed.

All pregnant mothers deserve genuine health care: pre-natal, delivery, and post-natal. The analogy behind the RH Bill folly goes this way: If many students are failing in a class, the obvious solution to reducing the failure rate is to reduce the number of students. Following this line of faulty line of reasoning, the RH bill aims to reduce the number of pregnancies and presto: the number of maternal deaths is obliterated magically.

Since when has official statistics been recognized as gospel truth that anyone who questions it should be derided and demanded of an apology? Are NSO statistics so infallible, sacred and beyond reproach? Whatever happened to the questioning mind according the sacred principle of "freethinking"? Note that these same people who takes offense at a simple gesture of questioning the "sacredness" of official statistics are the very same people who expresses no qualms about the desecration of the image of Christ under the pretense of a so-called "freedom" of artistic expression. They now deny Senator Sotto the simple freedom to question a questionable statistic? At any rate this is not the first time that official statistics have been rightfully called into question. Dr Bernardo Villegas and Dr Paco Sandejas have already questioned the official population figures before on an academic, empirical level. The proper response to Senator Sotto should have been to objectively defend the claimed soundness of the "11 maternal deaths" statistic, but no, all they can muster is a character assassination of the good Senator. Imagine Risa Hontiveros responding to the challenge by digging up an old, old controversy about a movie starlet just to heap dirt upon Senator Sotto. Look at these people who's so fond of insisting upon a high-level discourse.

Ms. Hontiveros goes as far as saying that Senator Sotto owes an apology to his own mother, sister, and daughter for the unpardonable act of questioning the 11 mothers statistic. Since when has Ms. Hontiveros been appointed as the spokesperson of Senator Sotto's own family? In contrast, I am quite sure that the family of Senator Sotto honors him proudly as he bravely stands to defend the mother Church and what it stands for. He is surely aware that he boldly ranges himself against the feisty Senator Miriam Santiago, who is well-noted to have far more superior academic credentials and bombastic eloquence that is capable of putting anyone to shame. Surely, Senator Sotto pales in eloquence and articulation, but the thing going on for him in this epic clash is that he is armed with the Truth, and that is all that matters.

Should Senator Sotto apologize to all women? On the other hand, these folks throwing dirt on Senator Sotto should apologize to all mankind by insulting our intelligence.
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Senators argue inconclusively over when and where life begins

Senators argue inconclusively over when and where life begins

At least the tone has been set in the first session of the Senate interpellation on the RH bill. Senators Sotto, Enrile, Recto amd even Senator Lacson emphasized the primary importance of determining when life begins as a crucial point in the deliberation of the bill. Needless to say, the fate of the RH bill in the Senate rests on whether life begins at fertilization or implantation, to be in consonance with Article 2 Sec 12 of the Constitution.

Is the intent of the Constitutional provision already established at fertilization or was the intent left for legislative construction?

Whoever pounds on this issue to its conclusion seals the fate of the bill as well. All other issues are tangential, but pointing out the redundancy of the bill ices the cake.

Senator Sotto is doing it right. Thank you sir.

Here is a list of my related posts on when life begins:

WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/09/when-does-life-begin.html
Angsioco vs unborn
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/angsioco-versus-unborn.html
A response to the latest salvo of Fr Bernas (again)
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/response-to-latest-salvo-of-fr-bernas.html
Two interpretations of: "The State shall protect the life of the unborn from conception"
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2011/05/two-interpretations-of-state-shall.html
'When life begins' and the RH Bill
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2011/03/when-life-begins-and-rh-bill.html
Lagman grasping at straws
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2011/01/lagman-grasping-at-straws.html
WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN (2)
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/11/when-does-life-begin-2.html
Why pills, injectables, IUDs are abortifacient
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-pills-injectables-iuds-are.html
Leaping mass of tissue
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/07/leaping-mass-of-tissue.html
POSTINOR BAN (2001)
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/postinor-ban-2001.html
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Senator Santiago's "constitutional" follow-up to her "encyclical"

Miriam's "constitutional" follow-up to her "encyclical"

The Reproductive Health Act (Sponsorship speech part 2)

The meat of Senator Miriam Santiago's RH Sponsorship speech (Parts 2 and 3) rests in claiming that the enactment of the RH bill will enjoy a presumption of constitutionality. According to her since there is no clear constitutional prohibition, the passage of the bill would amount to a "legislative construction" of Article 2 Section 12 which is at the heart of the constitutionality issue.

I am not about to argue Senator Santiago's legal opinion point by point, for that is well beyond my reach. I would just like to point out that at least three legal luminaries do not share her legal constructions, and in fact flatly goes against them.

Here are the key passages of Senator Santiago's sponsorship speech.

There are a number of constitutional provisions that underlie the RH bill. But the most salient is what I would call the “Sanctity of Life” Clause found under Article 2, as a declaration of state policy:

Sec. 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.

This provision does not mention the term “reproductive health” or any of its affiliate vocabularies. This is in the nature of a constitution. As explained in the 1930 case ofLopez v. de los Reyes,[1] speaking of the Constitution:

It is an instrument of a permanent nature, intended not merely to meet existing conditions, but to govern the future. It does not deal in details but enunciates the general principles and general directions which are intended to apply to all new facts which may come into being, and which may be brought within those general principles or directions.

The Constitution should not be read like a newspaper story, on the basis of which each reader can feel free to express his own interpretation. Instead, to discover the intent and meaning of the Constitution, we have to turn to a process called “constitutional construction.”
...
The Constitution, directly or indirectly, does not prohibit the RH bill. Therefore, in constitutional terms, this Senate is free to enact this bill. It is now well accepted in our jurisdiction that under the “rational basis” test, so long as an act of Congress bears some reasonable relationship to the grant of power to the national government and it is not otherwise prohibited by the Constitution, a reviewing court must find the law to be necessary and proper.

If the Senate passes the RH bill, our action would amount to a legislative construction of the Constitution. The rule is that a practical construction by Congress of a provision of the Constitution is entitled to great weight and should not be lightly disregarded. Hence, if we pass the RH bill, it will enjoy a presumption of constitutionality if it is questioned in the Supreme Court.

In other words, Miriam says the Constitution does not prohibit the RH bill, and that the intention of Article 2 Section 12 may be constructed by the legislature.

Here I note that Fr Joaquin Bernas - a noted constitutionalist and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission - clearly says otherwise.

The unborn’s entitlement to protection begins “from conception,” that is, from the moment of conception. The intention is to protect life from its beginning, and the assumption is that human life begins at conception and that conception takes place at fertilization of the zygote. Although the constitutional provision does not assert with certainty when human life precisely begins, it reflects the view that, in dealing with the protection of life, it is necessary to take the safer approach. For this reason the Constitution commands that protection be given from conception, that is, from the fertilization of the zygote.

This is reflected in one of the exchanges during the debate. Since the protection of the unborn was to begin from conception, Reverend Cirilo Rigos asked when the “moment of conception” was. Commissioner Bernardo Villegas, who was the principal sponsor of the provision, answered that the conception took place with fertilization since “it is when the ovum is fertilized by the sperm that there is human life.” When Commissioner Fely Aquino observed that at that point there would only be biological life, Bishop Teodoro Bacani did not contradict her but said that there would already be biological human life even if there was as yet no “person.”

From this it can be seen that the intention is to protect the “life” even before implantation in the uterus, that is, from the moment biological life begins. The constitutional intent, in other words, is to play it safe lest human life be destroyed and to impose the protection even before implantation in the uterus.

This brings us to the question whether the reproductive bill allows or even prescribes the use of birth control methods which have the effect of blocking a fertilized zygote from being implanted in the uterus or of expelling a fertilized zygote before implantation. This is a question which, while it has constitutional, religious and moral implications, must first be answered by medical science. Has this question been sufficiently explored in the course of the debates over the reproductive health bill? My impression is that it has not. And if the law is passed as proposed, the question will most certainly reach the Supreme Court.

Dr. Bernie Villegas, likewise a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and the actual sponsor of the said constitutional provision, is more specific.

In the Philippine Constitution of 1987, conception is defined as fertilization, the moment the egg is fertilized by the sperm. This was the majority decision (32 to 8) of the members of the Constitutional Commission of 1986 convoked by the late President Corazon Aquino. This majority decision was made after the most thorough debate...

Thus it is evident that Miriam Santiago's legal opinion on the Rh bill does not square with the legal positions of two prominent members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission. In fact they contradict her and so it is incumbent for us to take Senator Santiago's opinion with a healthy dose of skepticism. At any rate, she avers that the Supreme Court would be tolerant of the passage of the RH bill in the event the ball is passed on to it. Now, if only she had come across Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona's earlier statements on the matter...

...The chief magistrate added that there are legal questions that will surely be brought before the SC once the bill becomes law.

If such questions were presented to the High Tribunal, Corona pointed out, it would be the court, not Congress , which will decide on the fate of the RH measure.

The SC could even inquire into pieces of legislation passed by Congress under its power of judicial review.

Such legislation [according to the Chief Justice] will include cases that are justiciable for “grave abuse of discretion or amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”

Again if only Miriam paid attention to other notable but contrary legal positions...she might not sound so self-assured. Before that time comes, I guess hell will freeze over first.