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.
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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