I’m not denying it. The debate at Pro-Life Philippines bothered me. I haven’t changed my stand, but it did bother me for a while.

So a while ago while the family was at anticipated mass, I was thinking, am I being anti-life and immoral by espousing liberal beliefs? When one says he is a liberal in the Philippines, many people immediately think that person is a promiscuous fornicator. Which is not right. I may brand myself as liberal but I am far, far from being a promiscuous fornicator. I still believe in most of what the Church teaches as morally wrong. But see that’s just me and my beliefs. The state shouldn’t interfere when persons choose to do otherwise. What other people do to seek pleasure or fulfillment shouldn’t be my problem or the government’s problem, or anybody else’s as long as their actions don’t directly harm other people.

It really irks me when my fellow Catholics and Christians, especially the moralists claim that God is on their side and God is angry at those who oppose them blah blah. There’s just so much hate and anger going on. And don’t give me that hate the sin, love the sinner crap because you hypocrites don’t really manifest that with all the hate. You act as if you are all mighty righteous beings pointing out other people’s immoral deeds. I’m really grateful because Ateneo’s spiritual formation was more focused on building up a personal relationship with a very loving and forgiving Lord. Ateneo never taught us to fear a hateful Lord who will burn sinners in hell. The God I know is a loving God. And I really really hate it when other Christians just go on invoking His name and saying that He is angry at those who don’t believe in Him and His standards of morality, blah blah. No human can ever tell me that God hates me. Simply because he is not God. He is human, just like me.

I also really, really dislike it when my fellow Christians protest against government laws or policies or protest against what other people do. The Philippines, no matter how you claim it like it is, is NOT a Christian state. It’s a country where people are predominantly Christian but it is NOT a Christian state! Please remember that!! Alam mo ‘yung iba akala mo ipinagdadamot ang Pilipinas mula sa mga hindi nananampalataya sa Diyos ng mga Kristiyano. By saying that the Philippines is a Christian country is shunning and marginalizing everybody else. And that is just wrong. You cannot just go on telling people that they shouldn’t do what they want to do especially when they are not doing anything that causes you or other people harm, especially when they don’t believe in the same standard of morality that you do. That’s the way it is. Deal with it, please. All I see and feel is the build-up of so much hate and dislike among annoying Christian moralists against “immoral” people. That is simply annoying.

Let me borrow words from US Senator John Kerry:

First of all, I cannot tell you how deeply I respect the belief about life and when it begins. I’m a Catholic, raised a Catholic. I was an altar boy. Religion has been a huge part of my life.

[…] But I can’t take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn’t share that article of faith, whether they be agnostic, atheist, Jew, Protestant, whatever. I can’t do that.

John Kerry. 2nd US Presidential debate. October 9, 2004.

With that, I reiterate that I am in favor of providing Filipinos with proper and complete reproductive information so that they will be able to make their own choices. All the Church can do is to urge its constituents to choose the moral choice, but it should NOT stop people if they choose to do otherwise.

This is the “cult-like” lifestyle a certain “gentleman” at Pro-Life Philippines’ discussion boards wants people to lead. This is the same “gentleman” who calls supporters of the Responsible Parenthood Bill imperialist-serving intellectual closed-minded dogma-eating anti-life morons. [Emphasis mine]

FOR OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

They will be taught about sexual reproduction, the natural way: A holistic and natural approach will be taught about sexuality. […] Contraception will be put in its place, in the trash where it belongs. The hidden hand of contraception messes up natural trajectories of human relationships. Contraception is the beginning of the end of your family tree, of your blood line. Contraception spells the end of your immortality.

[…] And my favorite of course is: Contraception is for STUPID PEOPLE.Those whose kind don’t deserve to live, those who don’t deserve to be immortal.

HOW DO YOU RAISE CHILDREN TO BECOME PRO-LIFE?

[…] Us Pro-Life parents will have to reign supreme. TV will be OUT, OUT of the house, OUT of our lives. There will be no competing with our Pro-Life parenting. Children should NEVER get started on TV. They will be allowed to watch TV when they reach high school. When we as parents have done our job passing on our PRO-LIFE values.

Be careful of other competing media: pre-teen magazines, teen magazines, romance novels, racy novels.

Beware of what they teach at your schools! See their curriculum. If their curriculum teaches contraception, opt out. My Child’s Sexuality is MY BUSINESS as a parent. Not the school. Not the state. Not the business of the New World Order.

We Pro-Life parents must stick together, socialize, mingle. Give your children friends who are also taught pro-life values. If they ever get attracted to the opposite sex, let them marry fellow pro-lifers.

THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE AND PREMARITAL SEX

Children should be encouraged to marry early.

Their sexuality must not be suppressed by inhumanly compelling them NOT to have sex, NOT to get married, MUST finish their college, masters, PhD, get a job, save a lot of money… yeah, all that *might* be possibly when they are 30++… all extremely ridiculous requirements to start a family.

[…] As parents, we must support the marriage of our children after high school or during college. 17 - 21 for girls is a good age. 20-23 might be a good age for boys. This is the peak of their sexuality. Their sexual energies must be harnessed for the foundation of FAMILY. It is this peak, the “unang gigil” that will assure the production of grand children. And they will thank their parents for this.

An 18 year old female is at the height of her attractiveness, her sexiness, her fresh sensuality.

A 21 year old male might be at the prime of his sexual prowess. It is not inconceivable for a man at this age to be able to have sex 3 times a day, everyday. Marry him with the 18 year old woman above, he might say “Thank you, thank you, thank you mom and dad!” (See the Sultan of Brunei, he had his heir apparent marry a 17 year old bride last 2004. Now THAT is a father.) […]

FUNDING A PRO-LIFE MARRIAGE

If properly taught, children will grow up not to be materialistic. This will help them with skills of conservation. On the funding side, they will have to be taught the skills of making more than enough money for their pro-life families.

As a rule, a pro-life woman will have to seek a Pro-Life man who can by himself or with his family fund the pro-life family they wish to establish. If a man cannot fund the Pro-Life aspirations of my daughters, then he will not be chosen.

With my boys, they will have to be funded and taught how to become deserving family men with the morals and income to fund their pro-life wishes. As such, they will choose no less than young, virgin, healthy, pro-life women for their rides.

Zero Contraception Lifestyle (Pro-Life Philippines Discussion Boards)

Last Tuesday, after my ECON 11 class, I was supposed to proceed home. Wala na akong pasok. But then, when I was near Mass Comm, I decided to drop by the MCO tambayan. When I got there, I suddenly remembered that I had to text an orgmate some information. I reached into my bag to find out that my cellphone wasn’t there. MAJOR PANICK. It’s been a while since I panicked that much. I tried to remember where I left it and realized I left it at my ECON 11 class.

Great thing it was still there when I returned. The next class was conducted by the same lecturer and my cellphone was with her. Salamat!!

This morning, I went to the photo lab hours ahead of our class schedule in order to start developing my negatives and prints early. An hour later and a few minutes before our actual class would begin, I found out that I left some of my valuable negatives at home. That really got me frustrated. I had to rush back home, commuting and walking under the torrid heat of the afternoon sun just to get my negatives. Got home and back to school in under thirty minutes, I think that’s a record for me.

Um, okay, what else did I forget?

Last December, 22 UP School of Economics professors and doctors of economics released a paper entitled Population and Poverty: The Real Score. I referred to that paper when I was in Pro-Life Philippines’s discussion boards. They, however, insist that Philippine overpopulation is a myth. A certain “gentleman” from Pro-Life has called believers of overpopulation as imperialist-serving intellectual closed-minded dogma-eating anti-life morons.

How’s school, Victor?

Our third Economics 11 exams were returned yesterday. Sadly, I didn’t do too good, once again. I got a 73. Because of my constantly mediocre exam grades, the highest I could possibly get now for ECON 11 for the entire semester is just a 2.0. And I really regret it because my ECON 11 grade is the one grade that might prevent me from getting my second university scholar award. I regret it more because it’s my fault, really. Sayang.

I used to blame the subject itself and say that I’m not really an economics-minded person and I surrendered to that as a fact. I hated ECON 11. But I realized that I should be the one to blame. I started off by not reading the lectures and books at first. Eventually I didn’t understand any of the topics. And my ignorance just built up. By the time I realized my slacking, my marginal level of economic ignorance is too big a gap to fill. And I really regret it because I realized that knowledge and appreciation of economics is a very important key in understanding many social issues and problems our country is facing. Like, why wages in the Philippines are low, why the peso has been devaluating, why trade liberalization is generally good, why leftist militants are not always right in their rhetorics, etc.

If you want a general elective na madaling maka-uno, don’t get ECON 11. But if you want to learn and have a better grasp at our country’s socio-economic problems, go take it.

Because I’m certain that my ECON 11 grade will pull my GWA down, I must do all I can these last few weeks of classes to polish my performance in my other subjects. I’m trying to get an uno in FILM 100 and 110 because it’s highly possible, but I’m not pegging my hopes too much on them. And there are just final papers for KOM 1 and SOC SCI 2. If I perform well on these four subjects, I might still be a unversity scholar. If not, then I’ll settle and be content with being college scholar.

You know why I slacked off in the first place? Perhaps it’s because despite my slacking off in my first sem in UP, I still I got into the university scholars list so I thought UP life was that easy so I thought I could be mediocre again and still be a president’s lister. And I was just wrong.

GMA’s next war: DVD, reads Manila Standard’s headline today. Is it time to hoard in the DVD’s while theyre available?

Unlike the Catholic Church, Born-Again Christian groups are throwing in their support for the Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act of 2005. According to one Christian bishop, “the bill does not go against moral conduct because it merely calls for educating couples in making intelligent decisions.”