To Pope

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It's hard not to say anything about it.


While the rest of the Christian community experience in their own way being one with the Passion of Christ, the Pope himself experiences collective violence from the verbal attacks of both Catholics and non-Catholics.


Why are they doing this? I understand their indignation towards injustice and the lack of morality of sexual abuse. But it's simply unfathomable to regard you as not concerned about this issue, much more to accuse you of doing a cover-up of these issues, both old and recent. You're a public figure, but they don't know you enough, nor our faith. Or maybe, they simply wish to be stubborn about this because creating this issue gives them a sense of righteousness. Indeed, it's a paradox to have the head figure of the Church tolerate sexual abuse of children by priests. But it's an overly magnified issue in the most distorted fashion and from the most inappropriate angle. You have been put in a position in which whatever action you take, or words you express will be taken against you, always in different meaning and interpretation. Whether you act in the virtue of prudence, or in the virtue of daringness, you sit at a throne where a lot of people would want to cast the first stone, and everything you do will be taken against you. And yet you never sowed hatred. And yet, forgiveness and understanding is still your foremost defense.


I cannot imagine the hurt you're going through right now, more so, your unrelenting forgiveness of these attacks. Know that I am with you through prayers.


Your daughter,
Karen

I Am Free

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There is nothing rigid when you fight for truth. There is nothing rigid when you simply aim for higher love. It is only rigid when it already hampers my or someone else's freedom. Values and principles are not to be compromised but to be lived freely and cheerfully. And none of these implies rigidity. 

To live by my principles necessitates bias, but never discrimination. To believe in something is a given bias, but it should not stop one from being objective when faced with arguments. These principles are not chosen merely out of whim. Rather, they are lived and fought for because of logical reasons and realizations one arrives at.

To uphold truth and goodness may call for sacrifice and some things to be compromised, but it should never be a cause of imprisonment. To live by these principles may contradict another person's belief, but this never wants disunity. It simply needs understanding and more importantly, respect.

Respect begets respect.

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I am Catholic. And even now that I am not yet a full-fledged doctor, I am willing and ready to give informed choices to patients and other people who will ask me about contraceptives, be it artificial or natural family planning. To live by my principles, should never be in the way of another person's freedom and right. To be an advocate of life and natural family planning should never necessitate withholding information that is rightfully theirs. If, as I claim, I am fighting for an objective truth, then I would be guilty of hypocrisy if I am to lie before my patients and keep information from them.

I am Pro-Life

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I think there's no way to say it but straightforwardly. I don't want to fall into the false virtue of human respect, where we sometimes fear of speaking our views just because others don't see it the way we do. I don't want to fall into false humility, wherein our tendency is to please as much people as we can. So here goes...

I am not for abortion, because it's murder, an act of killing a helpless being with the use of mechanical instruments, or through toxins in the form of pills. These abortifacients that are trying to disguise themselves as contraceptive pills are clearly abortifacients to me because it kills life; it stops conception, which is what defines the beginning of life. I am not for artificial contraceptives and condoms because they simply nurture selfish mentality of stopping life.

But when you speak of being pro-life, it's not supposed to end at what you're not for, but it should go beyond and be able to express what you are for. Being pro-life, after all, should be something positive, just as what life should be.

I am for responsible parenthood, wherein married couple agrees that practicality does not necessarily mean aiming for a life of comfort, but having that objective of providing appropriately without compromising one's virtues. I am for freedom and informed choice, where every couple is given all the right information, without bias perspective. I am hopeful that given the right information they will be able to discern the true good, and be able to choose it for themselves. I am for the overall progress of the country, where we are able to have manpower as the greater asset we could have more than the resources that our government officials are merely drowning themselves with. I am for life, a life that is true to what it means to be human; one that is faithful to our human nature.

I believe that the ideal is not very far from what is practical. That with a little self-knowledge, and a lot of self-mastery, the ideal could meet practicality. I believe that to aim for higher virtues should not be restrictive, rather, to live the virtues is to be free from ignorance and foolishness.

To Maguindanao

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No human expression is enough to be able to console you in your situation. There is a desolate panorama continuing to unfold before us. And as of yet, there is no certainty as to when this will end. We seek for hope, but somehow, this is overpowered by the situation's uncertainty and dire violence.

The number of massacred people, your people, is growing by the day. They buried them beneath you. They were tortured and buried, with fear and utmost sadness as the last expression in their faces. All these for some political rubbish that I still try to understand. There may be more of those massacred that are yet to be unearthed, but so is truth hidden and buried beneath mountain of lies.

Those of us who watch and wait thousands of miles away from the eye of the storm could sense the strong vibration of your fear. But know this, in times like this, when there seems to be no way to give direct help, the most heroic deed, maybe, is for us to be hopeful and believe that this too shall pass, as any other dark storms do. We could, as well, succumb to fear, but if we could be strong for you, then we will --- with a lot of hope through prayers.

Karen

P.S. Please send my condolences to the families of the victims.

Ondoy in One Day

It doesn't feel right not to be able to say anything about it. It was devastating, it was shocking.

The previous night, I was with my mom and my brother when they visited me in Manila. News came from them that a typhoon was coming the next day, Ondoy as they told me. I had my own petty experience of it as I braved the knee-high flood in school just so I could go home. But this is not at all relevant to share.

What the rest of Luzon experienced was far beyond anyone expected of a typhoon, it was something no one could ever be prepared for. Until now, I can't imagine how a typhoon, in one day, flood Metro Manila that bad. Having heard of news that unlikely places were getting flooded, it was when I started thinking, this typhoon is not just any other typhoon that would bring no classes the following day and it would be a peaceful study day. No, this typhoon was that which flooded the whole Metro Manila, brought houses crashing against a bridge, family members lost, material goods drenched and buried. It was alarming.

Towards the end of the day, I can't help but cry in my prayers. I was asking Him to make it stop, because it was getting beyond my understanding already.

In one day, people lost their loved ones and their hard-earned goods. Until now, some people could not be contacted, and very certain that their families are dead worried about them. Imagine the trauma it has caused to people stranded on the top floors of a building with nothing to eat. Imagine the fear these people had, not knowing when the raging typhoon would end or be sober. All these damage in one day? I could not help but ask God. Why are you allowing this to happen? Please do something about it. Make it stop.

And though doubt was starting to arise in my thoughts, I knew behind and after all these, we're still in the good and loving hands of God. He was there, in the little miracles He poured over people. He allowed this to happen? Yes. He created this big opportunity for people to do good.

I could never fully fathom what happened on that day, but the succeeding days are just as crucial as that day. These days that we are not impeded by any rain or flooding, should be extra opportunity for us to help out. As they say, whatever little you're able to give is already of great help.

Up to this point, I can't get myself to study for my upcoming exam thinking how many people are still in the middle of their unresolved situations. I can't get myself to think how endonucleases and exonucleases could be of help to those needing simple water and food. How can DNA polymerase III be able to bring back people's missing loved ones? How can DNA replication be able to bring back their already crashed houses and goods.

Be Informed: A Prelude

The issue on the RH Bill has not yet waned. Though I have not heard much of it from my friends, people in the congress are still on it, advocates of both sides are still fighting for what they believe in, and all of us under the law are still affected by it.

The thing is, this issue is not just an opinionable matter wherein you're asked whether you're PRO the bill or AGAINST the bill, and then you choose. It's also not about hearing both sides and deciding which is good for you. These are not enough. You have to know what the bill exactly states. You don't just trust anyone telling you what it is about, or worse, to simply believe what they say it fights for. You will be enthralled by how they put it always in the positive note, or discouraged by how the against group is always contradicting what the pro bill would say. The thing is, to be convinced is not the best way to form a conviction. To have conviction is not merely to be encouraged/discouraged to believe in something, but to actually own what you know, own what you want to happen, believe in it and you act on it. 

I understand how doing that will not exactly win me people to side with me in opposing the bill. I also understand that there are people who have real conviction on pushing the bill to be passed. But for that matter, the point is for people to know what they are standing for, not to be indifferent, at the same time, not to be closeminded. 

Given the picture that both sides claim they are pro-life, pro-family, and pro-choice, how would you know to which should you side on? The easiest way is to know both of their proposals, and see what's more convenient to follow. Sometimes we give in to what is surfacely appealing. But do we really know what the bill exactly states?

Given the situation that they both claim the same values, family, life and freedom, is there a way for you to know objectively what these values really mean? The answer is a big, bold YES. Know what it really means to value these three things, and see which side is being true to these values.

The RH Bill to me pretty much responds to the problems as if those were the only correct responses. I say, we be critical and see how these responses will make an impact to the society in the long run. And by impact, I mean it to be both positive and negative.

They say to be smart is to know the right things, I say to be wise is to be critical and know better how to go about the wrong things. It's not about hitting the question with the right answer, but a matter of changing your failed responses to a right and fitting response. 

RH Bill: Why more and more Catholics are supporting the bill

More and more Catholics are supporting the Reproductive Health Bill. Even professors of well-known Catholic schools are in support to this bill. The proponents themselves still strongly claim their Catholicism, and still claim that the bill is not anti-Church nor is it going against the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Now, for what reason are these Catholics in support to this bill? Because they see its practicality. It is campaigned that the bill is for the Filipino families, and that it even aims to alleviate poverty in the country. The bill also aims to address the health concerns of Filipinos, especially with the increasing mortality rates of women and of infants. It aims to give freedom and informed choices to the people. With these reasons, one would think twice on why not to support this bill. It has a lot of positive intentions, and it presents a win-win situation for everyone.

Now, for what reason am I still against this bill? To simply say I'm a Catholic would have been enough, but with the present situation, it wouldn't explain much because of the many other Catholics who strongly support this bill. To simply say I'm a pro-Family and pro-Rights would have been enough, but with their claim that the bill is pro-Family and that it promotes the rights of women, it really wouldn't explain much.

While I believe majority of its supporters are really not anti-Church, nor do they have ill intentions, I also believe they have been misinformed about a number of truths and facts. I am one with their aim of alleviating poverty in the country. I am one with their aim of helping the women and infants of achieving better quality of life in terms of their health. I am one with their aim of giving freedom and informed choices to the people.

But why am I still against the bill? Simply because I believe its said practicality is not really leading to practical solutions, but rather solutions that could actually worsen the situation. It claims to alleviate poverty by controlling the population growth. The thing is, the population rate is actually decreasing, and if there would be a cause of poverty, it would be the unjust distribution of resources and overcrowding in one place, not the growing number of people. Manpower is an asset, and this could actually be a means to better the country's economy. Evidences are clear that a country's big population is not enough reason to blame for the country's poverty. There are several countries that have a big number of population but are still able to have a good economic standing. Demographic winter? It is very much possible to our country.

RH bill is really not necessary since population reduction is not the solution to the country's economic status. Aside from this, they say they wanted to widen the choice of the poor families by giving them easy accessibility to contraceptives, etc. But these things are not illegal in the country. These things are legal and they could easily access these without the presence of the bill. And though I do not support of these, the fact that contraceptives are very much accessible to people, shows that the RH bill would be unnecessary.

One of their questions, if RH bill remains in agreement with the anti-abortion law, then why is the Church still against it? Because we cannot allow that we be fooled by vague statements and incorrect definitions. Some contraceptives are abortifacients, meaning they act as if abortion is carried out because life is killed. They insist that life begins at implantation and not at conception. I remain firm that life begins at conception and this is clearly stated in the Philippine constitution. Why are we being particular about these things? Because it's life being talked about, and this is no laughing matter that one can just consider in passing. These details matter, especially if one fully respects life and its sanctity.

RH bill does not aim to change the anti-abortion law, but it promotes the same ideals as abortion. Simply, to stop life.

But primarily, I do not support RH bill because I believe in the greater capacity of man to achieve higher virtues --- that man is capable to have the virtue of temperance, and to be more generous with life. I believe that man is capable of pursuing solutions that may require more thinking but would address better the root of the problem.

And most importantly, I believe that man is capable of loving truly -- unselfish and unconditional. The Church is not being unnatural with its teachings. On the other hand, it wants people to love. What it tries to save is not the virginity of its people, but the sacredness of sex as an expression of love.