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Month: July 2022

Filipino Catholic law school dean trashes divorce bill

Father Ranhilio Aquino has hit out at lawmaker Edcel Lagman for refiling the bill and reigniting debate on divorce

Father Ranhilio Aquino (center) is seen during a graduation ceremony at San Beda University. (Photo supplied)

UCAN News
Joseph Peter Calleja
July 14, 2022

The dean of one of the top law schools in the Philippines has urged lawmakers to drop a pending divorce bill insisting that it violates the sanctity of marriage.

Catholic priest Father Ranhilio Aquino, the dean of Benedictine-run San Beda Graduate School of Law, hit out at lawmaker Edcel Lagman on July 12, for refiling the bill and reigniting the debate on divorce in the Philippines.

“Edcel Lagman, who has made himself notorious for advocating measures diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching, is at it again. He has reignited the divorce debate by filing a bill in Congress that would allow divorce into the Philippine legal system. The paramount question, therefore, is whether we need it!” Father Aquino wrote on Facebook.Ucan Store

Father Aquino said there was no need to pass a divorce law if the reason alone is that the Philippines is the only country in Asia with no divorce law.

“If the most ‘compelling’ argument is that we are the only jurisdiction that does not have it [divorce], the (non) argument is pathetic. It is nothing more than a perpetuation of the “gaya-gaya” [copycat] syndrome, or the sickening mantra today: “Sana all!”[I hope all],” Father Aquino said.

“It is also argued by its proponents that divorce rescues the partners of failed marriages, trapped in a loveless, perhaps even harmful union. But we have laws that amply provide for such situations,” said the priest, a respected jurist and legal scholar.

Father Aquino said divorce could be opposed by not resorting to theological or religious grounds but by the use of legal reasoning.

“Notice that I have not used theological or ecclesial arguments: no quotations from Scripture, no citations from Church doctrine. My point is clear: On the basis of rational thought, divorce does not seem to be a reasonable position,” he said.

The priest said that present laws were sufficient to cure dysfunctional or abusive marriages, thus, there is no need for divorce.

“If it is the safety of one spouse that is the concern owing to the abusive conduct of the other, the rules on legal separation can be invoked. Women and their children who are victims of domestic violence have a safe harbor that allows a woman facing threats or attempts at violence from an abusive partner or spouse to seek immediate protection orders,” he said.

Present laws allow a woman and her child to seek a protection order from the court or in their local community to stop the abusive spouse from going near them for a number of days.

The real purpose of divorce is to enable partners who have failed at marriage a second chance at it, with new partners. In other words, it is betting that they will succeed when given a second chance, Father Aquino said.

Father Aquino said the children are the true victims of divorce, not the couple themselves.

“… marriage involves others. There are the children who are the very first victims of divorce, for no matter what its advocates say, the loss of a parent when the marriage vinculum is sundered is a traumatic experience for any child,” he said.

Catholic supporters of the bill, however, said clergymen opposing the divorce bill could never understand what is meant to be in an abusive relationship because they themselves were not married.

“It’s easy for any priest to say that marriage should be preserved. But the truth remains that priests are not even married so they will never know how it is to live with someone who is so abusive. They really wouldn’t understand,” a Catholic from Manila, who wished to remain anonymous, told UCA News.

He likewise said that legal separation and other legal remedies were “expensive” that only the rich could afford.

“Legal separation and a case for declaration of nullity of marriage is tedious and involves a lot of money because there is a presumption on the validity of marriage. But if there is divorce law, the law on divorce erases that presumption,” he added.

Statement of the Bishops of the Philippines on the National Synodal Consultation, July 4-7, 2022, Tagaytay City

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

Psalm 133:1

Our Dear People of God,

We hear Pope Francis constantly calling for a Church whose members strive to live in unity and harmony (communion), participate (participation) in the life of the Church, and do not tire of seeking out the least, the lost and the last (mission). This is a call to a Synodal Church – a Church that journeys together.

We responded to his call by starting in our dioceses, prelatures and apostolic vicariates Synodal experiences of listening to one another, from different sectors down to the barangay level, especially those at the peripheries and those excluded from our church communities.

After these consultations, we Bishops, with our representative lay leaders, consecrated persons and clergy, held a 4-day encounter, The National Synodal Consultation, in Tagaytay City.

We LOOKED. It brought us joy to see the persevering faith of our people; the dedication of our ministers, the increasing dialogue of action within and with others. We saw lights.

Yet it caused us sadness seeing we are yet far from our dream of a Church of the poor, and hearing the yearnings and groans of those distant from the Church. We saw gaps and closed doors in our work of evangelization. We saw shadows.

Our shared sentiment resulting from the interweaving of joy and sadness in our hearts was an experience of fellowship, but we yearn for deeper communion.

We LISTENED. We heard strong voices calling us, our clergy, consecrated persons and lay collaborators to heed the call to conversion, to go out of our comfort zones, to be welcoming, to be transparent and accountable, to be more compassionate. These voices echo Pope Francis’ call to be a ‘Church that sets forth’ and is in a ‘perpetual state of mission.’

After the sharing and listening to the stories from the ground, we opened our hearts and minds to God’s Word and listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Our communal discernment engendered in us a longing for wider participation, a more profound communion and renewed mission, urging us to dream once again for God’s people. We sensed the call of the Father’s love made visible in Jesus on the Cross.

We are called to LOVE. In responding to God’s love, we set ourselves anew for mission.

We are moved to ‘open doors’, especially the door of personal, parish, and institutional conversion. This means, for us, opening wide the doors of encounter, listening and dialogue; the door of renewal of ourselves and the clergy; the door to greater witnessing of simplicity and humility; the doors of stewardship, good governance and care for creation; doors towards strengthening the faith formation and empowerment of the laity, and building up of our communities; the door of renewing our structures and ministries, – leaving behind those that do not help and embracing those that make us a community; doors that lead to building bridges, closing the gaps and promoting equality.

We open doors for us all to go out and set forth once again for mission – to seek out those who are far, different, excluded; to encounter, listen and dialogue with our brothers and sisters of different denominations and faith; to explore possibilities for positive engagement in the areas of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, politics and social media.

We open our eyes, ears, minds and hearts, for we humbly admit that we do not have all the answers to the many questions of our time, while we recognize the goodness and giftedness of our people and those who do not share our faith.

We are grateful to the many faces, eyes, ears and hands whose openness and hard work have made our Synodal experiences possible.

With hope and faith in the mercy of the Lord, we commit ourselves to Synodality – looking, listening and loving as our way of proceeding, that we may grow into a humble, welcoming and inclusive Church in the Philippines.

We invoke the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the protection of St. Joseph, as we continue to beg the mercy and love of the Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

+ PABLO VIRGILIO S. DAVID, D.D.
Bishop of Kalookan
CBCP President
July 11, 2022

Faith in Action against Tyranny, Lies and More Misery

Introduction

State terrorism and use of all its resources, Marcos stolen wealth and influence, decades of well-oiled and systematic disinformation and misinformation, and electoral fraud guaranteed sham victory to the Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.-Sara Duterte tandem. In particular, these include red-tagging, harassment, extrajudicial killings; failure to seriously  implement various Court decisions on the Marcoses; wholesale vote-buying, faulty and pre-programmed Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), voter disenfranchisement; and unchecked historical distortion re the Marcos dictatorship and their rehabilitation.

The impressive, volunteer-driven people’s campaign led by de facto opposition leader Vice-President Leni Robredo stood beaten by the traditional guns, goons and gold employed by the Marcoses using stolen wealth and the support of other oligarchs. The latter has been led by main enabler Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, who gains from this unity of thieves and liars with his daughter Sara as incoming Vice-President.This, despite broad support gained by the Leni campaign including youth, basic sectors, academe, Church, progressive organizations, former government officials, a section of retired military officers, business and others.

Meantime,  imperialist masters US and China are quick to congratulate  Marcos Jr. to further their own economic and geopolitical interests in the region. Despite glaring US 9th District Court in Hawaii’s conviction of the Marcoses re stolen wealth and even contempt order, the US has turned a blind eye with empty references to long-standing strategic  (read: neo-colonial) relations to foil the continued influence of China. China, more direct in expressing joy in the Marcos victory, is expected to pursue its soft debt diplomacy and encroachment into the West Philippine Sea, among others.

Fraud

The Commission on Elections (Comelec), as main government agency in charge of the polls, is composed of Duterte appointees whose independence is highly doubted. Cheating has been more ‘efficient’ under the Automated Election System (AES) based on reports of various independent poll watchdogs such as Kontra Daya, Vote Report PH and International Observers Mission. Kontra Daya deems the 2022 elections as among the ‘dirtiest’ and ‘most shameless when it comes to cheating.’ The group citied the 1,800 malfunctioning VCMs which affected at least 1.4 million voters; 152 reports of illegal campaigning; 109 reports of vote-buying and 55 reports of red tagging on election day.

The AES law provides for an ‘unbroken chains and processes’ to safeguard results but these were not followed. According to poll watchdog AES Watch (1),  among these is non-issuance of digital signatures (passcodes) to three election inspectors per precinct whereas three passcodes must be keyed in to boot each of the 106,000 VCMs and transmit election returns (ERs). Comelec issued these only in very few areas as majority only had passcodes issued to chairpersons. The Supreme Court (SC) was petitioned to direct the Comelec but no such order was done.

Using pandemic restrictions as excuse, Comelec likewise disallowed the monitoring of ballot printing and SD (secure digital) card formatting and only did so until after 70 percent of ballots already were printed. Comelec also did not release six findings (2) as regards documented results 90 days before election day as required by law. There was no source code review of central, backup and transparency servers by a reputable international body 90 days before election day. These gaps prevented a thorough check of the ERs versus the transparency servers. The 1.6% difference in tally between Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and Comelec  represents 1,696 precinct VCMs or 1,356,800 votes.(3)

Very limited Random manual audit (RMA) in one per district was done through an untransparent Automated Selection Program, with no review of the source code at all. The entire elections logistics have also been awarded to Duterte funder Dennis Uy’s  F2 logistics. All these and more show that Marcos and Duterte cheated their way to power.

Reject

But beyond electoral fraud, the rejection of the Marcos-Duterte rule harks back to deep historical injustices on the Filipino people. The Marcoses have sought to return to power when Imelda Marcos ran but lost for president in 1992, a mere six years after they were ousted by the Filipino people in 1986, with the US giving them an escape pass to Hawaii. The Marcoses have never been made to seriously account for their crimes despite the 2003 final Supreme Court ruling on stolen wealth and numerous other court decisions, as well as laws, demonstrating the atrocities of martial law.

The elites have played a key role in the restoration of the Marcoses to power because of their own gains from this ghastly arrangement. Outgoing Pres. Duterte enjoyed the Marcoses’ support during his presidential campaign and gave a Heroes’ Burial to the late dictator. This 2022, former Pres. Gloria Arroyo – herself winning through electoral fraud in 2004 as exposed in the Hello Garci tapes — is believed to have brokered the tandem of what should otherwise be strategic political rivals Marcos and Duterte. 

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Pope Francis’ prayer intention for July 2022

By Hannah Brockhaus
Catholic News Agency
July 1, 2022

VATICAN— Pope Francis has asked the Catholic Church to pray in a special way for the elderly during the month of July.

The prayer intention follows requests to pray for families in June and for young people in May, and coincides with the celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on July 24.

“We cannot speak about family without talking about the importance of the elderly among us,” Pope Francis said in a video message released June 30.

“We elderly people often have a special sensitivity for care, for reflection, and affection,” he noted. “We are, or we can become, teachers of tenderness.”

The video is part of a series created by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network in collaboration with the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

“We pray for the elderly, who represent the roots and memory of a people, that their experience and wisdom will help those who are younger to look to the future with hope and responsibility,” the pope said.

The video shows images of an elderly man and woman baking a cake together, which they then share with their grandchildren.

“In this world accustomed to war, we need a true revolution of tenderness,” he said. “We have a great responsibility towards new generations about this.”

Pope Francis said: “let us remember: grandparents and the elderly are the bread that nourishes our lives, the hidden wisdom of a people. That is why we must celebrate them, and I have established a day dedicated to them.”

“Let us pray for the elderly, that they may become teachers of tenderness so that their experience and wisdom may help young people to look towards the future with hope and responsibility,” he said.

In a June 30 press release from the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, Ciro Intino, director of the Alberto Sordi Foundation, commented on the pope’s July prayer intention.

“Our society is getting older and older, and yet it tends to exclude and isolate elderly people, putting their identity and social role in crisis, especially regarding their relations with younger generations,” he said.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “there is a lack of adequate responses to elderly people’s care requirements and existential needs. There is still a long road ahead in terms of social and sociomedical policies aimed at senior citizens, with the goal of limiting the condition of isolation which constrains too many elderly people today.”

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, said, “the Holy Father invites us to become aware of the relevance of the elderly in the life of society and of our communities, and to do so not sporadically, but structurally, with a regular pastoral outreach.”

“That is to say, it’s not about rushing to deal with an emergency, but laying the foundations for long-term pastoral work that will require our involvement for decades to come. Beyond reaffirming the importance of fighting the throwaway culture, the Pope also seems to want to offer reference points for those who are experiencing the bewilderment of finding themselves getting along in years,” he said.