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 IMPAC T March 2006 / Vol 40 • No 3
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Paradox ............................................................................ 2 3
COVER STORY
'Reproductive Health' An Unhealthy Agenda? .....1 6
COVER PHOTO CREDIT: DENNIS BALDOZA DAYAO
The global agenda of ‘reproductive health’ being
ponderously pandered no less by the United Nations
and powerful transnational agencies, and as House
Bill 3773 is currently disputed in Congress, can
‘reproductive health’ live up to its touted promise of
providing a comprehensive health care program to
women, children, and couples?
ARTICLES
CBCP Pastoral Statements, A Reflection .................. 4
Communion and Collegiality ...................................... 5
Solidary Humanism ....................................................... 6
Modern Missionaries ..................................................... 7
Gurong Lingkod: Miriam College’s Volunteer
Service Program for Teachers ....................................... 8
Is College Diploma Still Worth It? ............................ 1 3
STATEMENTS
Lent: A Call to Transformation ................................ 2 5
A Statement by the Roman Catholic Bishop and
Clergy of the Diocese of Borongan on the Series of
Killings in Borongan and Other Places in Eastern
Samar ................................................................................ 2 6
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act .............................................................. 2
Quotes in Quiz .............................................................. 2 2
From the Blogs ............................................................... 2 4
From the Inbox .............................................................. 2 8
Vanilla Bytes ................................................................. 2 9
News Briefs ......................................................................3 0
We were at the sidelines during the Ayala March in the
afternoon of February 24, 2006. At the forefront were the
leaders of prominent and favored sections of our society—
the politicians, the businessmen and the ideologues. And
there was this lone church man who stood like a parish
priest to a flock herded not for the fear of wolves but in
defense of truth and democracy—the absence of which
will make even wolves cower to their holes.
Maria Ressa of ABS-CBN rightly points out the “chill-
ing effect” that Malacañang has successfully, or so it
seems, injected into the spines of the media, the opposition
and everybody else who nurture a contrary opinion. Well,
these are some of the major contrary views: unless this
administration is cleared of accusations of fraud during the
2004 elections, it can hardly be legitimate; unless it allows
itself to be investigated of strong accusations that it has
systematically committed massive graft and corruption, it
cannot continue its job of governance; unless it allows
dissent and democratic space, it can never be called
constitutional.
And, time and again, perhaps condescendingly oblivi-
ous to the intelligence, if common sense at the least, of the
ordinary populace, government spinners are readily harp-
ing the same reasons to discard popular dissent. One, the
futility, they claim, of the opposition’s political barrages is
utterly defeated by its failure to offer a credible substitute
for the present leadership. Two, government spinners
likely have never grown weary of tweeting the same old
tune that popular dissent impedes the country’s “economy-
poised-for-takeoff” (as if there has ever been such one).
Verily, however, there can never be any lower than being
stuck in the bottom. And that goes true as well with the
Philippines being at the tail end – to be exact, second to the
last, which is Bangladesh — of Asia’s worst economies.
Amid the lingering political crisis, it is deigned consol-
ing to take heed from the reflections of Archbishop Angel
Lagdameo, CBCP President, on the Church’s “Commun-
ion and Collegiality.” As it may, Archbishop Lagdameo
posits, it is but tempting for the Church to “trespass the
autonomous region of politics.” But, on the same token, he
agrees with then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s (now Pope Benedict
XVI) views in rejecting the brand of “politics which is blind
to moral values and imperatives.”
And thus likewise so, equally wrenching as the debili-
tating crisis in the political arena, is the global agenda of
‘reproductive health’ being pandered no less by powerful
transnational agencies, and locally into the pending House
Bill 3773 in Congress. Malou Mahilum, in her “Reproduc-
tive Health: An Unhealthy Agenda?” ventures to ponder
if ever ‘reproductive health’ is panacea indeed to the
country’s health program for women, children and couples.
Read on.
Volume 40 • Number 3 3

(The following is a Talk of Archbishop Angel N.
Lagdameo, President of the CBCP, delivered to
Simbahang Lingkod, at the Loyola House of Studies,
Studies ,
Ateneo de Manila University on February 4, 2006)
CBCP Pastoral Statements,
A Reflection
W
hat I would like to share with you
is the story of the two CBCP
Pastoral Statements: the July 10,
2005 Statement and the January 29, 2006
Statement. Inspite of their differences, both
were expressions of the bishops’ com-
munion and collegiality. In both, the bish-
ops spoke their minds. Like the Twelve
Apostles, they shared their diversities,
distinctions and differences, they argued
their points passionately like Peter and
Paul; but in the midst of all this, at the end
of the day they would go back to the roots
of their identity as bishops who are suc-
cessors of the apostles. A community of
brothers and servant-leaders whose pas-
sion for the Lord is greater than all the
forces of division. A community of shep-
herds who choose to remain steadfast to
the truth of their vocation and mission.
Bishops who in every celebration and
gathering in the Conference manifest
agape and koinonia even in difficult cir-
cumstances.
The July 10, 2005 Statement “Restor-
ing Trust: A Plea for Moral Values in Phil-
ippines Politics” was a product of a two-
day reflection-discussion of the bishops.
Although the bishops were perceived and
presented as divided, the Statement re-
44 IMPACT
IMPACT •• March
March 2006
2006
mained the Conference’s common posi-
tion, a product of 122 interventions from
the bishops. It was criticized and praised
by different groups: the Pro-GMA were
happy; the Anti-GMA were disappointed.
What became the center piece of the state-
ment was: “In a spirit of humility and truth,
we declare our prayerfully discerned col-
lective decision that we do not demand her
resignation. Yet neither do we encourage
her simply to dismiss such a call from
others.” The rest of the statement seemed
to have been forgotten or ignored.
EDSA I and EDSA II People Power
were peaceful, nonviolent and successful.
The Bishops agreed with many people
that EDSA-type of people power could
not be repeated because the circumstances
are different from those of EDSA I and
EDSA II. There seems to be an absence of
a credible alternative or rallying point that
would unite the divided opposition. That
was what the bishops seemed to have
been looking for: that the opposition offer
a credible, viable alternative through a
process that would be peaceful, nonvio-
lent and with hope of success.
In the Statement, the CBCP rejected
measures that are counter-constitutional
or unconstitutional, such as juntas and
A R T I
revolutionary councils. At the bottom of
the rejected measures were questions like:
will it not produce new injustices? How
protracted will be the inter-regnum? Will it
not result into a civil war? Admittedly the
July Statement contained the desideratum
for restoring moral values, but it did not
elaborate the ways and means of renewing
our political life. Lacking that the July
Statement was centered on the merits and
demerits of political strategies like the Truth
Commission, the Impeachment Process and
the Resignation decision.
Evaluating the response of the govern-
ment and sentiments of the people, the Bish-
ops felt that there was a need to elaborate the
“plea for the moral values in Philippine Poli-
tics.” The January 29, 2006 Pastoral State-
ment “Renewing Our Public Life Through
Moral Values” has a different story and
process. The preparation for the statement
included a dialogue with the Association of
Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines
(AMRSP) and the Catholic Educational
Association of the Philippines (CEAP) in
January 23. The following day, January 24
was assigned as A Day of Listening, during
which the bishops listened to inputs given
CBCP Pastoral / p. 14
C L E S
A
t this our first encounter this year as
a Conference, I would like to simply
and briefly recall or review with you
two aspects of our Episcopal Conference.
I am sure you have reflected time and again
in John Paul II's Apostolic Exhortation on
the Episcopacy “Apostolos Suos” (1998)
and “Pastores Gregis” (2003) and the lat-
est Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of
Bishops “ Apostolorum Successores”
(2004). Add to these the book of our
Bishop Chito Tagle “Episcopal Collegi-
ality and Vatican II.”
I would like to pick up two signifi-
cant and life-giving aspects of our Epis-
copal vocation: our call to communion
and collegiality. Through our Episcopal
Ordination we have inherited the “colle-
gial spirit” of the apostles. For the mo-
ment of their election (“The shoes from
them Twelve” Lk 6/13), Jesus manifested
clearly the collegial nature of the call to
his Apostles. The future Pope Benedict
XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, has
clearly stated that “the bishops are suc-
cessors of the apostles in general; they
do not succeed a certain apostle but are
members of the college that takes the
role of the apostolic college, and this
fact makes each single one of them a
successor of the apostles” (Called to
Communion, Ratzinger p. 97). It is from
here that we trace the roots of the colle-
gial nature of our Episcopal ministry.
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT
COMMUNION
AND
COLLEGIALITY
In “Pastores Gregis,” Pope John Paul
stated “the spirit of collegiality, or affec-
tive collegiality (collegialitas affectiva) is
always present among the Bishops as a
communio episcoporum, but only in cer-
tain acts does it find expression as effec-
tive (collegialitas effectiva) (PG 8). Speak-
ing in particular about Episcopal Confer-
ences, John Paul II considers them as the
context wherein developed “the collegial
spirit in union between Bishops and, con-
sequently communion between the differ-
ent churches; they establish between the
churches, especially neighboring ones,
close relations in the pursuit of a greater
good” (PG 63). Again “by sharing the
insights of wisdom born of experience and
by the exchange of views, the pooling of
resources is achieved for the common
good of the Churches, so that unity of
action is fostered, common works facili-
tated, the good of religion is more readily
promoted and ecclesiastical disciple is
preserved more effectively.
For Karl Rahner, the universal respon-
sibility of the individual bishop for the
church as a whole takes concrete form to
a special degree in his involvement in the
care of the neighboring dioceses. For this
reason, his view is that the “idea of the
conference of bishops arises out of the
nature of the church itself; it appears to
him to be the absolute necessary form of
the Church’s being.” (P. Leisching, Con-
(The following is an Address by Archbishop Angel N.
Lagdameo, President of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines, delivered at the
Opening of the 92n d Bishops’ Plenary Assembly, on
January 28-29, 2006, at the Pius XII Catholic Center,
Manila).
ference of Bishops, p. 86). Collegiality then
has many expressions but in its privileged
mode of expression, it is non other than the
assembly of bishops in the Episcopal Con-
ference.
The gathering and election in Lk 6, 13
ends in the mission mandate of the twelve
(Mt. 28:20). But in between, Jesus knows
very well that the twelve will be subjected
to trials, difficulties, doubts and the temp-
tation for dissolution. Agape and Koinonia
will be shaken and the option to run away
in individual isolation will hound the hearts
of each one. In the midst of all these, Jesus
offers a tender prayer for his disciples “ut
unum sint.” (John 17, 21). Encapsulated in
this prayer is the desire of Jesus for his
apostles to choose communion over divi-
sion by not forgetting their collective iden-
tity. Because only in their collective con-
sciousness of who they were and in their
collective stand of fidelity in Jesus, will
they become the source of unity for the
whole church. Archbishop Leonardo
Legaspi, OP, in his article “Reflections on
the Role of Bishops in Philippine Poli-
tics,” leads us to reflect on who we are, and
to speak from who we are.
Given the seriousness of the political
crisis we are still facing coupled with moral
and economic crisis, we, bishop have re-
minded ourselves about the temptation of
Communion and / p. 22
Volume
Volume 40
40 •• Number
Number 33 5
5
 A R
T
he year 2005 marked the 40th anni-
versary of the Second Vatican
Council’s “Pastoral Constitution
on the Church in the Modern World” (or
Gaudium et Spes). This document focuses
on the Church’s relations ad extra––i.e.,
sharing “the joys and the hopes” of the
world. It synthesizes in contemporary
accents the Church’s social teachings from
the first social encyclical of Pope Leo XIII
in the late 19th century to the encyclicals
of Pope John XXIII in the 1960’s.
In its opening chapters, the document
touches on recurrent themes such as the
Church’s mission in the world, the dignity
of the human person, and the challenges of
modern-day atheism. In its second part,
Gaudium et Spes focuses on problems of
special urgency such as: marriage and the
family, culture, socio-economic life, the
political community, and world peace.
One concrete result of Gaudium et
Spes was the creation of the Pontifical Coun-
cil for Justice and Peace which was tasked
by the Holy Father to carry on the Church’s
dialogue with the world on the social issues
of the day and to help guide the Church’s
Solidary Humanism
By Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ, DD
From Gaudium et Spes to the
Compendium of the Social
Doctrine of the Church
6 IMPACT • March 2006
T I C L E S
pastoral action in society. It was with this
mandate that the Pontifical Council, con-
vened in Rome in October 2004, the First
World Congress of Ecclesial Organizations
Working for Justice and Peace.
There were two interrelated reasons for
the congress: first, to prepare for the com-
memoration of the 40th anniversary of
Gaudium et Spes; and secondly, to launch
the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of
the Church, which had just been published
by the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace. After five years of preparation that
started under the PCJP presidency of the late
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan,
the 525-page Compendium has finally come
to light and offers “a concise but complete
overview of the Church’s social teaching.”
In systematic fashion, the Compen-
dium takes up once more the classical themes
of Gaudium et Spes, this time expanded
with citations from other ecclesial docu-
ments, particularly Pope John Paul II’s three
social encyclicals and the Catechism of the
Catholic Church (1994).
The Compendium contains three parts.
Part One, comprising four chapters, dis-
cusses the presuppositions of the Church’s
Social Doctrine: God’s plan of love for
humanity; the Church’s mission and social
doctrine; the human person and human
rights; and the principles of the Church’s
social doctrine.
Part Two, composed of seven chap-
ters, contains an up-to-date examination of
the traditional themes of social doctrine: the
family, human work, economic life, the po-
litical community, the international commu-
nity, and the promotion of peace. A note-
worthy addition is a chapter on the environ-
ment.
Part Three, in a single chapter, con-
tains recommendations for pastoral action
in the social field and dwells in particular on
the commitment of the lay faithful. The
Compendium concludes with an invitation
to the men and women of our age to build a
“civilization of love”—the over-arching
motif of the entire document.
At the dawn of the third millennium, the
Compendium is offered as a continuing
work in progress not only for Catholics but
also for brethren of other faiths as well as for
“all people of good will who are committed
to serving the common good.”
If Gaudium et Spes has been charac-
terized by Cardinal Renato Martino, current
PCJP President, as containing the “genetic
code” for the Church’s social apostolate,
the Compendium can well be viewed as the
vademecum for today’s church worker in
the social field—as bishop, priest, religious
or, especially, as lay person. Comprising
about a third of the Compendium is a valu-
able analytical index that provides cross
references for the topical themes of the
Church’s social teachings.
A papal audience for the delegates
provided a high point for the world con-
gress. In his brief message, the late Pope
John Paul II forcefully remarked:
The Compendium of the Social Doc-
trine of the Church has just been published
as an instrument meant to help Christians in
their daily commitment to make the world
more just, from the perspective of a true
solidary humanism. The social doctrine is
‘an essential part of the Christian message’
(Centesimus Annus, 5) and must be better
known, integrally spread and witnessed to
by constant and coherent pastoral action.
For the Church, there is no socio-pas-
toral action without a social doctrine; but
neither can there be a social doctrine with-
out pastoral action. I
(Most Rev. Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., DD, the Bishop
of the Prelature of Ipil in Mindanao, is the Vice
President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines and member of the Pontifical Council for
Justice and Peace, Rome).
 A R T I C L E S

O
n March 5, this year, the First Sun-

© Denz Dayao / IMPACT

day of Lent, the Episcopal Commis
sion for the Pastoral Care of Mi-
grants and Itinerant People (ECMI) of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Phil-
ippine is spearheading the celebration of
the 20th National Migrants’ Sunday. The
celebration will be echoed locally by 85
ecclesiastical territories throughout the
country.
Carrying the theme “Migration, An
occasion for evangelization,” the annual
activity aims at paying tribute to all mi-
grants or the Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFW) who are dubbed as the country’s
“modern heroes” because of the sacrifices
they make for their families and for their
country.
The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral
Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in its
exhortation, Erga Migrantes Caritas
Christi, states that “migrants as builders of
universal fraternity can assist the Church in
fulfilling her community identity and mis-
sionary vocation” (cf. Erga Migrantes, 103).
Migration is said to be an occasion for

the meeting of cultures that promotes the
unity of human race and the mutual under-
standing of peoples and civilizations. It is,
therefore, an occasion for making the gos-
pel known. It has been and still a traditional
vehicle for transforming the Word of God
to the ends of the earth. Modern means of
travel used by migrants increase these
possibilities more than ever.
In the visit of Pope John Paul II to the
Philippines in 1995 on the occasion of the
10th World Youth Day, he told the bishops
during their luncheon meeting: “In the Lord’s
name I encourage you to respond to the
special grace of your vocation to carry the
Gospel beyond the shores of this beautiful
Archipelago to the other peoples of this
vast continent…Asia needs your help if it
is to hear the Good News of Christ crucified
and risen .”
In fact, many stories about Filipino
migrants, in communities where they ren-
der their service, have been told of how
they proclaimed Christ. A Saudi-Arabian
Princess, for instance, related to her Filipina
friend, a columnist residing in England,
how she likes very much her Filipina do-
mestic helper, except for one thing—she
taught the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary”
to her children, instead of prayers to Allah.
Filipino migrants, especially the
women, have been known for transform-
ing new lives into their host countries’
faith communities and also forging a new
way of living as a Church. In Hong Kong
and Singapore, temporal gyms and audito-
‘Modern Missionaries’
by Roy Q. Lagarde
riums are transformed at least once a week
into homes of prayer and devotion for the
Filipina workers. In Europe or countries
north, Filipino migrants bring a new dyna-
mism to churches ravaged by secularism.
Filipino migrants also become vehicles
of evangelization through the informal
dialogue of culture with non-Christian
employers and co-workers, who are even-
tually led to coming into close contact with
the Filipino culture and the Christian faith.
The reality, hence, is that the poten-
tial of migration for evangelization is not
new to us. It has been proven.
The challenge, however, for migrants to
become instruments for evangelization rely
in the importance that they be first evange-
lized. They must be “credible preacher, min-
ister, and witness to the Church as the
universal sacraments of salvation.”
As the ECMI aptly stated, migrants
must first recollect the factors that empow-
ered the early Christian Church, to trans-
port, capture, and relive the spirit that moved
during the greatest era of apostolic evange-
lism—the missionary wildfire reported in
the Gospels and in the Acts of Apostles.
The church’s pastoral presence
among migrants remains to be one of the
major commitments of the church’s evan-
gelizing mission today. As a channel of
evangelization, migrants must not only be
harbingers of Catholic doctrine, but also
as living witnesses of the gospel them-
selves.
Migrants call upon the Church to rec-
ognize its pilgrim nature. As a Church,
migrants are people crossing borders, at
risk, with no real home as they continually
try to adjust to a new culture and a new
country. They are on the boundaries of
society, with no political power.
But powerless they may be in foreign
lands, Filipino migrants do not fail to ac-
tively participate in local churches over-
seas, serving not only fellow Filipinos but
even the wider or universal church, so to
speak, worldwide.
After all, Filipino migrants are not
only “modern day heroes,” or saviors of
the country’s ailing economy, but more so
are likewise the Church’s “modern mis-
sionaries” utterly spread through every
corner of the globe. I

Volume 40 • Number 3 7
 A R
T
hrough the years, Catholic schools
have remained steadfast in making
education truly relevant and respon-
sive to changing ecclesial, social and en-
vironmental concerns. Because of this un-
wavering commitment, Catholic schools
have, until now, remained as potent force
for societal transformation.
With this as backdrop and with its
solid missionary tradition, Miriam College
designed a program meant to form teach-
ers to become agents of change not only
inside the classrooms but outside as well.
This means, opening doors for them to
reach out to people in far-flung villages to
share with them the value of education and
help them realize and appreciate their po-
tentials.
Our Volunteer Program and Our
Mission of Service
Buetow (1988) in his book, The Catho-
lic School, identified the three functions
of a Catholic School as, 1) the delivery of
Jesus’ message, 2) the formation of Chris-
tian community, and 3) the performance of
service in Jesus’ name. These are suc-
cinctly but beautifully captured by Bishop
Konstant (in Buetow, 1988). According to
him “Catholic education should be char-
acterized essentially by its communica-
tion of a perspective of human life cen-
tered in Jesus Christ; by its respect for the
individuality and integrity of all; by its
consequent concern with education for
freedom, proceeding by way of illumina-
tion … and by its promotion of a sense of
justice and of mission. A first concern of
the Church’s educational mission must be
for the poor and disadvantaged. In a word
its task is redemptive.”
Mindful of these functions and char-
acteristics, Gurong Lingkod, Miriam
College’s Volunteer Program for Teachers
was created in 2000. By providing teachers
the opportunities to reach out and serve
poor communities and schools, the pro-
gram hopes to make the teachers under-
stand and appreciate the value of volun-
teer service for and with the poor. With the
teachers’ expertise, the program also hopes
to contribute to the development of com-
munities and schools and to the well-be-
ing of the poor.
Teacher is to be understood as “edu-
cator”—one who helps to form human
persons. We, therefore, include in our
definition all who are involved in this for-
mation: administrators, counselors, staff
and others. Regardless of employment
status, they may join the program pro-
8 IMPACT • March 2006
T I C L E S
vided that they pass the screening and cherished missionary tradition of the
accomplish the requirements. Maryknoll Congregation. Finally, we have
This program is implemented through before us the challenge to live out our
the Institutional Network for Social Ac- institutional core values of truth, justice,
tion (INSA). Aside from Gurong Lingkod, peace and integrity of creation. To rein-
we also have the Miriam Volunteer Mis- force these, we have included in our Insti-
sion, our volunteer service program for tutional Strategic Plan as one of our Key
students and the Miriam Volunteer Mis- Result Areas, the area of social involve-
sion-International, which is to be launched ment. Our President has also identified
this year for all employees and alumni who volunteerism as one of her leap areas.
want to serve in other countries.
Young as it may seem, our volunteer Our Vision of a Gurong Lingkod
programs carry the rich and long mission- Volunteer
ary tradition of the Maryknoll Congrega-
tion and the mission of service of Miriam Service to young people has always
College, which started almost 80 years ago been the key motivation of many teachers.
(Fabella and Mulligan, 2001). Deiro (1996) added that, “Teachers are
motivated to become teachers to be of
Inspiration and Motivation service to other human beings in a mean-
ingful way.” Furthermore, there is always
We consider the following as our the “desire [among many teachers] to try
inspiration and motivation in pursuing our to have some kind of influence on better-
volunteer programs: First and foremost is ing our society.” (Tom in Deiro)
the inspiration from Jesus’ life of service,
which was beautifully captured in Luke
4:16-21: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He has anointed me to preach the
good news to the poor.” The second is the
challenge of the Church Social Teachings,
which is dramatized by the phrase: “in
solidarity with the poor.”
The third is the Apostolic Constitu-
tion of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II on
Catholic Universities. Section 10 states
that while this document specifically con-
cerns Catholic Universities, it is also meant
to include all Catholic Institutions (of
Higher Education). Section 12 states that
every Catholic University should assist in
the protection and advancement of human
dignity … through research, teaching and
community service. Community service
extends from local to international. Fur-
thermore, Section 34 states that, “The
Christian spirit of service to others for the
promotion of social justice is of particular
importance for each Catholic University,
to be shared by its teachers and developed
in its students. The Church is firmly com-
mitted to the integral growth of all men and
women. The Gospel, interpreted in the
social teachings of the Church, is an ur-
gent call to promote the development of
those peoples who are striving to escape
from hunger, misery, endemic diseases
and ignorance …”
The fourth is the Second Plenary
© Leah Cariaso / IMPACT
Council of the Philippines’ vision of a
renewed Church characterized by people
of God, who discern the signs of the times,
listen to the cries of the poor and act in the
light of the Gospel. The fifth is the long-
 By having a Volunteer Program for

Gurong Lingkod: Teachers, Miriam College nurtures the

servant within each of its teachers. This
is the reason why we have chosen the
name, Gurong Lingkod. Guro, in Fili-
pino, means teacher. Lingkod, in Fili-
pino, means servant while maglingkod

Miriam College’s
means to serve, to be of service or to work
for. (English, 1986) Gurong Lingkod,
therefore, means servant teacher.
Lee (2005) enumerated 10 character-

Volunteer Service
istics of a servant-leader, which describes
what we want our teachers to have and
these are: 1) listening heart, 2) empathy,
3) gift of healing, 4) critical awareness, 5)

Program for Teachers

persuasion, 6) ability to conceptualize, 7)
foresight, 8) gift of stewardship, 9) dedi-
cation to the growth of people, and 10)
commitment to build community. Fur-
thermore, we want our teachers to be
exemplary advocates and models of our
By Carlo Garcia core values
At the core of being a servant teacher
is the ability to touch other people’s hearts
and inspire them to move towards change,
just like Jesus, the ultimate servant
teacher. Buetow (1988) writes, “When
Jesus was dealing with people, he showed
virtues essential to teachers, like love,
patience, kindness, and gentleness.” In
particular, He was “gentle with ordinary
people and demanding with the edu-
cated.”

The Process of Formation and

Transformation
We want Gurong Lingkod to serve
as venue for personal and societal trans-
formation. This is the reason why we also
consider it as an education process for
formation and transformation.
Buetow (1988) writes the following
to explain what education should be: edu-
cation, from Latin words educere and
educare, means to lead out. It also means
to launch and give birth. This further
means, to lead out all the potential that
is in a person, a process of becoming. The
German language has two words for edu-
cation: erziehung, which means instruc-
tion and (Aus)bildung, which means for-
mation. Therefore, Gurong Lingkod, as
an education process, enables a person
to become what he or she is. Though it
may not take place instantly, we hope to
provide an experience that will start the
process of formation with depth and
breadth leading to transformation. After
all, education has the power to genuinely
transform a person by dramatically alter-
ing his or her life.

Volume 40 • Number 3 9
 G u r o n g L i n g k o d

Our Gains, so far 7) I became more caring; etc. different units and from different fields of
Indeed, their experiences provided expertise, they have brought with them
It has already been five years since it our teachers with opportunities to serve their rich experiences to further improve the
was first implemented in Irosin, Sorsogon. and to learn at the same time and with academic and non-academic areas at least
Since then, more than 221 volunteer teach- opportunities both for professional devel- within their spheres of influence. Here are
ers have set foot in different areas—from opment and psycho-spiritual growth. Fur- some of the initiatives that can be attributed
the mountains of Luzon to the islands of thermore, new friendships developed and to our volunteers: 1) social action and
the Visayas and Mindanao—and touched old ones, strengthened. volunteerism were promoted in club activi-
the lives of many people. As teachers, the experience provided ties; 2) course outlines were reviewed and
Among the groups served by our them with critical teaching and learning enhanced to include community service or
volunteers were: 1) public school teachers moments. And because they need to work volunteer work; 3) emphasis was given on
from Irosin, Sorsogon; 2) parochial school in groups, it showed them the importance experiential learning; 4) mindful of student-
teachers from various towns of of collaboration. Their tolerance with each centered approach; 5) Social Action Club
Pangasinan; 3) urban poor communities in other’s differences was put to test. More was expanded; 6) outreach became part of
Quezon City; 4) fisherfolks from Ithan, importantly, it nurtures the servant teacher faculty association’s activities; 7) some
Rizal; 5) Mangyans of the Bangon Tribe within. teachers continued to serve as volunteers
from Bongabon, Oriental Mindoro; 6) in our Miriam Adult Education and in our
Mangyans from Calapan, Oriental Impact of our volunteers on advocacy centers.
Mindoro; 7) streetchildren from Manila
Miriam College’s Academic and
and Quezon City; 8) rural folks from Biak- What our volunteers have
Non-Academic Programs
na-Bato, Bulacan; 9) rural folks from Tanay, contributed, so far
Rizal; 10) youth from Nueva Ecija; 11) rural While it is true that our volunteers
folks from Dona Remedios Trinidad, have created a positive influence in the Volunteering in itself is a fundamental
Bulacan; 12) Aetas from Mariveles, lives of people whom they have visited and building block of civil society. It is said to
Bulacan; 13) public school children from served, they have also created an impact on contribute to: 1) building healthy, sustain-
Paracale, Bicol; 14) catechists from the academic and non-academic areas of able communities that respect the dignity of
Bangued, Abra; 15) students from Infanta, Miriam College after their volunteer in- all people; 2) empowering people to exer-
Quezon; 16) teachers and community de- volvement. Since our volunteers were from cise their rights as human beings and thus
velopment workers from Catarman, Samar;
17) physically challenged youth and adults
from Sasa, Davao City; and 18) students of
Miriam Adult Education.
We don’t have a perfect picture at the
start of each project. Teachers were driven
by different motivations. Here’s what our
teachers say before joining Gurong
Lingkod: 1) I want to share my knowledge
and skills; 2) I want my summer vacation to
be worthwhile and meaningful; 3) I want to
expose myself to the situation of poverty
in the countryside; 4) I feel I can contribute
to the welfare of the country; 5) I need to
assert my independence; 6) I want to de-
velop my capabilities and potentials; 7)
summer at home is boring; 8) I want to join
my friends; etc.
Their reasons are either outward-look-
ing or inward-looking. But regardless of
their motives, they go back with renewed
perspective. Here’s what our teachers say
after joining Gurong Lingkod: 1) I thought
they will learn a lot from me but it is the other
way around. I learn a lot from them; 2) As
Araling Panlipunan teacher, I know now
what justice and peace is all about based on
real life situation. I think, I can teach it better
this time; 3) I never thought I would survive
life without a cell phone, CR, water, TV and
more. I just did and I feel great; 4) My being
a teacher became more meaningful; 5) My
involvement was very rewarding and satis-
fying; 6) My experience made me happier;

10 IMPACT • March 2006

 A R
to improve their lives; 3) helping solve
social, cultural, economic and environmen-
tal problems; and 4) building a more humane
and just society (Mc Faden, et. al., 2004).
We are sure that we were able to plant
seeds. We know we were able to create a
positive influence. But we recognize the
need for us to go back and determine our
long-term impact. Among the projects and
activities that we implemented were: 1) food
preservation; 2) learning skills enhance-
ment and/or reading skills enhancement; 3)
basic literacy and numeracy; 4) organic
gardening; 5) creative teaching strategies
for teachers; 6) conversational English for
tourist guides; 7) voter’s education; 8)
English and Math tutorials; 9) youth nature
camp; 10) values education; 11) facilitator’s
training; 12) training on helping skills; 13)
review for licensure exams.
The downside of our program is we
can only send volunteers during summer.
Our teachers need to work during the whole
year. Because of this, their involvement
becomes, to some extent, one-shot deal.
But though it is, we are assured that our
intervention is not isolated. Because we
only come in if we are invited or if we have
© Leah Cariaso / IMPACT
T I C L E S
the permission of our partner organiza-
tions, we know that we contribute to the
whole. Continuity and/or replicability are
not a problem. Our partner organizations
continue where we left off.
But in our partner communities, we
have more control over our programs. Be-
cause of this, we can allow interventions
any time of the year provided it will contrib-
ute to our master plan. But again, because
our teachers are working, their involvement
is only limited during weekends.
Challenges
It is not a question of where do we
want to go from here. We know our direc-
tion and we have our roadmap. The ques-
tion is how to get there when there are
challenges that we need to face and ulti-
mately hurdle. Do we have the strength
and courage to continue our journey?
To rectify our past mistakes
The most fundamental challenge that
we face is how to rectify our past mistakes,
better yet, how to transform our weak-
nesses into strengths.
One of our most glaring mistakes can
be attributed to the unpreparedness of
some of our volunteers. To illustrate my
point, two of our volunteers backed out on
their way to a Mangyan community while
traversing the rivers of Mindoro. Another
two volunteers went home on their second
day after realizing that they cannot sur-
vive without a comfort room. The most
recent was a group asked the police to
“rescue” them from a town apartelle amidst
a blackout.
During the orientation, they will tell
you that they are willing to sacrifice just to
be able to serve. But when the real thing
comes, they behave differently and some-
times project the exact opposite of the
courageous and daring individuals that
they were during the orientation.
Our lesson here is we cannot leave
some volunteers on their own, even if they
are teachers, and assume that they know
what to do. The solution to this is a more
stringent screening and rigorous orienta-
tion. Perhaps, we need to offer a wide
range of volunteer opportunities from the
most simple to the most difficult. After all,
different folks need different strokes. But
this calls for more logistical requirements,
additional human resource, more partner
organizations and for volunteer manag-
ers, an eye to spot who’s telling the truth
and who’s lying.
To create a culture of
volunteerism
This has something to do with our
present educational system. For us to cre-
ate a culture of volunteerism, we ought to
shift our educational paradigm. We have
to see education in the context of social
transformation. The goal of education
should be to develop people’s capacity
for social change through a collective prob-
lem solving approach emphasizing partici-
pation, reflection, and critical analysis of
social problems (Yeban in Tujan, Jr., 2004).
As what Andal and Garcia (2005) said,
“Education should, therefore, facilitate the
formation of future agents of change—the
youth. As such, all structures and pro-
cesses should reflect this end goal. Key to
this is the curriculum. Values related to
volunteerism and service should be mani-
fested in all the subjects and in all courses.
Forms and approaches may vary accord-
ing to academic discipline but the core
values of concern for others and care for
the earth should be the same. The stu-
dents should be able to realize that they
have the responsibility to take part in the
continuing process of transforming the
society and the world to make it a better
place not only for them, but for the coming
generations as well.”
To encourage volunteers to do
reflection-in-action and research
Just like many of our students, our
teachers prefer to share their stories ver-
bally. As they claim, it is difficult to write
them. But we and the future generation ought
to learn from their experiences and reflec-
tions. Reflections, especially good ones, can
fundamentally influence practice.
We therefore need to improve our sys-
tem to encourage our teachers to write. One
way to do it is to encourage collaboration
especially among those who belong to the
same team. Reflection should be polished
by collaborative discussion (Convery in
Soler, et. al. 2001). Individual reflection tends
to focus on immediate rather than underly-
ing problems. There is a tendency to evalu-
ate rather than generate new ideas.
As a school, we cannot compromise
the need to generate new knowledge. The
experiences of our volunteers can be a
focus of research. Volunteerism is thought
to assist in the [school’s] performance of
all its substantive functions (Carino, 1996
in Mc Faden, 2004). Volunteering can ben-
efit teaching and learning, be the object of
instruction and analysis, provide a focus
Volume 40 • Number 3 11
 G u r o
for research and independent study, and
be integrally connected to [school’s] com-
munity service functions (Mc Faden, 2004).
To take the risk amidst worsening
peace and order situation
There’s a lot to be done out there—in
places where no one dares to tread. Is it
worth taking the risk?
Two weeks before the scheduled stay
of our volunteers in a remote area in Florida
Blanca, Pampanga, a group of military
sprayed bullets to a community of Aetas
leaving 3 of them dead. The reason was the
Aetas were suspected of cuddling NPAs.
This was the exact community where our
volunteers were supposed to stay for two
weeks. Another incident was, after the
literacy training which was conducted by
our volunteers in Mindoro, an encounter
between the NPAs and the military took
place—right on the spot where our volun-
teers walked through.
But the question we face, and perhaps
by other volunteer organizations as well is
how safe our mission areas are for our
volunteers?
To mobilize more volunteers
amidst economic and political
crises
A poor economy means having too
many poor people to serve. A system where
12 IMPACT • March 2006
n g L i n g
© Leah Cariaso / IMPACT
wealth and resources are concentrated in
the hands of the few means more social
consciousness raising and massive mobi-
lizations thus, posing threat to the powers
that be. A weak and almost bankrupt gov-
ernment means having a massive organiza-
tion to resuscitate. A devastated environ-
ment means having huge ecosystem to
rehabilitate and eventually, to protect and
preserve. Unending political conflict means
having unstable peace and order situation,
hence, having unsafe place for volunteers
to move. All these, only mean having too
many tasks to be done by our volunteers.
This situation can either be a positive signal
or a negative signal to our prospective
volunteers. One can see this situation as an
urgent call to heed. Another can see this as
overwhelming and frightening, thus, the
tendency to avoid. One volunteer’s com-
mitment, therefore, is a ray of hope amidst
the obscurity imposed on us.
To sustain the program
When our savings hit the bottom,
how do we replenish it? Like any social
development organizations in the coun-
try, we also face the challenge of
sustainability. Right now, it is our school
that finances all our volunteer programs.
But soon, as we expand in order to create
more impact on the lives of more people,
we need to be extra creative to attract more
funds to come in.
k o d
To find our own niche as
volunteer organization
This is “work” in progress. Our search
is not complete yet but we have already
accomplished a lot. First, we know and are
proud of being a Catholic school run by laity.
Second, we are an all-women school—a
difficult yet liberating decision we’ve made
few years back. But we still need to complete
our search for our own unique spirituality
and pedagogy.
And in our volunteer program, what we
always look for is the “tatak Miriam.” We
ask, as a new player, what else can we offer
in the field of volunteerism? As a volunteer
organization, what difference can we make?
What impact on people’s lives do we want to
create? What mark do we intend to leave
behind? How do we want our volunteers to
be remembered?
These questions are crucial in succes-
sor generation and in legacy building. In a
world, where many people feel alienated and
abandoned, an organization with strong foun-
dation and clear identity and vision can be a
refuge. It can help lead people towards the
path of service, which we all know as the less
traveled, with fulfillment. Volunteerism is not
a panacea but can help build or re-build the
lives of many people so that they, too, will do
the same in the lives of others.
Finally …
We want other schools to join us in our
advocacy for volunteerism. Our program, for
instance, can be replicated if the following
conditions are present: 1) There must be an
institutional commitment to volunteerism and
this should be expressed in policies; 2) There
should be programs with operational plans
including social marketing plans; 3) There
should be a sustainability fund; 4) There
should be a structure with designated office
and staff; 5) There should be a network of
partners and linkages, that will connect the
institution with the rest of the civil society.
As ripples of volunteerism multiply and
spread, they have the potential to generate
the kind of change that will redirect our
desired transformation. The cumulative ef-
fect of such seemingly small efforts is, suffi-
cient to redirect the current of the times.
What is crucial is the hard and patient work
of educating or re-educating our teachers
(and our students, too) towards volunteerism,
and more importantly, towards change. I
(Carlo Garcia is currently the Executive Director of
the Institutional Network for Social Action (INSA) of
Miriam College, Quezon City. The foregoing article
is his paper presentation during the 2005 National
Convention of the Catholic Educational Association
of the Philippines held last September 14-16,2005 in
Davao City – Ed.)
 A R T I C L E S

N
o doubt about it, even amid con-
temporary debilitating economic
and political conditions Filipino
parents would yet do anything to send
their children to school. But the familiar
story about parents selling their only cara-
bao to provide their children a College
education likely lends no more credence
as they no longer have a carabao. And it
isn’t because they have adopted mecha-
nized farming; it’s because they have prac-
tically been pauperized.
Even so, what with the wrenching
economic slump and the mercurial surge in
tuition and school fees, this school yearend
will again witness an estimated new batch
of over 350,000 tertiary graduates—and
that inescapably means, a new batch of
entrants to the labor force, or, bluntly put,
another helpless throng who will join the
burgeoning hordes of unemployed Filipi-
nos.
If, after having toiled through the long
rigorous years of college training, fresh
graduates end up yet stuck in the muck
vainly groping for, at the very least, a faint
chance of harnessing their college educa-
tion for a living—what practical worth else
does a college diploma have? Lest, other-

Is College
wise, college education in the Philippines
may have thus contrived to Mark Twain’s
valuation of what a college diploma is—

Diploma Still
”that glorious piece of wallpaper”—or, if
not Caroline Bird’s assertion that “college
is a waste of time and money.”

Employability—or rather, the dim
chance for it—is, of course, only one of the
many issues that have hounded or ad-
versely affected the “relevance” of col-
lege education in the Philippines. And
equally, it smacks of oversimplification to
say that the relevance of college educa-
tion, or the “worthiness” of a college di-
ploma, is exclusively grounded on em-
ployability. But undeniably, then as be-
fore and more so as now, the dismal state
of education in the Philippines conspicu-
ously bemoan the numerous problems or
woes that have invariably afflicted it. Par-
ents, who are hell-bent (they’re thus “mov-
ing heaven and earth,” so to speak) on
having their children finish college, are
saddled with the unabated sky-high cost
of education—let alone the worsening
economic condition. Students, and gradu-
ates not excluding, feel shortchanged and
decry the poor quality of instruction.
Teachers, touted as harbingers of knowl-
edge, assail the meager salary they are
receiving. School administrators, save
their intention to uplift the plight of tertiary
education, are impeded with the problem
Worth It?
By BOB ACEBEDO
of viability due to shrinking enrollment
population. The Commission on Higher
Education (as likewise with the Basic Edu-
cation), no less, is likewise infected, if not
afflicted, with bad politics and corruption
that emanate or pounded upon by politi-
cians and bureaucrats.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s edi-
torial, “Higher-education lows,” succinctly
expressed how politics have wrought mal-
aise on both the basic and tertiary educa-
tion departments, “Politics is destroying
higher education. Politicians and bureau-
crats have already destroyed basic educa-
tion—that is obvious in the annual litany
of class-opening problems, such as the
lack of teachers, classrooms and books,
which provide petty politicos and greedy
bureaucrats with the alibi to dip into the
public coffers and spend resources, leav-
ing them enough rooms for kickbacks.
This state of affairs has perennially saddled
over basic education with issues of quan-
tity, not quality, so that we are producing
graduates who hardly have the rudimen-
tary qualifications for college…Now poli-
ticians and bureaucrats are set to complete
the sweep. After destroying basic educa-
tion, they seek to infect higher education
with the virus of commercialism and aca-
demic philistinism.”
Ostensibly, the many problems than
one, apart from politics and bureaucratic
commercialism, afflicting tertiary educa-
tion—such as schools’ viability due to
declining enrollment population, spiraling

Volume 40 • Number 3 13
 Is College Diploma Still Worth It?

cost of education, low salary of teachers,

lack of infrastructure and facilities, etc.—
have all but adversely affected the quality
of college graduates. And sadly, the indi-
cators of such a declining quality can be
observed in, among others, the plummeting
passing average in board and licensure
examinations and, as already mentioned,
the plunging employability rate of gradu-
ates due to mismatch between the skills
acquired in school and the job market.

Prevailing Concerns and Trends

But more than the aforementioned
problems or woes that tertiary education
in the Philippines face, some prevailing
concerns and challenges have precipitated
to the fore brought about by the globaliza-
tion as well as by the changing landscape
of college education.
One, is the shifting preference by stu-
dents in their choice of courses according
to job market demand, particularly over-
seas. Obviously, in the last five years or
so, with the upsurge in the demand for
teachers, nurses and caregivers in the
United States and Europe, enrollment in
courses related to these disciplines have
likewise mushroomed unprecedentedly.
Actual figures from the Commission
on Higher Education reveal the statistical
breakdown of graduates by discipline for
AY 2003-2004, thus: (1) Business Admin-
istration and related courses, 110,870
(27.59%); (2) Education and Teacher Train-
ing, 80,863 (20.13%); (3) Engineering and
Technology, 53,487 (13.31%%); (4) Math-
ematics and Computer Science, 36,223
(9.02%); (5) Medical and allied courses,
33,296 (9.02%); (6) Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 15,417 (3.84%); (7) Agriculture,
Forestry, Fisheries and Veterinary Medi-
cine, 14,765 (3.67%); (8) Humanities, 5,187
(1.29%); (9) Mass Communication, Docu-
mentation, 5,140 (1.28%); (10) Natural Sci-
ences, 4,872 (1.21%); (11) General, 3,354
(0.83%); (12) Architecture, Town Planning,
2,746 (0.68%); (13) Law and Jurisprudence,
2,631 (0.65%); Service Trades, 2,610
(0.65%); (14) Fine and Applied Arts, 1.522
(0.38%); (15) Home Economics, 1.198
(0.30%); (16) Religion and Theology, 1,242
(0.31%); (17) Trade, Craft and Industrial,
395 (0.10%).
Business Administration and related
courses, albeit continuing to suffer a de-
cline in demand, remain the highest pro-
ducer of graduates with 110,870 or 27.59%.
Research by the Employers Confederation
of the Philippines however shows that
graduates in this discipline-category will
find it hard to work unless they embark on
a business of their own. For Medical and
Allied courses, while it is observed that
there has been indeed a decline of medi-
cine graduates, a telling upsurge of enroll-
ment in the nursing course (including a
good number of full-fledged medical doc-
tors enrolling themselves) cannot likewise
be denied. Scaling down the breakdown
are the record low number of graduates in
such disciplines as Agriculture, Humani-
ties, Mass Communication, Natural Sci-
ences, Architecture, Natural Sciences, Fine
and Applied Arts as well as Service Trades.
The continuing preference of Filipino
students of courses that cater to the de-
mands of overseas labor market has like-
wise posed inevitable consequences on
the question of “relevance” of higher or
tertiary education vis-à-vis the country’s
needs and development. “Higher educa-
tion in the Philippines is tending towards
irrelevance because it does not really meet
the needs of our country,” says Fr.
Rolando de la Rosa, OP, former chairman
of the Commission on Higher Education.
“Students prefer to enroll not in courses
which are no longer relevant to the coun-
try but on those which are in demand
abroad for high payback. If such is the
case, chances are that we are exporting not
only our best graduates but also our fu-
ture.”
Along with the shifting preference of
Filipino students for courses relevant to
overseas labor market demand, another
related concern or trend in higher educa-
tion is the glaring proliferation of hun-
dreds of private franchise schools, like
fast food chains, offering “commercially
relevant,” if not “overseas-employment
guaranteed,” courses like nursing and
computer courses.
Granted, these sprouting franchise
schools do flaunt on cheaper fees. But
while this “cottage industry,” as it were, of
schools may have alleviated the burden of
affordability or accessibility of higher edu-
cation, however their poor performance in
terms of delivering quality education—let
alone their political panderings to govern-
ment officials and politicians—have been
held suspect no less by CHED. The edito-
rial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer aptly
puts it: “How (these) computer and nurs-
ing schools have achieved political clout
despite their poor performance in elec-
tronic communication engineering and in
nursing board exams should show how
educational franchises and profit-oriented
schools have built up their resources by
packing their classrooms with enrollees,
without the least provision for student
selectivity and quality standard—indeed,
without the least investment in campus
infrastructure and pedagogical facilities.
Some schools appear to have shored up
their position by getting cozy with politi-
cians in Congress and Malacañang.”
Then, also, another prevailing con-
cern for higher education—particularly
among graduates—is the observable mis-

14 IMPACT • March 2006

 A R T I C L E S

match between the skills or learning ac- Relevance and Employment vitae discimus” (We study not for school,
quired at school and the job market. Likely Opportunities but for life).
so, this explains the low employability rate Paolo Freire, a Brazilian pedagogist,
of graduates. “Every March, the end of the There’s no denying so that college contends that “Man, who is an incomplete
academic calendar in the Philippines, we education, in such a cutting-edge global- being, and yet conscious of his incompletion,
are often faced with a high number of ized society and even amid the debilitating has the inherent potential for completion.”
college graduates competing with the un- economic muck, is indeed yet important. The fundamental vocation of man, accord-
employed for limited job opportunities. But still, where dost lie its relevance? ing to Freire, is to continually strive for
But many companies claim that their posted No question, gone is the street-smart’s “humanization,” not “dehumanization.”
vacancies in the classified advertisements argument that sheer work ethic or persever- Hence, the prime relevance of college
cannot be filled by the numerous ance alone, and not education, is the key to education is fundamentally grounded on
jobseekers. The failure to get a match is success in life. And so does Caroline Bird’s the dynamic “humanization” of the indi-
often a result of the jobseekers’ inability to “college is a waste of time and money.” vidual, or, so to speak, on becoming “more
qualify for said requirements needed by Such would be an outright oversimplifica- fully human”—and life itself is one big
employers,” Labor and Employment Sec- tion. Lest, educators would have long school for such “humanization.” Educa-
dropped their hammers and saws too soon.
retary Patricia Sto. Tomas says. tion thus is but learning the “truth” about
Accordingly, hence, this job and skills And neither employability nor material man. And only then it is in acknowledging
success alone can be equally synonymous
mismatch among graduates likely begs with relevance or worthiness of a college the “truth” of man that paves one to ac-
forth the question whether college train- degree or diploma. For, if money is the only knowledge the “truth” of God.
ing, its curricular requirements or program, goal, college may likely be the dumbest Well taken. But, even so, what with
is responding to the needs or demands of investment one could make. such rather transcendent ramifications on
the job market; whether school learning None the least, too, college education the relevance of college education—and
indeed correspond or not to life’s needs may not likely be motivated purely for granted, say so, the current state of higher
and realities. Labor Undersecretary learning’s sake. Like the so-called “pure education in the Philippines were such as
Manuel Imson sees the need to review and science,” “pure learning” is pragmatically indeed exuding in “quality” or “competitive
revise some College curricular programs non-viable, if not impossible. Lest, again, to employability”—it behooves yet to reckon
or courses vis-à-vis existing realities out- cite Mark Twain, college diploma may just that unless there are indeed tangible em-
side the school. “There is a need for more literally mean what it is—”that glorious ployment opportunities in the country, or,
fine-tuning so we can factor in the realities piece of wallpaper.” at the least, lest the national government
that are existing, the realities in the domes- Verily, wherefore, the relevance of will concretely strive so, Filipino graduates
tic labor demands and overseas. We still college education far transcends beyond would yet remain desperately groping, if
have courses that in terms of projected job employability or material success, beyond grasping, for genuine relevance of their
demand are not that strong. And yet a lot learning’s sake, beyond acquiring a desir- college education.
of students enroll there.” able social status, and more so beyond the Pray so, in the current state of higher
Interestingly, for instance, one en- parochial ends of a school—or so, as the education in the Philippines, is college di-
demic characteristic—and is perhaps con- Latin adage professed, “Non scholae sed ploma still worth it? I
tributing also to the problem of jobs-skills
mismatch—of most curricular programs or
courses in Philippines’ colleges and
schools compared to other countries which
needs attention, according to observers,
is their being overly “degree-oriented,” if
not “diploma-fixated.” This means that
most courses in the Philippines, observers
contend, are so designed that students, in
order to acquire the required qualification
for a particular job, have to complete the
full length or entire duration required for
the course—say, four or five years—to
obtain a degree or diploma, and the job as
well. Filipino college dropouts thus, pos-
sessing neither a college certificate nor a
diploma or degree, face the bleak chance of
getting a job. In some other countries,
students go through a “ladderized” sys-
tem of college education, which makes it
possible for students to acquire the needed
competency for a particular work or job
corresponding to a particular stage at-
tained in college. Under said system, the
student is granted the appropriate certifi-
cate for every stage attained.

Volume 40 • Number 3 15
‘Reproductive Health’
An Unhealthy Agenda?
By Malou Mahilum
I
t was likely uncalled for, if incongruous, for Manuel (not
his real name), a top-ranking Filipino training consultant
for the USAID (United States Agency for International
Development), to pack a wallop of his concluding remarks in
a USAID-sponsored Reproductive Health training dubbed
“Contraceptive Self-Reliance Strategy” training-seminar con-
ducted sometime a month ago to some 200 local health officers
and workers, Sangguniang Panlalawigan and local govern-
ment officials from two Northern Mindanao provinces. Cap-
ping the training-seminar’s activities, Manuel stunned his
audience—and likely enough to the displeasure of some
16 IMPACT •• March 2006
February 2006
American USAID representatives who were present—by say-
ing: “From the onset and up to the final proceedings of this
seminar, I have religiously kept tab of the number of times the
word ‘alarming’ has been used in the various presentations.
And I am quite alarmed too to note that it has been used 67
times—like alarming population growth and birth rates, alarm-
ing maternal and infant mortality rates due to pregnancy or
childbirth complications, alarming increase of poverty inci-
dence, alarming degradation of ecological resources, alarming
number of women who have unmet need for family planning,
alarming number of teenaged girls becoming mothers before
 © Denz Dayao / IMPACT
The global agenda of ‘reproductive health’
being ponderously pandered no less by the
United Nations and powerful transnational
agencies, and as House Bill 3773 is cur-
rently disputed in Congress, can ‘reproduc-
tive health’ live up to its touted promise of
providing a comprehensive health care pro-
gram to women, children, and couples?
reaching the age of 20, etc., etc. But, truly, what is rather more
alarming for me is the way we look at this burning issue of
population control and reproductive health. Particularly alarm-
ing for me is how we view or look at our children who are due
to be born. Are they a blessing or a curse? When you go home,
try to look straight into your children’s faces and ask if they
are a blessing or a curse to society. And if indeed they are a
scourge, then let’s celebrate every catastrophic tragedy like
that of Quezon, Ormoc and St. Bernard landslides that have
wantonly decapitated our populace.”
Ironically indeed, such a pronouncement—leveled off
COVER STORY
against the very purpose or agenda of the so-called “Contra-
ceptives Self-Reliance Strategy” training-seminar, and con-
trary, more so, to the Department of Health’s, the lead training
organizer, agenda on reproductive health program—was least
expected at all from one, like Manuel, who undeniably is on
USAID’s lucrative payroll. The USAID, conspicuously so,
has been aggressively promoting the global ‘reproductive
health’ agenda structured or premised on population control.
But, Manuel, not hindered any bit neither by scrupulosity nor
remorse on what he said during the training-seminar, cannot
be more unyielding to the flaunted ‘alarming’ facts. In an
exclusive interview with Impact, Manuel disclosed, “It’s high
time that we sift fact from propaganda. That there is such an
alarming population growth in the country is not true at all.
The downfall of the Roman and Greek civilizations was due to
their inability to reproduce themselves. Whereas for us in the
Philippines, instead of considering children as a blessing, we
are yet clambering for population control measures in the
name of reproductive health and rights.”
“The truth about the ‘Reproductive Health’ agenda is that
it is undoubtedly anchored on global population control or,
simply put, it’s a worldwide cartel of contraceptives and the
like peddled by USAID and transnational corporations,”
Manuel bluntly charged.
Sexual-Reproductive Health and Rights
But, what do ‘reproductive health’, ‘sexual and repro-
ductive rights’ mean?
The term ‘reproductive health’ has been, time and again,
used constantly in the various documents of the United
Nations and by population control lobbyists worldwide. The
World Health Organization produced an official definition of
the term “Reproductive Health” in its “Technical Definitions
and Commentary” prepared for the UN’s International Confer-
ence on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. Ac-
cording to this definition: “Reproductive health implies that
people are able to have responsible, satisfying and safe sex
life (italic underscoring mine) and that they have the capabil-
ity to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how
often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the right of
men and women to be informed of and to have access to safe,
effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regu-
lation of their choice, and the right of access to appropriate
health care services that will enable women to go safely
through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with
the best chance of having a healthy infant.”
Apparently, yes, on first blush, the above definition
cannot seem to include “contraception” and “abortion” as
“acceptable methods of fertility regulation” or birth control.
But informed critics charge that indeed contraception and
abortion are not excluded in the United Nations’ definition of
“fertility regulation.” Clearly, in the same paper, the World
Health Organization has provided an official definition: “Fer-
tility regulation is the process by which individuals and
couples regulate their fertility. Methods that can be used for
this purpose include, among others: delaying childbearing,
using contraception, seeking treatment for infertility, inter-
rupting unwanted pregnancies, and breast-feeding.” Ac-
cording to critics, “interrupting unwanted pregnancies” is
simply a euphemism for abortion on demand.
Volume 40 • Number 23 17
 ' R e p r o d u c t i v e
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT
What about ‘Reproductive and Sexual
Rights’?
Both the International Conference on
Population and Development in Cairo
(1994) and the Fourth World Conference
on Women in Beijing (1995) introduced
the concept of sexual and reproductive
rights.
The Cairo document stated: “Repro-
ductive rights embrace certain human
rights that are already recognized in na-
tional laws, international human rights
documents and other consensus docu-
ments. These rights rest on the recogni-
tion of the basic right of all couples and the
individuals to decide freely and responsi-
bly the number, spacing and timing of their
children and to have the information and
means to do so, and the fight to attain the
highest standard of sexual and reproduc-
tive health. It also includes their right to
make decisions concerning reproduction
free of discrimination, coercion and vio-
lence, as expressed in human rights docu-
ments.”
Accordingly, pursuant to the Cairo
and Beijing agreements, the United Na-
tions’ World Health Organization evalu-
ate governments on their promotion of
sexual and reproductive rights on such
state-sponsored efforts like provision of
sex education to adolescents, the imple-
18 IMPACT • March 2006
mentation of a “safe motherhood” (the
euphemism for “abortion,” according to
critics), or a family planning program that
provides free and ready access to contra-
ceptive methods. These reproductive and
sexual rights, according to the Cairo and
Beijing agreements, include, among oth-
ers: the right to life, rights to bodily integ-
rity and security of person, right to pri-
vacy, right to the benefits of scientific
progress and the right to health.
But pro-life advocates and informed
critics cannot fail to assail that such
rights have been wittingly, as it were,
stripped or corrupted of their traditional
meanings to accommodate or justify the
legalization of anti-life practices as abor-
tion and contraception. One, for in-
stance, pro-lifers argue, the “right to
life”—which, in contemporary interna-
tional law definition, “begins at birth”—
is unscrupulously used to legalize abor-
tion. Another, the right to bodily integ-
rity and security of person, traditionally
understood to relate to actions concern-
ing individuals in the custody of the
state, is now used by population con-
trollers to pursue the argument that the
lack of family planning services is a
violation of such right. Likewise, the
right to privacy, which traditionally
meant to refer to privacy in relation to a
H e a l t h '
person’s home and correspondence, was
used as basis for the “Roe vs. Wade”
decision to pave for the legalization of
abortion in the United States. Anent the
same right (to privacy), the Human Rights
Committee, the treaty body which moni-
tors government compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, states that “it is undis-
puted that sexuality is covered by the
concept of privacy” and that “moral is-
sues are not exclusively a matter of na-
tional concern in that they are subject to
review for consistency with international
human rights instruments.”
Also, pro-life advocates further
claim, the “right to the benefits of scien-
tific progress,” which then was under-
stood to relate to technology transfers
between countries of the North and the
South, could now also include recogni-
tion that “a woman’s right to control her
own reproduction can obviously be en-
hanced by access to safe abortion” as
stated in the WHO manual.
House Bill 3773
There is no denying the fact that the
global agenda of ‘reproductive health’
conspicuously structured on population
control—and relentlessly propagated by
the United Nations, the USAID, and
transnational corporation—has not
failed likewise to extend its indubitably
powerful incursions into Philippines’
policy direction and life as a nation,
particularly so on the current controver-
sial House Bill 3773, or the Responsible
Parenthood and Population Management
Act of 2005, now hotly disputed in Con-
gress.
The controversial Bill is the consoli-
dated version of four different bills—HB
16 by Rep. Edcel Lagman, creating a
Reproductive Health and Population
Management Council and providing for
an “ideal family size” of two children; HB
2029 by Rep. Josefina Joson, et. Al.,
providing for Reproductive Health Care
Structures; HB 2042 BY Rep. Ferjenel
Biron, promulgating a comprehensive
policy on birth control and creating a
Bureau of Population Management, and;
HB 2550 by Rep. Eduardo Roquero pro-
viding incentives to couples and indi-
viduals who practice surgical family plan-
ning methods—all previously filed in
Congress. Anchored on the idea of what
its proponents call “reproductive health
care,” HB 3773 was filed for the purpose
of achieving population management.
A n U n h e a l t h y A g e n d a ?

To effectively achieve this, the Bill’s
proponents seek to endorse to Filipino
couples, in a way that legislation would
in fact pressure them, the use of artifi-
cial contraceptives (or recourse to ster-
ilization) and even some abortifacients
disguised as contraceptives such as
pills, IUDs, Depo Provera, patches,
injectibles, emergency contraception,
morning after pills, and menstrual regu-
lation machines. The persuasion, ac-
cording to critics, is done mainly under
the guise of health and well-being of
women and family and is also directed at
young people under the forms of birth-
control sex education programs from
grade school to the college level.
Whilst as the agenda of ‘reproduc-
tive health’, as earlier claimed by
Manuel, is nothing but a world-scale
cartel of contraceptive products, so
does HB 3773 is likewise not devoid of
such similar accusation. Pro-life advo-
cates assail that the proposed HB 3773
will virtually turn the Philippine gov-
ernment into a distribution network for
condoms, pills, and injectibles for for-
eign business interests. Sr. Pilar
Verzosa, RGS, who heads Pro-Life Phil-
ippines, cannot be more blunt in pin-
pointing the USAID and the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) who
Joseph D’Agostino, vice presi-
dent for communications at the Popu-
lation Research Institute, similarly af-
firms that as HB 3773 grants preference
in college scholarships to children from
families with only one or two children,
it will discriminate those from families
with three or more. “(Eventually), popu-
lation officers would be mandated in
each local district as in Communist
China, and surely would have an in-
centive to use vigorous methods to
meet birth limitation quotas.”
At the very least, pro-lifers and
critics are one in denouncing HB 3773’s
false assumptions, which are obviously
drawn from the Malthusian myths, as
of an ‘alarming’ population explosion
in the country, of over-population ham-
pering economic growth, or of contra-
ceptives and birth-control measures
improving the health or plight of
people.
The Unhealthy Agenda of
‘Reproductive Health’
Ostensibly, hence, from the fore-
going discussion or delineation on the
global agenda of ‘reproductive health’,
likely it is quite compelling to infer,
albeit admittedly at the risk of oversim-
plification, some basic observations
about the apparent “Unhealthiness”
of the ‘reproductive health’ agenda.
One, it is rather skewed or “un-
healthy” in its intention. Far less from
providing a genuine comprehensive
health care program for women, couples
and children, it is unmasked of its base
agenda on population control, grossly
afflicted with Malthusian myths, and
is undoubtedly tied to foreign busi-
ness interests or greed.
Two, the reproductive health
agenda is as veritably “unhealthy” as
it suffers the infirmity of its false as-
sumption that contraceptives, as the
Department of Health (DoH) had
claimed, improve the health of people.
On the contrary, as even feminist icon
Germaine Greer now claims, contracep-
tive technology endangers women’s
health. Nicolo Bernardo and Elenita
San Jose of Pro-Life Philippines Foun-
dation, in their rejoinder-article pub-
lished in the November 15, 2005 issue
of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, re-
veal some facts on the grim side effects
of contraceptives: “The first prescrip-
© Denz Dayao / IMPACT

are allegedly funding the campaign for

HB 3773’s passage into law. “They
have attractive-looking ladies on their
staff, going from one congressman’s
office to another distributing glossy
magazines and materials on the impor-
tance of the bill, they go on road shows
all over the country, and they have set
up reproductive health clinics in the
provinces. Many local government
units, governors and mayors, accept
the projects they offer because contra-
ception is integrated with other health
services. They also call for press con-
ferences and conduct two-and three-
day seminars in big hotels for media
people to promote the bill,” Sr. Pilar
revealed.
The bill, Sr. Pilar further assails, vio-
lates the freedom of religious belief since
it mandates health service providers to
implement procedures contrary to their
religious beliefs and penalizes them if
they refuse. “It will corrupt the youth
through mandatory sex education that
emphasizes contraception and popula-
tion control, and further reduces the time
allotment for more relevant subjects,
worsening the already ineffective edu-
cation system.”

Volume 40 • Number 3 19
 C O V E R S T O R Y

tion drug to receive warning labels

from the US Food and Drug Adminis-
tration was the pill. IUDs (Dalkon,
ShIekI, Lippes Loop, Copper-7, Tantum
7), after they were initially approved
for sale in the market, were withdrawn
due to lawsuits. The German Chemical
and Veterinary Investigation Institute
found traces of N-Nitrosamine, a highly
carcinogenic substance, in 29 of 32
condom types.”
Bernardo and San Jose, in the same
article, ventured thus to ponder on the
obvious contradiction of reproductive
health’s ‘unhealthy’ consequences.
“The (recent) UNFPA report states that
denying women contraceptive protec-
tion should be considered a form of
violence. This flies on the face of many
women who were offered ‘safe’ contra-
ceptives that might have saved them
from risky pregnancies but also made
them sick from side effects. Why call
practices that inhibit and terminate
normal reproductive functions ‘repro-
ductive health’? Why even expect
healthy results from these?”
Lastly, and most importantly, the
reproductive health agenda is deemed
“unhealthy”, if not forthright trans-
gression of natural law or of human
nature, in the light of objective and
unchanging moral truths or precepts.
Contraception and artificial means of
birth control, for instance, are and will
always be contrary to natural law as
they curtail the natural generative func-
tions of man. Abortion—be it touted
as ‘safe’, ‘on demand’, ‘interrupting
unwanted pregnancy’, or even in eu-
phemistic ‘special cases’—is de facto
taking the life of the unborn (or, bluntly
put, murder), and thus runs counter to
the truth that man, as mere “steward,”
is neither the author or dispenser of
life. Likewise so, reproductive health’s
purported “women’s freedom of right
over their own body” cannot be held
as exclusively absolute as to infringe
or usurp others’ freedom or rights in- © Denz Dayao / IMPACT

cluding that of the unborn.

Verily, wherefore, the global
agenda that is reproductive health, far
more than merely promising a “satisfy-
ing and safe sex life,” cannot at all
dissociate itself from its serious moral
underpinnings or imperatives.
Meanwhile, Manuel, the high-rank-
ing USAID training consultant, is
faintly bothered—not even a bit—
about the imminent possibility of los-
ing his hefty 5,000.00-peso-a-day job
at the USAID because of the ‘unsa-
vory’ remarks he made during last
month’s ‘reproductive health’ train-
ing-seminar. And he’s not even bent
on quashing his queasy feeling or
stance on the reproductive health pro-
gram. In fact, he can only have more
reasons to rue. “Notwithstanding the
fact that my wife has remained, for
already nine years now, gravely sick
and bedridden, and also that my only
teenaged daughter-child had once at-
tempted committing suicide, I am not at
all afraid of losing my job if only it
means standing up to the truth. But
really, I find it hard to imagine that
while people in high places are abun-
dantly awash with resources, perhaps
even ‘stealing’ their way to riches, we
find it difficult to support, or at least
accept, a child born into this world as
a precious gift or blessing.” I

20 IMPACT • March 2006

 A R T I C L E S
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Volume 40 • Number 3 21
 I M P A C T M A G A Z I N E

CBCP Pastoral / from p. 4

by Bishop Francisco Claver, SJ, Former Chief
Justice Hilario Davide, Atty. Christian
Monsod, Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, Fr. Danny
Huang, SJ, Fr. Jojo Magadia, SJ, and Mr.
Ricardo Saludo (Presidential Deputy Spokes-
person). We may also include in this list the
input given by General Samson Tucay of
PNP Values and Leadership School. The
general topic of all the inputs was “How to
restore or promote moral values in Philippine
Political Life.”
January 25 was a Day of Discerning
and Discussion. The bishops grouped
themselves for either regional or metropoli-
tan meetings during which they listened to
one another, discerning and discussing
their respective local situation vis-à-vis
moral-political values. The whole afternoon
of January 25 was devoted to discussion on
the national situation vis-à-vis moral-politi-
cal values. Some bishops were previously
assigned to draft from the inputs and dis-
cussion a possible Pastoral Statement. They
were Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, Bishop
Francisco Claver, Bishop Antonio Ledesma,
Bishop Nerio Odchimar.
January 26 was the Day of Consolida-
tion. For a whole day the bishops discussed
the draft of the pastoral Statement which
would be officially submitted to and dis-
cussed by the 92nd CBCP General Assem-
bly. It took another two days, the 28th and
29th to discuss the draft and finally come
out with what is now A Pastoral Statement:
Renewing our Public Life Through Moral
Values.” It is the fruit of 177 interventions
from the bishops. The statement was dis-
cussed paragraph by paragraph. The story
behind the making of the Pastoral State-
ment show the binding force of communion
and collegiality among the bishops.
It follows a general outline: See, Judge,
Act. In Part I, the bishops discuss the
pastoral situation: what the people are say-
ing about the political and economic crisis
in the country. In Part II, they present as the
root cause of the crisis: erosion of moral
values. In Part III are proposed the actions
and advocacies recommended. Concretely,
they recommend the relentless search for
truth to resolve allegations of cheating in
the last election, the pursuance of electoral
reforms and of the election in 2007, wide-
spread participation of the people in
“amending the Constitution” through a
constitutional convention, the adoption of
a more systematic program of promoting
moral values, the promotion-formation of
Basic Ecclesial Communities, the promo-
tion of a spirituality of public life, integrity
and stewardship, the mobilization of citi-
zens’ groups to check graft and corruption,
the observance of the year 2006 as a “Social
Concerns Year”.
After EDSA People Power I and II,
apparently both Church and State sat on the
laurels of success. There was very little or no
follow up to institute renewal of public life
and public service. Cardinal Ricardo Vidal
has remarked: “If there is so much incompe-
tence in our government today, it is because
people who have been successful in one
field tend to think that they would be suc-
cessful in all other fields. Entertainers cross-
over to politics when their competence is
limited only to dramatics. Politicians, on the
other hand, become television and movie
personalities. Basketball players make a re-
bound all the way to the halls of the Senate.”
To renew our public life through moral
values, we need to go back to the roots of
renewal as have been proposed in the 1991
Plenary Council of the Philippines, the 1993
National Pastoral Plan, and the 2001 Na-
tional Pastoral Consultation on Church
Renewal. We need to plot the journey to the
future by implementing the PCP-II Vision-
Mission Statement. These would have con-
tributed to the complete success of EDSA
I and II.
Initiatives for the renewal of our public
life have been started. They need to be
pursued with greater and greater fervor. Let
me just name a few: NAMFREL, PPC-RV,
Barug Pilipino, Gawag Kalinga, Citizens’
Graft Watch, Value Formation. I

Communion and / from p. 5

trespassing the autonomous region of politics. Archbishop
Leonardo Legaspi in his article recalled that “In a round-table
discussion held in 2003 in Rome, then-Cardinal Ratzinger warned
against the ‘theologizing of politics which would become the
ideologizing of faith.” He explains this heavy concept which only
a German theologian can formulate, by explaining that politics
‘cannot be deduced from faith, but from reason, and the distinction
between the sphere of politics and the sphere of faith, belongs to
the very central tradition of Christianity: we find in the words of
Christ, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what
belongs to God.” He (Cardinal Ratzinger) rejects the idea of a
theocracy, of a politics determined by the dictates of faith. But on
the other hand he likewise rejects a politics which is blind to moral
values. He is convinced that politics through the use of reason has
the capacity to know the great moral imperatives.
We bishops in the Philippines live in a period of our nation’s
history that we will be shaking to the roots. Differences in opinion
will surface, variations in perspectives at the situation will arise,
and sadly seeds of division might even be thrown in our midst
purposely to divide us. Let us speak our minds, like the Twelve,
let us continue to share even our diversities, distinctions and
differences, let us argue our points passionately like Peter and
Paul, if we must, but in the midst of all these, at the end of the day
we go back to the root of our collective identity as bishops who
are successors of the Twelve. Let us immerse ourselves in our
identity as disciples to whom Jesus consecrated himself in love!
A community of brothers and servant leaders whose passion for
the Lord is greater than ll the forces of division. A community of
shepherds who will choose to remain steadfast to the truth of our
Episcopal vocation and mission. Bishops who in every celebra-
tion and gathering in this Episcopal Conference, will manifest
agape and koinonia even in difficult circumstances. By embrac-
ing such choice constantly, our Conference will generate a
spiritual life force that can galvanize unity and forge healing in the
Philippine Church that badly needs it.
From this Conference Hall, or from our respective Dioceses,
we can blow the embers of moral, economic, social and political
renewal or transformation that is starting to become a fire in the
hearts of the Filipino people. Our sphere of influence and activity
may be limited. True? Or False? But we are not alone. From who
and what we are we can affectively and effectively act. Our 85
Archdioceses and Dioceses can become each centers with power
for national renewal. Think of the great number of lay people,
youth, academe, professionals, civilian society…think of the
hundreds of organizations already glowing in their hearts for
change, for renewal. The call to communion and collegiality
which as Bishops we have heard can become a call to radically
renew and heal our land. I
(Reflections of Archbishop Angel Lagdameo are posted in his blog at
abplagdameo.blogspot.com)

22 IMPACT • March 2006

 E D I T O R
Paradox
T
ime and again the Administration and its
technocrats sing the ever increasing strength
of the peso. This means that it costs more
and more American dollars to buy Philippines
peso. The jubilation is loud and prolonged “ad
nauseam”.
Yet people who live not in Malacañang, not in
big mansions nor high rise condominiums but in
simple houses if not under the bridges have since
been long asking a simple question: if the peso is
going strong, why does it buy less and less? If the
peso is becoming valuable, why does it take so
much of it to buy so little in the market.
In the day to day living of the ordinary Fili-
pino—and these are millions—the so called
“strong peso” is in fact irrelevant. For all intents
and purposes, let it be a “weak peso” provided it
buys enough food and clothing. A strong peso
with a weak purchasing power is a big bad joke.
And there is also the paradox of the ever
increasing prices of commodities vis-à-vis the
low salaries of employees particularly the wages
I A L
of casual workers. There have been long stand-
ing promises of increasing the take home pays.
And the premises forwarded for this supposedly
good news is the big VAT increase.
What remains unsaid is that VAT is imposed
on consumer goods. Majority of those who pay
these increased taxes are in fact the same em-
ployees and workers who are all consumers.
What would be then added to their salaries or
wages simply come from their own pockets. To
say this is a dirty trick is an understatement.
And there is the well published improved credit
rating given to the Philippines. Translated into
reality this simply means that the government has
now the go signal to borrow more money. This
then means that the Administration is geared to
incur more debts particularly from foreign lending
agencies. This ultimately means that Filipinos have
to pay bigger and bigger debts thereafter. Strange
but true: whenever the government incurs debts, it
is the citizens that pay them. When a common tao
has debts, he himself pays for it.
Volume 40 • Number 3 23
 F R O M T H E B L O G S

They are innocent. They are playful. Yet they

© Denz Dayao / IMPACT

are victims. They must have cried much.

They must have suffered much as well.
But from the loss of many lives, houses
and other material possessions comes the
sterling reality that in big calamities, human-
ity is one in responding. There emerges the
crystal clear lesson that people of the world
become one in facing catastrophic times.
What a sobering thought, an endearing
consolation, a precious recall! One human-
ity having one human nature, living in one
world, calling upon one God!
From the dead, the living learns. From
the deep and dirty mud emerges a pure and
inspiring message. Massive suffering, ex-

Unity in Tragedy
treme pain and untimely deaths know no
frontiers. They readily unite people. They
actually prove that the world is still one in
sentiments and concerns.
Would that in due time, the Southern

H
umanity is one, as one as it is meant to
be by the Almighty. The difference of
race, color and creed should not di-
vide it but instead promote the truth of unity
in diversity. The fact is that every human
person is lessened in worth and dignity when
humanity discriminates against itself, espe-
cially so when it goes to war with itself.
There are many observations made
about the Southern Leyte tragedy. There are
people looking for individuals to blame. There
are others forwarding excuses or making
rustications. Many however are mourning,
praying, waiting with anxiety and pain. And
rightly so, there is time for everything—in
abundance and want, in hope and fear, in life
and death.
There is a special concern for the school
children engulfed in the tragedy. They barely
began living. They simply want to learn.
Leyte disaster transit to the recent past
while leaving behind alive the priceless
lesson that men, women and children the
world over become united in facing big
tragedies and challenges. And they be-
come doubly stronger when they become
one, think and act as one.
Unity in tragedy: this is both the message
and mandate coming from Southern Leyte.
www.ovc.blogspot.com

Here We Go Again

P
reemptive calibrated response and Executive Order 464,
Presidential Proclamation 1016 and General Order No. 5—
all these options have one composite common denomina-
tor: curtailment of human freedom, promotion of physical force,
silencing of the truth. They all undermine democratic space.
Produce the scenario of fear and offend the intellectual faculty.
Those of age have lived and experienced exactly the same
disturbing socio-political factors. They were either the prelude
to or the remnants of martial law. These however did not quash
dissent but simply sent this underground. They neither made
brave people cowards but instead prodded them to defiance to
and derision for those responsible for such counter-freedom
enactments. Those who were subject to preemptive repres- who want human freedoms curtailed are exactly those who are
sions and arrests were ultimately proven tight and accordingly disposed to abuse their right to govern.
honored to these days. In societal living, there are standing limits to what one may
Just in those martial law years, dissenting leaders were freely do. But this is true both for those governed and those
jailed, media outlets were closed down, writings were censored. governing them. These limitations are what bring peace and
Those agreeing with and clapping for such repressive mea- order, progress and development. To violate such limits is to
sures were amply rewarded—until they themselves became foment alienation between those led and their leaders, to
victims of repression, broke away from the repressors, and promote discontent and disorder between them.
chosed to be free once again. Freedom of association, freedom of speech and a free
Human freedoms should be exercised responsibly. On the media are inherent to human dignity. To abridge these basic
other hand, to curtail these with external impositions is pre- realities is to trample on responsible individuals and to desta-
cisely very tempting for those desirous of exercising their bilize civilized society.
power of governance irresponsibly. Strange but true: those www.ovc.blogspot.com

24 IMPACT • March 2006

 S T
Lent: A Call to
Transformation
A
sh Wednesday launches the
Catholic Church into the sea -
son of lent. On Ash Wednes-
day we are given a grim reminder by
the church “You are dust, and unto
dust you shall return.” The liturgy
allows the use of Jesus Christ’s inau-
gural message as he entered his pub-
A T E M E N
lic life: “Repent and believe in the
Gospel.” (Mk 1:15). This is said as the
ashes are imposed on the forehead.
It is season of Lent. “Quaresma, ”
it is also called. Season of penance
and mortification. Season of
“pabasa,” the common singing of
“pasyon .” Season of the Stations of
T S
the Cross every Friday. The season
leads to Palm Sunday… the Visita
Iglesya on Holy Thursday…the Seven
Last Words on Good Friday…the
Empty Tomb on Easter Sunday.
Jesus Christ’s invitation of “Re-
pent” in this season of lent takes on
a peculiar perspective in the context
of our national situation. It is a call
to transformation. Considering the
social, economic and political crises
we are in, the vision of change and
transformation becomes a growing
passion and obsession. We want the
Resurrection to new life brought by
Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday ob-
served and experienced not only on
the spiritual level but also as a trans-
formation in our economic, social and
political life.
Lent as a call to transformation
means that out of the repentance of
believers in the Gospel, the slum dwell-
ings are transformed to permanent
shelters, the poor are given health
benefits, the marginalized are offered
liberating education, the exploited are
given dignified employment and mal-
nourished children sufficient food.
Transformation of society is the fruit
of repentance and reform of life.
While political priorities occupy
many of our leaders, the most immedi-
ate and urgent priority of the common
Filipinos is their daily struggle to earn
their livelihood. Poverty, despite the
professed development at the macro-
level, remains the heaviest burden the
country bears.
I repeat what the Bishops had said
in their Pastoral Statement Renewing
Our Public Life: “At the bottom of
our political chaos is a crisis of moral
values, a crisis of truth and justice, of
unity and solidarity for the sake of the
common good and genuine peace.”
Renewal of moral values in the service
of the common good means convert-
ing the energies that one used for
graft and corruption into energies for
better public service. We hope that
from the “ashes” of political crisis
and corrupted institutions will resur-
rect a transformed nation, a truly moral
society, build up in truth, justice, free-
dom and love.
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO
Archbishop of Jaro
President, Catholic Bishops’ Confer-
ence of the Philippines
February 28, 2006
Volume 40 • Number 3 25
 S T
A Statement by the
Roman Catholic
Bishop and Clergy
of the Diocese of
Borongan on the
Series of Killings in
Borongan and
Other Places in
Eastern Samar
“You Shall Not Kill!” (Ex 20:13; Dt 5:17), Says the Lord
T
he Catholic Bishops Conference of
the Philippines, in a pastoral letter
it issued in 1984 entitled Let There
Be Life, noted a perplexing paradox exist-
ing in these our islands: “We Filipinos
value life. We respect life. But if we in-
deed have such a high regard for life, then
why is it so treated so cheaply among
us?…How is it that in a nation that prides
itself in its rich Christian heritage, life is
[so] cheap?”
Alas, this is the same question that
we, the Roman Catholic Bishop and
Clergy of the Diocese of Borongan, ask
ourselves, as we deeply grieve and de-
nounce in the strongest terms the series
of killings that have rocked and terrified
the capital town of Borongan and other
places in Eastern Samar in the past few
months. The killings and attempted as-
sassinations have been well-planned,
systematic and relentlessly focused on
specific targets—the handiwork of trained
professionals. The fact that a number of
the victims are identified with the Bayan
Muna Party List raises the moral response
that we collectively share with the CBCP:
“It is not right that people be killed
simply because their political beliefs
26 IMPACT • March 2006
A T E M E N
differ from ours” (Let There Be Life; Cat-
echism for Filipino Catholics, no. 999).
Every human life is sacred because
every human being is created by God
himself and in God’s image and likeness
(Gen 1:26). Consequently every killing of
the human person, in every stage of his
life, is a sacrilege of the highest degree.
When the eldest son of our first parents
Adam and Eve, Cain, killed his brother
Abel, the Lord God uttered the words we
now repeat to the perpetrators of the sin
and crime of murder in our midst: “What
have you done? Listen: Your brother’s
blood cries out to me from the soil” (Gen
4:10). Establishing his covenant with
Noah, the Lord God gave an instruction
all of us must heed even today: “For your
own lifeblood I will demand an
accounting,…and from man in regard to
his fellowman I will demand an account-
ing for human life” (Gen 9:5).
When the Lord God issues the Fifth
Commandment, “You shall not kill,” (Ex
20:13; Dt 5:17) it is not only to prohibit the
crime of murder but also to protect and
care for the life of every human person
because God himself is the very Author
and Master of that life. Jesus Christ, the
T S
Son of the Living God, raised human life
even higher in value when he became a
human being (Jn 1:14). As St. Athanasius
once put it, “God became man so that we
might become like God” (De
Incarnatione). It is the Spirit, St. Paul tells
us, who witnesses with our spirits “that
we are children of God, and if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ…” (Rom 8:16). These and our
heart of hearts show us why all forms of
disrespect for human life, such as the
killings and attempted assassinations in
Borongan and in other places of Eastern
Samar and the Philippines, have no place
in this land which acknowledges Jesus
Christ as Lord.
Only God gives us our life; only God,
therefore, can take it away. When human
beings act against this fundamental truth
they not only blaspheme God; they also
disfigure their identity as his “images and
likenesses”, indeed as his “sons and
daughters in the Son”.
We therefore entreat the perpetra-
tors and mastermind(s) of the killings and
attempted assassinations in our midst:
Listen to the Lord in the voice of your
conscience, be converted to him, uphold
 ENTERTAINMENT

human life again and humbly submit yourselves to the de-

mands of justice. Or your own consciences will be your severest
judges now and in the life to come.
To our political leaders as well as our police and military
officers we issue this plea: Please dispel the cloud of doubt and
suspicion that have seriously overshadowed your reputation
in the wake of the still unsolved killings. Since it is not only
immoral but also illegal to commit murder, you are our citi-
zens’ first and last line of defense against grave threats to
human life. Our prayer is simple: Uphold the laws of the land
against any and all who violate them and truly be protectors
of the people.
To our brothers and sisters in the left-leaning movements
we likewise make this appeal: Respect for human life is not only
the obligation of those who profess belief in God but also of
those who believe that the right to life is a fundamental human
right. Everybody, including you, must therefore uphold and
promote the sanctity of human life.
To our fellow ordinary citizens we say: Let not our fears
hinder us from doing what is right before God and before our
fellow citizens. Let us not trivialize the killings by talking
about them in muted tones and conveniently forgetting them
because they concern only “other people”. The death of a
fellow Filipino, a fellow Eastern Samareño, a fellow human
being diminishes us all because, after everything is said and
done, we are just one human family. Most of all, we have been
truly made into just one Family in Jesus Christ. If they killed
one of us, they can kill any of us. To paraphrase a saying, “If
we are not part of the solution, then we may be part of the
problem.”
To all of us: Let us pray for our own continuing conversion
and transformation into real sons and daughters of God, broth-
ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE: THE MINDS OF SOME OF OUR STATEMEN,
ers and sisters to one another in Christ Jesus, respecting and LIKE THE PUPIL OF THE HUMAN EYE, CONTRACT THEMSELVES THE
upholding one another’s right to life, loving one another as MORE, THE STRONGER THE LIGHT THERE IS SHED UPON THEM. -
THOMAS MOORE
Jesus loves us (Jn 15:12). And may Mary, Mother of Jesus,
Mother of us all, join us in this prayer and intercede on our behalf!

Sincerely in the Lord,

Due to space limitations, the movie review of
+Leonardo Y. Medroso, D.D. CINEMA does not appear in this issue. It will
Bishop of Borongan see print next issue. - ED
Clergy, Diocese of Borongan

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Volume 40 • Number 3
3/F CBCP Bldg., 470 Gen. Luna St., Intramuros, M anila, Philippines | Tel (632) 404-2182 • Telefax (632) 404-1612 27
 F R O M T H E I N B O X

I
f the population of the Earth was re- tience and education.

© Images/CORBIS
duced to that of a small town with 100
people, it would look something like
this:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Ameri-
cans (northern and southern), 8 Africans.
52 women, 48 men, 70 coloured-skins,
30 caucasians.
89 heterosexuals, 11 homosexuals.
6 people would own 59% of the whole
world wealth and all of them will be from the
United States of America.
80 would have bad living conditions,
70 would be uneducated, 50 underfed, 1
would die, 2 would be born, 1 would have
a computer, 1 (only one) will have higher
education.
When you look at the world from this
The World point of view, you can see there is a real
need for solidarity, understanding, pa-
This morning, if you woke up healthy,
then you are happier than the 1 million
people that will not survive next week.
If you never suffered a war, the lone-
liness of the jail cell, the agony of torture,
or hunger, you are happier than 500 million
people in the world. If you can enter into
a church (or temple) without fear of jail or
death, you are happier than 3 million people
in the world.
If there is a food in your fridge, you
have shoes and clothes, you have bed and
a roof, you are richer than 75% of the
people in the world.
If you have bank account, money in
your wallet and some coins in the money-
box, you belong to the 8% of the people on
the world, who are well-to-do.
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

A Where there is Love

woman came out of her house and
saw 3 old men with long white
beards sitting in her front yard.
She did not recognize them. She said “I
don’t think I know you, but you must be
hungry. Please come in and have some-
thing to eat.”
“Is the man of the house home?”, they
asked. “No”, she said. “He’s out.”
“Then we cannot come in”, they re-
plied. In the evening when her husband
came home, she told him what had hap-
pened.
“Go tell them I am home and invite
them in!” The woman went out and invited
the men in. “We do not go into a house
together,” they replied. “Why is that?”
she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: “His
name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one
of his friends, and said pointing to another
one, “He is Success, and I am Love.”
© Images/CORBIS

Then he added, “Now go in and dis-

cuss with your husband which one of us
you want in your home.” The woman went
in and told her husband what was said. Her
husband was overjoyed. Love? Our home will then be filled with and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked
“How nice!” he said. “Since that is the love!” Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love,
case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come “Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s Why are you coming in?”
and fill our home with wealth!” advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go The old men replied together: “If you
His wife disagreed. “My dear, why out and invite Love to be our guest.” had invited Wealth or Success, the other
don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter- The woman went out and asked the 3 two of us would’ve stayed out, but since
in-law was listening from the other corner old men, “Which one of you is Love? you invited Love, wherever He goes, we
of the house. Please come in and be our guest.” go with him. Wherever there is Love, there
She jumped in with her own sugges- Love got up and started walking to- is also Wealth and Success!”
tion: “Would it not be better to invite ward the house. The other two also got up rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

28 IMPACT • March 2006

 V A N I L L A B Y T E S

© Images/CORBIS
W
hen the catastrophic tsunami struck
in Indonesia and nearby countries
in December of 2004, readership
of online journals grew significantly. A
blogsite was created to serve as a source
for news and information about the victims
of the calamity—everything from aid, in-
quiries, missing persons, donations, and vol-
unteer efforts were there. It came along
with other blogs that covered the instant
video footages of the tsunami and relief
efforts that came afterwards.
Blog is actually a contraction of the words:
web log. Otherwise, it is a web page that is
commonly understood as a personal journal
which now has become “anything under the
son”—from movie reviews to political ads.
As opposed to a “traditional” website, a
blogsite is much simpler. It is normally a
single page entry. There may be archives of

The
older entries, but the “main page” of a blog
is the current posting. It is organized in
reverse chronological manner, meaning, the
most recent entry stays on the top.
Being basically an online journal, the

“Blogosphere”
author posts just about anything and every-
thing. The most common, however, are
postings on matters that are held personal
by the author. Some contain interesting links
that the author has found. Others contain
stories or little snippets of information that
the author finds interesting.
By Dennis B. Dayao
Creating your own blog is now incred-
ibly easy. And it is free! (at least, the one of ated their own world called number is growing exponen-
google). You can try out www.blogger.com.
the blogosphere. Nobody tially by millions. You know
All you have to do is create an account— can tell how many bloggers what? Even some of the
which is as easy as creating an e-mail ac-
there are—except by esti- Catholic bishops in the Phil-
count. Once you finish creating that (which mates. But bloggers are ippines have their own blogs.
is just actually, inputting you name, pass-
swarming, so that I won’t be And the next I know, you
word, and little details), you are asked to wrong if I guess that their may have your own, too.
choose the “look and feel” of your “personal
website” or blog. This being for idiots, you
don’t design your page, you just click your
choice of a number of pre-fabricated de-
signs (called template), and you are done.
The next thing you do is post whatever you
want to write, or upload your photos (and
even your short video shots in the case of
video blogs or vblogs).
The incredible simplicity of blogging is
one of the things that make blogging so
popular. Now the bloggers have even cre-

Volume 40 • Number 3 29
 N E
CHINA
Stricter restrictions on
internet cafes
Admittance to karaoke
clubs and internet cafes in
China will be restricted to
those ages 18 and below.
An official said that the
China government has
adopted some measures to
limit Internet’s harmful
and illegal content, espe-
cially for the youth. The
new rules also ban gov-
ernment staff and their
close relatives from in-
volvement in running en-
tertainment venues.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong to host
Asian Youth Day
Hong Kong is hosting
the 4 th Asian Youth Day on
July 28 to August 5, 2006.
The event is expected to
draw more than 1, 000
youths from all over Asia.
With its theme: “Youth,
Hope of Asian Families”,
this gathering is being or-
ganized by the Federation
of Asian Bishops’ Confer-
ences. The first three
Youth Days were earlier
held in Hua Hin, Thailand,
in 1999; Taipei, Taiwan,
in 2001; and Bangalore,
India, in 2003.
INDIA
Rebels killed 23 activ-
ists in an ambush
Perhaps the bloodiest
attack in recent years, 23
people were killed in an
ambush by Maoist rebels
in central India on a con-
voy of trucks bound for
New Delhi on February 28.
30 IMPACT • March 2006
W S B R
The trucks were carrying
anti-Maoist campaigners
on their way to a rally
when they were assaulted.
Officials say that around
10, 000 rebels are operat-
ing across India but ana-
lysts believe they have full
control over hundreds of
thousands of people in
some of the country's re-
mote and neglected rural
areas.
IRAQ
Civil war not impos-
sible, warns Iraqi prel-
ate
Auxiliary Bishop
Shlemon Warduni of
Baghdad says that the peril
of civil war must “not be
underestimated,” in the
wake of the attack on the
Shiite mosque in Samara.
He said the attacks are
“against God, civilization
and man and against all of
Iraq” and these are indeed
dramatic events. “The pur-
pose is clear: to sow divi-
sion and hatred and hinder
the country’s develop-
ment” he said. “This is not
a civil war yet, but, when
we see such slaughters,
the risk must not be un-
derestimated.”
NEPAL
Rights Group calls for
an end to civil strife
Ten years of armed in-
surgency has subjected
Nepalis to severe abuses
by Maoist rebel and gov-
ernment forces and
placed the country on the
verge of a humanitarian
disaster, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said. HRW
urged the Communist
I E F S
Party of Nepal-Maoists to
respect human rights
standards and laws of war
and to end abuses against
civilians. The said con-
flict has already claimed
around 15, 000 lives,
mostly civilians targeted
by government and rebel
forces.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan PM condemns
attacks on Christians
Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz of Pakistan has con-
demned recent violent at-
tacks against Christians.
A Catholic representative
of Pakistan, meanwhile,
lauded Aziz for meeting
with the ecclesial hierar-
chy in an act of solidarity
and aimed at pre-empting
the outbreak of anti-
Christian violence.
“Never before has the
government acted in such
a swift and decisive way,”
Archbishop Saldanha
said. “There is real hope
now that we can deal with
the pressures we are fac-
ing.”
PHILIPPINES
Manila archbishop ap-
pointed Cardinal
Manila Archbishop
Gaudencio Rosales is
among the 15 cardinals
named recently by Pope
Benedict XVI. He now
becomes the fifth cardi-
nal of the Philippines.
Rosales will be formally
invested during the next
consistory in Rome, on
March 24, the eve of the
feast of the Annuncia-
tion. At this consistory,
the newly created cardi-
nals will be conferred
the red hat, which is
chief among the insignia
of the cardinal, and the
ring.
SINGAPORE
Construction of modern
spaceport mulled
Space Adventures an-
nounced that it plans to
invest US$115 million into
the construction of a
spaceport in Singapore.
The flights to be offered
at the spaceport would
trek around a hundred ki-
lometers above ground,
but would not reach speeds
needed to sustain a con-
tinuous orbit around the
Earth. The company has
already sent three tourists
into space, lending some
credibility to the project.
VIETNAM
2 ordained in Vietnam
after long wait
It is a usual situation of
better to be late than
never. Two men, whose
preparation for the priest-
hood was disrupted by the
Communist regime de-
cades ago, have finally
made it to ordination after
they underwent “two years
of theological recycling.”
Michel Hoang Minh Hung
and Joseph Nguyen Van
Hien, who entered the
seminary in 1964 and
1967, respectively, were
ordained recently for the
southern Diocese of Phan
Thiet.
In 1975, the year the
Communists controlled
South Vietnam, all semi-
naries in the country were
closed.
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