MANILA,August 2, 2011–The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P)
management and student council have released separate statements
opposing bills that “trample on the right to conscientious objection”
and “promote the use of abortifacients” and the “anti-life lifestyle.”
In a recent press briefing, UA&P President Jose Maria Mariano
read the university’s statement, “prompted by the current debate on the
reproductive health [RH] bills.”
“We…strongly reject any attempt at legislation that promotes the use
of abortifacients, including those disguised as [contraceptives] that in
fact kill the newly conceived human person by preventing its being
implanted in the womb,” Mariano read.
A non-sectarian university that upholds Catholic social teachings,
UA&P asserted that “the right to life must be respected and
protected from conception to natural death.”
The school adheres to the “scientific conclusion” that life begins at
fertilization, “the union of male and female reproductive cells.”
Students ‘stand up for life’
Supporting management were more than a thousand UA&P students (about
63 percent of the total student population) who signed a different
statement written by the university’s College of Arts and Sciences
Student Executive Board.
Entitled “Stand Up for Life,” the statement “[upholds] that
conception is fertilization,” and that “the fertilized ovum is a whole,
separate, unique, living, human being.”
The students’ statement, read by political economy student Ramon
Cabrera, also touches on the bill’s provision on sex education among
children.
“We believe that a child’s education in human sexuality is primarily
the right and duty of the parents who are by nature the first educators
of their children,” Cabrera stated.
“We believe that relegating sex education to and mandating it in the
classroom threaten the family by undermining this natural right of
parents.”
During the open forum, Cabrera questioned the assumption that the
State is the best agent of correct sex education, when it is not even
“competent” in teaching basic subjects such as math and English in
public schools.
UA&P professor Antonio Torralba added that what UA&P
advocates is a “character-based sexuality education,” which promotes a
chaste lifestyle among the youth.
Understanding sexuality, freedom of conscience
The UA&P statement also asserts that conjugal love is shown through
“the honorable use of [the couple’s] sexual faculties in an exclusive
and lasting relationship that is open to life.”
According to the statement, responsible parenthood should not mean
“negating parenthood by fostering contraceptive practices, or negating
responsibility by fostering sexual activity without self-mastery and
discipline.”
On the other hand, the students’ statement says: “We…believe that a
utilitarian and impersonal education in human sexuality…which merely
considers the biological aspects of sex and is unmindful of the whole
person, creates a mindset that trivializes the dignity of sex and the
human being.”
The UA&P statement also says that “the State should protect the
freedom of consciences and may not make legal pressure bear on practices
contrary to the explicit religious or moral convictions of any of its
citizens.”
As an academic institution, UA&P affirmed its “freedom to adhere
to [its] corporate credo, and [its]moral and religious values, as long
as they do not prejudice the authentic common good.”
UA&P referred to House Bill 4244’s provision that penalizes
business firms which refuse to provide birth control supplies and
services to their employees.
HB 4244 is the RH bill pending in the Lower House of Congress
Population and poverty
At
a recent press briefing, Harvard-trained economist and UA&P
co-founder Dr. Bernardo M. Villegas insisted that “population growth
does not lead to poverty” as some pundits would say. Author of Positive Dimensions of Population Growth,
Villegas said he had studied population and economics in the past 50
years, and his conclusions on the subject remain consistent.
Asked for comment regarding studies that say a growing population
hinders progress, he said such research works are the “minority…with
samples that are too few” and with a research period that is “so short.”
Meanwhile, the UA&P statement says that “it is by sound economic
policy, especially investments in rural infrastructure and quality
education for all, coupled with good governance, including morality and
honesty in the private lives of government officials, that Government
contributes to poverty alleviation.”
Abortion and contraception
Also part of the panel at the briefing, UA&P legal counsel and
pro-life advocate Atty. Jo Aurea Imbong stressed that “as people go to
contraception, there will be a rise–not a fall–in abortion.”
Villegas supported Imbong’s claim saying that “In the US, there are
contraceptives available in vending machines, and yet 2 million babies
are being aborted every year.” (Daryl Zamora)
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