The word “totalitarian” is used to describe dictatorships (such as the Nazi and the Communist dictatorships) that rule and keep power not only by using brute military force, but also by forcibly indoctrinating its citizens into believing its ideology. Such dictatorships exercise “total” (hence “totalitarian”) control because not only do they control the lives of their citizens, they also control what these citizens think and want.
The Reproductive Health Bill is fully totalitarian in this respect. It requires that the Philippine government indoctrinate children and young couples into adopting a pro-contraceptive and (therefore) anti-Catholic ideology when it comes to Reproductive Health. Does the Philippine government want to become known as acting in the same manner and Hitler and Stalin?
In Section 12 of the RH Bill, we find that the POPCOM is mandated to enforce a common “reproductive health” curriculum in ALL schools (public and private), for Grade 5 to 4th Year High School. This curriculum, among others, will cover “Reproductive health and sexual rights” and “attitudes, beliefs and values on sexual development, sexual behavior and sexual health”.
Since when has it been the government’s task to impose a common curriculum on ALL schools (and, therefore, on all students) and to dictate what our young and impressionable children should THINK and BELIEVE regarding sex?
Not even in the most liberated Western countries do we see anything like this!
What is more frightening is that the curriculum will be imposed on ALL schools, without respect for the religion or philosophy of that school. Therefore, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Buddhist schools will all be FORCED to teach the SAME BELIEFS about sex and “reproductive health”. Furthermore, this curriculum and the beliefs contained in it will be dictated by POPCOM – an institution known for its public and systematic criticism of the Catholic Church, affiliated with ideologues from UP Diliman (who are not known for their friendliness to religions of any and all stripes).
This is not the only such provision in the Bill.
Section 14 requires that any couple that wants to get legally married in this country must first go to their local Family Planning Office and be instructed about, among other things, “family planning” and “responsible parenthood.”
This Bill, in short, attempts to suppress the right of all religious bodies and of families in the Philippine -- especially the Catholic Church -- to transmit their respective values on sex and reproductive health. Instead, it will force these bodies to yield their rights to a group of secular and anti-religious ideologues from a secular university, who are using the Philippine government as cover for their scheme to impose their beliefs on all of our young children.
This RH BILL is an act of religious persecution and totalitarian indoctrination and must be resisted and fought by all God-fearing Filipinos!