Economy or Christian Values?

CL Reaction Paper

Donn Santos Sr. D

Economy or Christian Values?


In the wake of the heated arguments over the Reproductive Health Bill, between President Benigno Aquino III and the Philippine Catholic Church, I would say that both sides have points over whether it should be signed or not. Personally I’m not sure which side I would go to because, as I said both have points. First of all I think that Pres. Noynoy is right economically because, considering the current population of the country, we are pretty overpopulated. Our estimated population is over 100 million people, more than some countries that have less people but bigger land areas.

Signing that bill would mean proper caring for the country’s population, in turn would make the economy stable. The cons of signing the bill I would say is that it is against the teachings of the church. It is against its teachings because it promotes or it encourages engaging in more sexual intercourse. The church has always taught has to value our purity. The church discourages premarital sex; the church wants people to be united first in the sacrament of marriage. Secondly the Philippine Catholic Church also has some points regarding the Reproductive Health Bill. The church is right in disapproving of signing it because, as I stated earlier it is simply against the church’s teachings. I think one of the church’s flaws is that they are considering in excommunicating the President. This is wrong in a number of ways. One, they are banning the president from catholic activities where in fact he is catholic. Two, he is only trying to make the country improve further; excommunicating him will not solve the problem we have at hand.

The Church is also considering Civil disobedience, if ever Pres. Noynoy Aquino signs the RH Bill. I think this is also wrong. Eradicating the unity between the Government and the church will not help solve the problem because what we need right now is unity. If we will ever solve the problem I think we should start first by working together.

President Aquino should find another solution if he ever hopes to have the Catholic Church’s trust. I believe he can find other ways to solve this predicament which will not go against the Church’s teachings.