ANOTHER HAPPY CUSTOMER!
I knew that at some point, I would piss off someone.
From. L.C.
I'm happy to receive tour announcements as well as restaurant information... but I do not wish to receive messages protesting against issues/controversies, esp. those that attack the catholic church. Seen from laymen's perspective, the intervention may seem quite unreasonable. Perhaps we need to go deeper than the surface level before going gungho over any such matters of a serious nature...
My reply:
I walk around a city where unwanted uneducated hungry children nip at the toes of tourists and myself. I dont tour Makati. Overpopulation and IGNORANCE is a serious issue and it is definitely tied to what I do.
Just take a walk around downtown Manila, count all the uneducated pregnant street dwellers living in the bushes, and that is how deep you need to go.
I am not being unreasonable. The Catholic Church is interfering with our governments plans to provide our less fortunate countrymen with the freedom to plan their families and future once again. I will not keep silent this time. They blocked this family planning bill too many times.
I'm sorry that you do not agree with my views but my walking tours are not only about showing the pretty side of the Philippines. Most Philippine travel agencies do a good job of providing that already.
From. L.C.
I'm happy to receive tour announcements as well as restaurant information... but I do not wish to receive messages protesting against issues/controversies, esp. those that attack the catholic church. Seen from laymen's perspective, the intervention may seem quite unreasonable. Perhaps we need to go deeper than the surface level before going gungho over any such matters of a serious nature...
My reply:
I walk around a city where unwanted uneducated hungry children nip at the toes of tourists and myself. I dont tour Makati. Overpopulation and IGNORANCE is a serious issue and it is definitely tied to what I do.
Just take a walk around downtown Manila, count all the uneducated pregnant street dwellers living in the bushes, and that is how deep you need to go.
I am not being unreasonable. The Catholic Church is interfering with our governments plans to provide our less fortunate countrymen with the freedom to plan their families and future once again. I will not keep silent this time. They blocked this family planning bill too many times.
I'm sorry that you do not agree with my views but my walking tours are not only about showing the pretty side of the Philippines. Most Philippine travel agencies do a good job of providing that already.
PS I am Catholic too.
posted by carlosceldran @ 9:02 AM
23 Comments:
amen.
- miguel p.
For every one person you piss off, there are thousands, like miguel and me, murmuring "amen". I thought your post was great.
ditto...this is why i am looking forward to your tour tomorrow. keep posting your views.
Sigh. And her reply back was a very cryptic and cold
"Thank you for responding."
Topic over.
Carlos, I think you are barking up the wrong tree. The right tree is government corruption! Besides, the essential features of the decades of Marcosian misrule are still very much with us.
Oh c'mon. Government corruption is not the ONLY tree our troubled society should address. Overpopulation, ignorance, and poverty in perpetua are completely different issues. We are growing faster than we can produce food to feed ourselves. PERIOD. And to blame everything on Marcos is too easy. We were misruled before him and were obviously misruled after.
Sorry. Im gonna keep beating this horse. And IF WE SUPPOSE THAT government corruption is the main reason of the existence of our teeming starving masses. How is the Philippine Catholic Church helping this situation? From where Im sitting, I can see that they have been obviously more than happy to use gambling money from PAGCOR while publicly throwing their support behind an assortment of corrupt politicians willing to mouth their doctrines. PLUS they give these bastards communion to boot. But should anyone even THINK about talking condoms or family planning - they go APESHIT. If anyone is barking up the wrong tree, its them. Dont be misguided by heirarchy of the Philippine Catholic Church, x-p. They too, are only human in the end.
I have no problem with your realistic point of view of the Catholic Church. But you should not generalize. I'm more concerned of the inaction rather than the blocking of the bill. Why do you think family planning is the solution that would end all this? Certainly it would help but I would think it would just corrupt the family values of the Filipino family.
I can see this topic is really getting hot. But please believe me when I say that mine is not a rash generalization. I am a Catholic too and proud of it. But why cant I speak up when I see something glaringly hypocritical? Mine is an observation gleaned from 32 years of being a Philippine residing Catholic and 11 years of Catholic school. As a guide, I spend almost everyday inside San Agustin Church in Intramuros showing off their golden treasures while barefoot children play in dirty water right outside their door. I think I know what Im talking about. I also hate repeating myself but as I said before: I do not believe there is a magic bullet to this. Family Planning is not the ONLY solution to our problems but it is ONE of the many effective solutions to ONE of the millions of problems we have. And how would this corrupt the values of the Filipino Family? NOT AT ALL. I think lunchtime tv is a bigger threat to these so-called "values" than an IUD ever would. Family Planning would only enhance Filipino values. Smaller family = more attention per child = more financial support per child = more space for the child to develop their individuality (try sharing a room with six brothers) = happier child = happier family. The math is easy.
I respect your views. What I'm saying is that we should not blame everything to the Catholic Church. Even India where there is no strong catholic church and there is a family planning program, they continue to be the fastest growing population and our population problem is alot less relative to them.
I believe education (family values, could include family planning, etc.) and economic progress is the key to the issue. The poor families should learn responsibility, family values and have a goal in life -- something worthwhile doing other than having sex. I'm afraid that condom would just lead to more sex, more sin, and further corruption of their values.
The Catholic may not deem population as a big problem which results in the lack of action against this problem.
I respect your views too.
And I even agree with some of them.
I agree that the Catholic Church lacks action in dealing with our distressing population growth rate.
I also believe that education is the key in helping the poor rise out of their cycle of poverty.
I do not however agree that condoms (in its very existence or idea) can lead to more sex and "sin". Um...how? What kind of sin? Can contraceptives possibly lead to theft or murder? Odd logic. But I think I get your point. :o)
Happy Easter nga pala.
As an atheist who doesn't think sex is a sin at all but a matter for personal responsibility, but who has access to free contraception courtesy of my country's liberal democratic government, I haven't been punished by having STIs or unwanted children. It seems to me that old men in the established churches and national governments who want to keep the poor poor believe that disease and poverty and the death of young children are punishments rightly visited by God on the sinful who do have sex. And this applies as much in the USA as the Philippines and African countries - anywhere the Christian church has a stranglehold on policy making.
Yet by far the majority who suffer with these issues are the poorest in society. To let this happen is not Christian, but a far greater sin than sex. Many women having unwanted children have no control over who they have sex with or how often, so why should they and society at large pay for men's use of their bodies by having to support an ever-burgeoning population problem? Free family planning for the married and the single is the only way to fix this problem, and the only way to get that legislation passed is to break with the church. The churchmen should be helping the poor in real ways, not hindering their chances of development by defending a position about the sanctity of conception and the sinfulness of sex which is purely theoretical for these whitebeards but utterly, painfully real for the poor of all countries.
And by the way, as the writer of the above post, I want to say that I spent most of last year living and working in Metro Manila, and I've been on Carlos' tours. I am not speaking without experience of the poverty visible on the streets of Manila, or of the strength of Catholic belief in the Philippines. I just don't think it's worth the cost in human suffering to keep up the traditional Catholic attitude to contraception. It's not like it is preventing people from having sex and giving birth is it?
wait a minute...have hapless Catholics been getting pregnant on one of Carlos' tours?
I think I missed that one.
;)
I have a lot to say about this issue too and Carlos knows this. What I'd like to say, however, is that I'm disappointed that L.C.'s reply was a mere "Thank you for responding." I would have preferred a more thorough response. Oh well.
People, it's not the desire of the Church or any religion for that matter to keep poor people poor!
I completely agree with you, Carlos. The rise of population is no good news. Knowing that most poor families produce more kids they can't feed and educate, I hope they were getting educated about the concept of family planning instead of having idle moments. If ever I'd be a mom someday, I'd prioritize the quality of life I can give my child/ren.
Maybe we could help promote Mexico's shared childbirth practice. That's a good way of encouraging family planning. =)
i wanna comment on the graft and corruption thing coz i work for the government... (hehehe) i'm not here to defend the government and say "hey! we're squeaky clean" coz it's really not... i have to admit that much... my mom's been nagging me to resign already coz i'm not paid much and i render overtime ALL THE TIME.. .dang... my pay is like allowance in college, or to be precise, allowance in high school based on current living standards... haha... geez... but anyways, what i noticed in your comments (everybody's comments) it's like you're pinning (barking on the "graft and corrupt government" tree) most of the time. sounds like a cliche but, "walang mangungungurakot kung walang magpapakurakot" / "walang tatanggap ng bribe kung walang magbibigay" / i think the people aren't much help either, what's worse is in the begining they're the "ADVOCATE" of clean transparent government, but when they get a post because of their advocacy, they turn devils in white... pathetic isn't it? but true... what's worse, it seems that we have a culture of extreme greed, i read somewhere that other countries with corrupt government officials (there is no such thing as 100% graft & corrupt free government anyway) invest their "ill gotten wealth" within their own countries, so technically, what they took goes back to the people, creation of jobs, investments and such WITHIN THEIR COUNTRY. pero dito?? @#$% (excuse me can't help it) nilalabas nila!!!! naka invest outside our poor country!!! sheesh!! i just hope one day, our so called advocates are REAL ADVOCATES, that if they do assume government office, ndi sila worse than their predecessors... yun lang... c",)
Im the first to agree with you not to blame graft and corruption alone. And I do understand the flak government employees get. I work for the Mayor of Manila as a culture consultant as well. More than once have I been demonized for being one. Oh well..
sumasangayon ako sa iyo... napakarami pa kasing nabubulag na di matanggap ang katotohanan. naisip na kaya ng iba kung saan napupunta yung mga abuloy sa simbahan na ang dapat patunguhan ay sa pagtulong sa mga pilipino din, sa pagkakaalam ko kasi sa vatican nagpupunta yan. isang mahirap na pinoy, pinilit magabuloy eh mas mayaman pa sa kanya ang tinulungan... patatawarin ako kung mali...
Actually. I think you are quite right on that. Sigh. We really havent changed much since the time of Rizal. We still let the church and the Father Damasos among us influence our lives.
If you don't agree with the Church, then you can't call yourself Catholic. That's bigotry at its finest. Follow or step out of the Church--that's the rule. Just my two cents.
My daughter was denied of her application to st paul pasig because im a single mom! Now tell me is using contraceptive a more sinner act than this??
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