100,000 expected to march for life in Philippines this weekend

by Kathleen Gilbert

Manila, Philippines, Feb. 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Sunday, February 13, an anticipated 100,000 pro-life activists will march through Manila in opposition to a so-called “Responsible Parenthood” bill that has been repackaged to appeal to the pro-life majority of Filipinos. Experts say, however, that the new version of the bill is “far worse” than the original “Reproductive Health” bill, and that both versions have been promoted aggressively with hundreds of millions of dollars by Western organizations. The “Responsible Parenthood” bill may be approved as early as mid-March 2011.

“Since the revised bill has been certified as a priority bill by President Aquino, they are railroading the process,” said Dr. Rene Bullecer, Country Director for HLI Philippines. “And this bill is far worse than the original ‘Reproductive Health’ bill. It was renamed to give the Catholic president cover in supporting it, but Filipinos are not fooled. That is why at least 100,000 of us will be marching on the capital on Sunday, to defend life and our families!”

“Our President run and won on an anti-corruption anti-poverty platform,” said Dr. Ligaya Acosta, HLI’s Regional Director for Asia and Oceania, who also was a Health Minister for the Philippines before her conversion on life issues. “We wish to tell him there is a corruption worse than corruption of money, and that is corruption of human lives and moral values ... and there is a poverty worse than material poverty and that is spiritual poverty.

“We also wish to remind our legislators that we elected them to serve the authentic aspirations of the Filipino people and not to serve the imperialistic agenda of international death peddlers who are bribing them with mind-boggling amounts of money.”

It is estimated that Western organizations such as USAID and UNFPA have spent over $600 million in the Philippines promoting both pieces of legislation.