RUBBING SALT ON FRESH WOUND

Indeed, the Roman Catholic bishops had good reason to be irked with Speaker Belmonte saying: "divorce is next" following the passage of the RH Bill.  In street parlance, ika nga'y, nang-asar pa.   I would have liked that Belmonte had been a little bit more circumspect, rather than rubbed salt on fresh wound -- well, even if he is a Protestant. Methinks that at this juncture, and as a high official in government, what's  normally expected of him was to unite the nation after the still controversial passage of the RH Bill, rather than continue to divide the people in well nigh half.

To be honest, that bill's passage may be regarded not as much as a triumph of the state over the Church as the triumph of PNoy using the vast influence of executive powers to make the legislative branch of government a virtual rubber stamp.  That there were originally 32 lawmakers who voted No in the second hearing but did not participate in the third hearing was living evidence that they have been "bought" -- most ostensibly with pork barrel funds.

Before anybody forgets, this country is predominantly Roman Catholic.  Now is the time for the government to encourage this Catholic nation into moving on, rather than go into another more divisive debacle such as Divorce which, like the RH Bill, has been junked by our legislators before.

True, we may be the only nation in the whole world, except the Vatican, without a divorce law.  I have not personally witnessed a  wedding in a place where there is divorce, so I wonder how or into what words they have changed the traditional nuptial vow, "in sickness and in pain, for better or for worse, till death do us part" . . Marriage is a promise.  Only humans can bind themselves in a promise; animals cannot, because they only live by instincts and feelings, and only for the present.  It is unfortunate that in countries with divorce, perhaps half of marriage vows are broken.  This is awful for two reasons: the disastrous effect on children, and the decline in our sense of honor, meaning in not keeping his promise. A man who cannot keep his solemn promises is not a man, he is an animal.  How then can we ever learn to trust one not to cheat in a lesser matter, e.g. renege on a loan with a bank, if he cheats on the most solemn promise of all: in marriage. The aftermath of divorce is always traumatic unhappiness for at least one person, sometimes two, and always for children. 

In my humble view, a law that is as controversial as Reproductive Health should deserve some deeper national discernment than be too suddenly classified as "urgent" in the last dying days of the legislative agenda..  At any rate, my hope runs high that when the righter time for us the tackle the divorce comes, it would not end up as half-cooked because of too much pork.  Il believe the RH Bill was.