When the team from the Vatican arrives in Cebu City on January 18, or six days ahead of the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), Archbishop Pierro Marini, chairman of the Pontifical Commission on the International Eucharistic Congress and head of the delegation, will note the impressive work the Archdiocese of Cebu has done in preparation for the global Catholic gathering. One of this is the IEC Pavilion which he kept describing as a “miracle” after it was completed in record time and minus funding from the local Church.
The date of the arrival of the team from Rome was conveyed to this corner by Ms. Anne Griffin, general manager of the 50th IEC held in Dublin, Ireland during an online interview.
Ms. Griffin obliged my request for a Q & A in relation to the documentation of the making of the IEC Pavilion. I thought her thoughts were significant because when she visited Cebu City in the company of Vatican representatives in September 2013 to check on the preparations, a permanent and made-to-order IEC edifice was not even part of the conversation.
At that time, the Archdiocese was still assessing offers from private individuals willing to lend a warehouse or a vacant lot in the north reclamation area. The Archdiocese ditched the offers because it meant spending hundreds of millions of pesos on a structure that the Church cannot own.
As we know, Duros Development Corporation undertook the construction of the IEC Pavilion. Save for exterior painting and general cleaning, the building is almost ready to welcome 15,000 delegates a week from now. Ms. Griffin told this corner she was “very impressed with the work done. The amount of work is more than anyone would have expected.”
Apparently, she knew about the efforts of volunteers through news feeds by friends in the social media.
Ms. Griffin’s assessment is notable because as general manager of the previous IEC in Dublin, Ireland, she knows the Vatican can be a stickler for organization. That the Archdiocese has filled up all the necessary requirements for the upcoming IEC is a great achievement for the Church in the Philippines, in particular for the Cebu Archdiocese led by Archbishop Jose S. Palma.
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The 51st IEC happens against the backdrop of very interesting developments. Reports have it that after the bicameral conference committee on the 2016 General Appropriations Act noted disagreements in the versions of the House and Senate budget measures on the budget for the Department of Health (DOH), the bicam solved it surgically: chop P1 billion off from the P3.27 billion budget.
The deleted P1 billion was allotted for condoms, contraceptive pills, IUDs and other artificial birth control supplies to be distributed nationwide.
Access to supply of artificial birth control methods is guaranteed by RA 10354, also known as Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, more popularly known as the Reproductive Health or RH Law.
I have always maintained the title is a misleading cover for a legislation which is basically a population control measure that western forces are forcing down our throats. Politicians are only too happy to parrot the line that large population is the root cause of poverty, not corruption, like the pork barrel system, poor governance and unequal distribution of wealth.
Now comes a stunning move by the bicameral conference committee that practically renders the RH Law inutile and, I believe, made Philippine bishops fell off their seats.
According to Sen. Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, as of June 2015 only 29% of the DOH budget of P3.27 billion has been obligated. In other words, the department spent only P955 million, leaving 71% of its budget unspent.
Pro-RH advocates are lambasting the Senate for this development, but shouldn’t they turn their ire on DOH Sec. Janet Garin for not preparing the specific programs, specific dates and specific payments for contraceptive supplies?
Senator Legarda tried to mollify pro-RH sectors by saying the unspent amount will still be available in 2016, but with the May elections coming up, that is very iffy. Even Secretary Garin cannot say she will still remain at the helm of the DOH after a new president is voted five months from now.
Sen. Vicente Sotto, who is an anti-RH Law critic, justified the DOH budget cut, saying it is in line with the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order in June 2015. The TRO stopped the distribution and sale of implants including other RH commodities for the time being. The senator also cited a Commission on Audit report that noted the “budget for contraceptives and injectables has been misused”.
It’s six days to go before the feast of the Senyor Sto. Niño, but I think Catholics who take their religious beliefs seriously will be drawn closer to the Basilica del Sto. Niño to pray and give thanks that the Catholic Church in the Philippines, by virtue of the bicam action that nobody expected to happen, had won the day on the artificial birth control issue.