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A text message said that one shot of liquor reduces life by five
minutes but sex reportedly increases life by 10 minutes. Now, I
wonder no more why some politicians who love the bottle have long
life! One can be a drunkard and still live long if one has an active
sex life.
I read somewhere that the achievers and the more
ambitious have stronger libido. And for politicians, their power and
money help assure them of living longer through a more active sex
life. As former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said:
“Power is the best aphrodisiac there is.”
Now, sex should be a means towards procreation.
And it should be done with a beloved or we, humans, would not be
different from animals. Hey, am I starting to moralize? Sorry. All I
wanted is to give an intro on the ongoing debate between Catholic
bishops and some legislators on measures for reproductive health
care.
Catholic bishops said that those pursuing a
reproductive health care policy are for abortion and warned that
they face excommunication or, at the very least, be denied Holy
Sacraments, if they persist. This strong stand of the bishops should
bring shudders to politicians who would be courting votes in 2010.
The bishops had often called on the faithful not to vote for
politicians whom they consider to be pro-abortion.
When is abortion committed?
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, who has been filing bills
after bills on reproductive health, said that he and similar-minded
lawmakers are not advocating abortion.
“When human intervention is introduced to end
life once life has begun, then you are committing abortion. But if
you are preventing the union of the elements of life from the man
and the woman, you are not committing abortion,” he argued.
He does not believe that the Catholic Church is
unanimous in opposing the enactment of measures on population
management. He said that Spain, our Mother Country who introduced
Christianity to us, has a population management program, as do other
Catholic countries like Argentina, Brazil , Italy and Mexico.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who has only two
children, believes in the natural method of family planning.
However, he would not want to impose his belief on others. He said
that it should be left to the conscience of others on what kind to
use.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, the chairman of the Senate
Committee on Health and Demography, is caught in the middle between
her faith and her concern for unwanted and unsafe pregnancy. She
still has to come out with a committee report on the bills on a
national reproductive health care policy.
Ducut’s controversial appointment
I first became aware of former Rep. Zenaida
Ducut’s political clout when she handily defeated reelectionist
Emy Lingad in 1992 as representative of the first district of
Pampanga. I thought that Emy, son of Pampanga martyr former Gov.
Jose Lingad, was well entrenched in his district until Ducut
trounced him. She reminded me once again of her political clout when
she was appointed chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission vice
Rodolfo Albano who had served his full term.
For a moment, I entertained the opinion of
others that Ducut’s appointment was President Arroyo’s way of
showing gratitude after she had given way to presidential son Mikey
Arroyo in the first district of Pampanga in 2001. Then, I remembered
that Ducut had actually finished her third term in 2001 so she could
not have possibly given way to Mikey.
Her appointment became controversial following
reports that a firm headed by some persons with her family name had
been awarded a contract to supply coal to the National Power Corp.
before her appointment. She had denied any relationship with these
individuals who were also from Pampanga. I would give value to her
words. Then, there was this lament by Napocor chairman Cyril del
Callar at the “Karambola” program of DWIZ that showed Ducut and
Napocor were being unfairly treated. Del Callar moaned that critics
were focusing on the firm and on the Ducut family name but omitted
mentioning that the firm had offered the lowest bid of $109 per ton.
He said that the price of coal in the world market is $120 a ton,
which would result in huge savings for Napocor. Should Napocor do
away with the huge savings just because the winning bidder had the
same family name as the newly appointed ERC chairman?
Let us give Chairman Ducut a chance to prove her
worth at ERC. I am certain that the appointing power had gone over
her c.v. and considered her capable to handle the post during this
critical period. It is only when she makes missteps that we should
excoriate her, but not on mere perceptions and on mere accident of
sharing a family name with unrelated persons.
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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