Hundreds Gather for Quaipo Anti-contraception Rally

MANILA, Oct. 2, 2010-Hundreds of people trooped to Quiapo Church for a "pro-life" prayer rally that included a Catholic archbishop who urged the government to rethink its position on contraception.

The rally included students and parents. Many waved graphic signs with pictures of aborted fetuses.

A group of rallyists, for instance, were holding a streamer bearing a sign of "Kontrasepsyon Bahagi ng Globalisasyon (contraception a part of globalization)."

Another group carry the sign "Pondo sa Kontrasepsyon Ilagay sa Edukasyon at Health Services (allocate the fund for education and health services instead of contraceptives).

Some priests, ministers, nuns and Black Nazarene devotees were scattered through the crowd, which organizers estimated at around 1,500 people.

This was the first time that a Church-backed rally has taken place under the Aquino administration, which organizers described as an "initial step" to air their opposition against a government plan to promote artificial birth control.

The demonstrators also expressed opposition against the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill which seeks to control the country's growing population and the spread of HIV-AIDS through the promotion of contraceptives such as condoms and pills.

President Benigno Aquino has said he is determined to provide couples an informed choice in planning their families.

"We are all guided by our consciences. My position has not changed. The state's duty is to educate our families as to their responsibilities and to respect their decisions if they are in conformity to our laws," he said.

Aquino's position earned the fury of many anti-abortion advocates and many Christian and Muslim leaders.

Speaking to reporters at Quiapo Church, San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto called on Aquino to emulate the leadership of his mother, the late president Corazo Aquino, on the issue of family and life issues.

"Our President should emulate his mother.... There is hope that the President will listen. His mother and the bishops were close. We say his mother was very saintly. She listened to the Church. I think he will give importance and value to that," Aniceto said.

He said the country must learn to embrace the gift of life and to defend it against the "culture of death."

Aniceto chairs the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The prelate also said that it was not just Catholics who are opposing artificial contraceptives but also Muslims and evangelical Protestants. (Roy Lagarde/CBCPNews)