‘Ninety percent of life is just showing up’

One thing not many people may know about Ugochi Daniels, the country representative here of the United Nations Population Fund, is that she hails from Nigeria and was born and raised a Catholic. In fact, she told a group of media people over lunch last week, her parents are members of the Opus Dei, the ultraconservative Catholic organization that, in the Philippines at least, has gained a rather shadowy and sinister reputation.

When she told some Filipino Catholic bishops about her background during one of their interactions, said Daniels, the churchmen couldn’t quite believe their ears. Why, they wanted to know, given her upbringing, was she supportive of reproductive health?

One answer Daniels offered, though I don’t know if she shared this with the bishops, was that she is the mother of a young woman, and so she views the issues roiling around the imminent passage of the RH bill partly from her point of view, but also through the eyes of her daughter. “We are failing our young people,” she declares. “There is no policy, no services, no formal sex education for them.” She decries the fact that in the Philippines, “children are raising children or dying in the process. It is heartbreaking for me to see young girls in this situation, girls from 10 years old to 14 years old, pregnant or lactating, with no goals or dreams. We have a responsibility to young Filipinos to help them reach their full potential. We’re all in this together.”

This is a view shared by Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, representative in the country of the World Health Organization. Although it’s already well-known that the 2011 Family Health Survey found a rather sharp increase in the country’s maternal mortality rate (the number of women dying due to causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, per 100,000 live births), lesser known is the fact, says Nyunt-U, that in the age groups 15-19 years and 20-24 years, “there has been a consistent increase in birth rates as well as in maternal mortality rates.”

He points out, “more young women are having babies and are dying.” This development, he notes, is “very, very alarming.”

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Given their views, and the truly alarming developments in the reproductive health field, it’s no surprise that the UN agencies in the country, with UNFPA undoubtedly taking the lead, recently issued a public statement on the pending passage of the RH bill. This is an unusual step, since UN agencies traditionally avoid commenting on local affairs, especially those with a tinge of politics.

But apparently believing the issues were too important to ignore, the UN agencies chose to speak out. “The current high economic growth of more than 5 percent per year promises to lift millions out of poverty,” the statement said. “But hopes of future prosperity could turn to dust if the country is not able to deal with the population growth by giving men and women access to the information and means to freely and responsibly exercise their human right to have just the number of children they want. If current trends continue, as the country grows richer, the number of people living in poverty will increase.”

The statement also debunks the notion that “enacting the bill would… lead to the imposition of coercive measures such as a two-child policy.” The UN, the agencies said, believes that “given correct and appropriate information on family planning, individuals and couples will be able to exercise their exclusive right to determine their family size.”

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Yesterday, a day before today’s deliberations on whether to still continue with the debates in the House on the RH bill, or move on to a vote, the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN), composed largely of women’s organizations, issued an open letter addressed to the legislators.

The letter said RH supporters have argued long and heatedly about the merits of the bill, but were addressing the men and women of Congress on two concerns: first, “that many of you may not show up… out of fear of the political consequence of your attendance”; and second “that some of you may vote based simply on your loyalty to your church and religious leaders.”

“Congress will become irrelevant,” the letter said, “if our lawmakers cannot decide on contentious bills through evidence, reason and deliberations.”

Aware that “subtle and overt threats and blackmail” have been resorted to by members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to convince legislators to abandon their support for the bill, RHAN assured that “coercive words and actions do not and have not swayed voters—almost all… Filipino Catholics have even said that they would vote for candidates who support family planning…”

The letter also urges Congress “to weigh the consequences of giving in to religious blackmail.” It asks: “When will it end? What will be the next demand? And who will be the next religious blackmailer?”

“Use your hearts and minds,” the letter pleads. “Then do your job: Come to the session and vote.”

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Indeed, as Woody Allen said: “Ninety percent of life is just showing up.”

Just show up and cast your votes. And if you’re not so privileged as to be a legislator, follow the vote, and take note if the congressman or congresswoman representing your district voted to uphold our reproductive rights or to protect and privilege the power of the religious elite who want to keep women “barefoot and pregnant.” Remember their names, remember their vote in the House and Senate, and remember them in next year’s elections.

And remember the women, men and children whose future lies in our hands, when we fill in those little circles come the voting next year.