Why PH is backward economically, mentally

The picture in the Inquirer (Across the Nation, 4/27/13) showing Team PNoy senatorial candidate Sonny Angara bowing and kissing the hand of Catholic Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, while pledging not to support a divorce bill in Congress, shows why the Philippines is among the social and economic laggards in Asia and the world.

The Philippines is still living in the Dark Ages when the state was subordinate to the Church. Historians characterize the Dark Ages as the period from the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 313 AD to the Renaissance. It was a period of stagnation during which the Roman empire broke down, and civilization was crushed by the barbarians. “The ideals, law, language and prosperity of Rome were absorbed by the Catholic Church,” according to Destination Europa on the Web.

Today, however, all modern states are secular. The Philippine Constitution mandates the “separation of church and state.” This is different from the Spanish regime in which Catholicism was a state religion. Catholic doctrines governed the law from birth to marriage to death. Thus, “marriages are made in heaven,” as preached by the Church.

Now birth certificates must be issued by the state to be valid, and also marriages must be licensed by the state to be legal. Marriages that break down in violence, hatred and family discord are certainly not made in heaven.

The right to choose one’s partner or to change him or her is an individual right, and no other entity, not even the state, has the right to tamper with it. The Philippines is backward economically because it is backward mentally.

—MANUEL F. ALMARIO,

spokesman, Movement for Truth in History

(Rizal’s Moth), mfalmario@yahoo.com