'May lightning strike RH Bill backers' -CBCP webstream

Catholic bishops in the Philippines have launched a high-tech assault on the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, by playing anti-RH bill sound files on their website. The audio messages, one of which features a lola character wishing lightning would strike lawmakers backing the bill, greet visitors to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

In "Sex Education," the third on the list of 10 "Itaguyod ang Buhay (Defend Life)!" sound files on the main page of the CBCP news site, a dialog ensues between a lola and her daughter about the RH bill: Lola: "Tamaan sana ng kidlat ang nagpanukala niyan (May lightning strike the one who proposed that)!" Daughter: "'Nay, huwag kayo magsalita ng ganyan. Di ba sabi niyo masama pag-isipan ng masama ang kapwa (Mom, don't say that. Didn't you say that it's wrong to think of ill things of others)?" Despite their disagreement over the language used, both characters expressed their opposition to the RH bill. Anti-RH employer Another audio file, "Anti-employer," features an employer who threatens to withdraw campaign donations from lawmakers backing the RH bill. It claimed that the bill would require employers to spend money for contraceptives for workers, thus diverting funds that could have gone to the workers' take-home pay. "Sabihan mo mga kongresista na ibasura ang RH bill na yan. Kung hindi, wala sila suporta sa mga negosyante tulad ko pagdating eleksyon (You tell those lawmakers to junk the RH bill or they lose the support of businessmen like me when election time comes)," said the "employer," with a Chinese-Filipino accent. The audio clip also points out that the bill supposedly requires employers to allot funds for contraceptives. All the messages on the playlist had indications they were produced by the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal Catholic group, and the CBCP Media Office. The playlist automatically starts playing once the CBCP news site is accessed, but visitors can click on controls on the list to stop or pause the list. Other file titles on the playlist are:

• Labag sa Saligang Batas, which says that the bill supposedly violates the Constitution's Article II, Section 11, upholding the sanctity and dignity of life;
• Anti-women and Children;
• Populasyon, which claims that housing and school projects in provinces are better answers to overpopulation in urban areas, instead of the RH bill;
• Anti-reproductive, which brands the RH bill as anti-life because it promotes contraceptives;
• Anti-culture, which claims that the bill supposedly threatens to erode Filipino values of love and marriage;
• Korupsyon, which points out that pro-RH lawmakers have vested interests in groups that sell contraceptives;
• Mapaniil, which indicates that countries under authoritarian rule undergo a population control program only to regret it later on;
• Natural family, which promotes natural methods of family planning.

— TJD/HS, GMA News