Vince’s Button Brother

RIGHT now, the issue “should abortion be legalized in the Philippines” is not a hot topic because most Filipinos strongly thumb-down abortion. But as one of the logical consequences of the RH Law’s “domino effect,” the Filipino’s abhorrence for abortion could abate little by little. When the whole nation gets used to seeing contraceptives being dispensed free to anyone -- never mind if the recipient is not after family planning but just wants to have fun with a prostitute, and never mind if he/she can afford to buy a truckload of contraceptives -- the rhetorical question would be easy to ask: If I’m empowered by a contraceptive device to decide the existence or non-existence of a life, isn’t it logical for me to also have the power to decide the continuance or termination of that life?

When Godless ideas of this kind begin to erode the Filipino’s deep-seated sense of gaba, time is ripe for anti-life organizations such as Planned Parenthood --- whose hidden business agendum is abortion – to begin lobbying for an abortion law.

To offset this tactic, Pro-Lifers must clamp down on the Filipino’s innate reverence for life and for the will of Bathala. One way to do this is by relating real-life stories that speak of the preciousness of life. Here is one from my teaching experience. It happened in late October of 2012:

While sewing his snake stuffed toy, the hardest-to-manage pupil in my Grade 4 Home Economics and Livelihood Education class said, “It’s nearly done, Teacher. I’ll give it to my mom. She will come home next week.”
“Oh,” I said. “She’s not in Cagayan de Oro?”

“No. She works in the USA. She’s a caregiver.”

“Is that so?” I said, quickly adding, “But your father is in Cagayan de Oro to take care of you, right?”

Casually he answered, “My father died when I was in Grade 2.”

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry to hear that, Vince. Who is taking care of you now?”

“My tita, Teacher. My uncle left her.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that! Is your mom coming home for good?”

“Visit only. She will go back to the US on November 7.”

“Ah, good timing,” I said. “Next week is your sem break. On November 2, we remember our loved ones in heaven.”

“We will go to Cotabato to visit the graves of my father and my kuya.” “Your older brother died?! I’m very, very sorry to hear that, Vince. When did he die?”

Vince stopped sewing, formed a tiny circle with his tiny fingers and stared at me with an expression that hovered between sorrow and shock. Emphasizing each word, he said, “He was just a tiny button when he died.”

It was my turn to stare at Vince. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

Vince said, “My brother died when he was just a tiny button in my mother’s tummy.”

I held back my tears and said, “Vince, I have a collection of special buttons -- precious to me! I’d like to give you my favorite button.”

From my collection in a jar, I took out a button with a smile and presented it to Vince. “This smiley button cheers up the other buttons in the jar. You like it? It’s yours.”

Vince smiled and said, “It’s so nice! Thank you, Teacher Ametta. I’ll give it to my brother in Cotabato so he won’t be lonely in his grave.” We embraced. I will never forget what Vince did next: He patted me on my back to console me, because I was shaking with emotion.

A little while later, Vince’s mother called on Vince’s cell phone. Vince asked my permission to talk outside the classroom. I watched him as he talked: He looked like a little grown man as he raised his voice, “Don’t worry about me, Ma! You take good care of yourself!”

The above conversation transformed the stressful student-teacher relationship between me and Vince. We became friends. And, from the hardest-to-manage pupil, Vince became the best-behaved teacher’s assistant in my class!

Although this story belongs to the teacher’s breakthrough genre, it reflects what we Filipinos rank highest in our hierarchy of values, the family. Family members are considered so dear that an unborn member who dies in his first six weeks of life in the womb may be interred in a cemetery. He is not a conglomeration of cells, as pro-abortion advocates would tell you; he is a person, Vince would tell you. Would a believer in abortion dare to question the pure perception of a child? He’d be put to shame, like the self-deceiving grownups in The Emperor’s New Clothes.

In the USA, a nation looked up to as the world’s leading defender of human rights, an unborn child can be legally aborted for any reason from the start of a woman’s pregnancy up to the 9th month. Dismembering a fully-developed baby in the womb is called “partial birth abortion.”

How did this happen in the USA? The law legalizing contraception was expanded to legalize abortion. The RH Law can likewise be “expanded” when the time is ripe for anti-life forces to advertise and sell the multi-billion dollar business that is abortion. Right now, they are already selling to our government the multi-billion dollar “starter kit,” contraception.

Is abortion “unthinkable” to happen in the Philippines? Think again. Abortion is now legal in Spain. Abortion used to be “unthinkable” in this country that brought us Christianity. It has also legalized same-sex marriage.

But there is hope in the Pro-Life Struggle. Many are supporting the fight. The Pro-Life Movement is a cause without borders. Although the Catholic Church is the most vocal and hated entity for espousing unpopular causes, most non-Catholic churches are also fighting against abortion and same-sex marriage, and there are those who see the Biblical, covenantal basis of natural family planning.

One of my bosses in Corpus Christi School is Assistant Principal Regina Cansino. An inspiring pastora and leader of the Methodist Church, she reports that the Methodist Church is solid against abortion and same-sex marriage. More on this in another column.

(Ms. Ametta Suarez-Taguchi teaches Home Economics and Livelihood Education. She also writes and directs plays and won the Palanca Award for Literature seven times)