Church reminders

IN HIS homily during the celebration of the Pontifical Mass last Sunday for the feast of Sto. Niño, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma “encouraged couples who want to have more children to do so, even with the recent passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) law.” The Cebu archbishop is president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Palma reminded the churchgoers that “children, like Cebu’s patron, are considered as objects of love that create joy where they are.” Referring to the law, he said that “even if President Benigno Aquino III passed the law, couples should not be afraid if they want more children.”

Still, the Church should realize that while many of its followers may be loyal to their belief in the majesty of their faith, it cannot really fully count on the support of the voters. There seems to be quite a serious divide between the Church and the voters.

It does not mean, though, that those that did not support the church’s stand on the RH bill are non-Catholics or non-Christian as the case may be. I am sure that many of those who voted for the bill in both the House and the Senate are Catholics like the President.

Meanwhile, Palma said that he and other bishops “around the country will not make a list of the candidates who should not be supported for approving the passage of the RH law.” And while he thanked the Cebu solons who supported the Church stand, Palma said, “We cannot(also) recount the people who defended our faith.”

For its part, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that voters will still have to line up before the voting precincts despite the plan to use once more the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the 2010 elections. But the Comelec head assured that the voting will not be as tedious as it was in the last elections.

This time around, instead of just issuing priority numbers, Comelec would enforce a first come, first serve policy. This is to ensure that the priority numbers would not be extended to chosen groups or selected party voters.

Senior citizens will still have their express lanes, “but this does not mean that (they) will be allowed to vote first and others will just follow.” The Comelec has also thought of providing chairs for those who have to wait for their turn.

But what the Comelec has really pushed is for the people “to spare a day to sacrifice for 3 years of good governance.” I think that the suggestion is fair. One day of hassles is better than three years of bad government.