By BRIAN CLOWES
“There is an ideological colonization we have to be careful of that tries to destroy the family. Just as our peoples were able to say no to the period of colonization, as families we have to be very wise and very strong with fortitude to say no to these initiatives of colonization that could destroy the family” — Pope Francis.
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The most prominent feature you see when flying into the southern Luzon city of Legazpi is the most perfectly symmetrical mountain in the world — the 8,081-foot-high Mayon volcano. Today it was showing off by emitting a thick trail of steam from its summit. As we stepped into the simmering heat of the city’s small airport, it was difficult to keep our eyes off it.
Human Life International’s missionaries have visited the Philippines more than 50 times, making it our most-visited Asian nation. Fr. Shenan Boquet, our Human Life International president, Dr. Ligaya Acosta, our regional coordinator for Asia and Oceania, and I would spend a week in the cities of Sorsogon and Legazpi, sounding the alarm about the West’s “contraceptive imperialism.”
Our primary mission in early April was to show support for the mayor of Sorsogon City, Sally A. Lee. Mayor Lee was at one time a supporter of the reproductive health program of the government of the Philippines. She explained that she was deceived by the soothing and deceptive language of the population suppression organizations, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which was active in her city through its Filipino affiliate.
However, her attendance at HLI’s 19th Asia-Pacific Congress in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, in November 2013 changed both her attitude and her life. She returned to Sorsogon determined to declare her city to be “pro-life,” but Dr. Ligaya convinced her to wait until she and her people were properly trained in the issues. Dr. Ligaya subsequently made several journeys to Sorsogon City, training more than 1,000 people, and Mayor Lee published her Executive Order #3 in February 2015.
The backlash was exactly what they expected, thanks to Dr. Ligaya’s training. Every government agency and NGO, from the Center for Reproductive Rights to CEDAW, condemned Mayor Lee and her Executive Order. For example, the National Anti-Poverty Commission condemned the EO as “a gross violation of the RPRH [Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health] Law . . . and of Women’s Rights.”
Tragically, one of Mayor Sally’s harshest critics is Emmeline Verzosa, executive director of the Philippine Commission on Women — the sister of Sr. Mary Pilar Verzosa, RGS, the late, great president of Pro-Life Philippines and a tireless defender of life.
Interestingly, the Supreme Court amended the RPRH Law so that it does not require local officials to uphold it, and that these officials cannot be punished for not supporting it. But the supporters of this law only seem to emphasize those parts that suit them.
Mayor Sally is one tough lady, and she did not back down. She has made her “pro-life city” a model for other mayors to emulate. She has cleaned up the streets and streams to the point where we did not see a single scrap of trash along one river as we took a five-mile tour of a demonstration project for eco-tourism.
Every third Saturday, she leads a vigil and procession for life through the city, giving away bread and eggs to the poor. When she was governor of the province, she personally visited every one of the 541 barangays (neighborhoods) in her jurisdiction. And the first Monday of every month, all workers at City Hall file outside and take a pro-life pledge, then have Mass in the lobby of the building.
The Lees have established something of a political dynasty in Sorsogon Province. Mayor Sally is a previous governor of the province. Her husband Raul is the current governor, and their son Bobet Lee is expected to be elected the next governor on May 9.
Typically, her pro-abortion opponents are claiming that she is “unpopular” among the people; if this is true, why do those same people keep electing her to office by wide margins? She says that “our dynasty is of service, not of power. Let them see what I have done.”
When she first considered running for office, Mayor Sally thought about the impact such a decision would have on her extended family, and so asked her husband what he thought. He said to her “For the love of Sorsogon, go!”
We had the joy of sharing several dinners at the home of Raul and Sally Lee. There are actually several buildings on their property, with one devoted to prayer, and another is a beautiful private chapel, where neighbors are invited to hear Mass every Sunday.
On our first full day, our ABC Team (Acosta, Boquet, Clowes) conducted a Diocesan Family & Life Congress for about 600 people, mostly Sorsogon City health and headquarters workers. Thank God the City college auditorium was air-conditioned (this is the hottest part of the year here, with 95 degree temperatures and soaking humidity).
Of course, we began the day with Holy Mass, Fr. Boquet being the main celebrant, and then proceeded to expose the anti-life agenda and reveal practical means of fighting it. Dr. Ligaya kicked off the talks with “Understanding Ideological Colonization,” and I covered the worldwide population control plan and the mission of the pro-life movement.
Fr. Boquet spoke on the fundamentals of returning to our true identities as men and women of God and how to build a Culture of Life and a civilization of love. All of these talks help to weave a complete picture of the situation, and the people asked lots of questions and obviously appreciated the information they received.
The following day, Fr. Boquet had the honor of being the main celebrant at the 9:00 a.m. Sunday Mass at Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral in Sorsogon City. The cathedral interior is magnificent, but the best part was immediately after the Mass, when dozens of people crowded around him to be blessed. As always, the little children were beautiful in their trusting faith.
Right after Mass, we traveled with Mayor Sally to both the new Sorsogon City Pro-Life Office and the Balay Bukas Palad (Home for Abused Women), and Fr. Boquet blessed them both. The Pro-Life Office is located in the old City Hall, and dozens of local poor people showed up to participate in the charming custom of receiving coins and candy thrown into the crowd.
In the afternoon, we had a well-attended three-hour press conference hosted by a Catholic radio/TV station in the city. After the long day, we had a real treat. Mayor Sally took us to see her eco-tourism initiative, the “Firefly River Tour,” which has both cleaned up the Ogod River and provided employment for 125 people.
The tour consists of a small barge being pulled downstream to a restaurant standing on pilings, where fishermen catch all of the food on the menu. We could not help but notice the unspoiled nature of the river; we didn’t see a single piece of trash anywhere, partly because the project included educating the people who live nearby to not use the waterway as a dumping ground.
As the sun disappeared and the fireflies appeared in their profusion, we dined on crab legs, prawn, tilapia, and other specialties caught right from the sides of the restaurant.
Mayor Lee is so committed to preserving the environment that she even cut her long hair short to save water. Now here is an environmentalist pro-lifers can support!
Anti-theists have tried for years to pass a bill in the Philippines National Congress to ban all traces of religion from government buildings, all under the usual ruse of “separation of Church and state.” But on that Monday morning the entire Sorsogon City staff, including armed police, went outside to attend the raising of the national flag. Everyone recited an oath to uphold God and country.
Fr. Boquet and another priest, Fr. Emmanuel Joshua Afable, then celebrated Holy Mass right in the entrance hall of the City Hall, with almost all of the staff attending.
Mayor Sally is blessed to have the enthusiastic support of her ordinary, Bishop Arturo Bastes, SVD, who is probably the only bishop in the world to have an erupting volcano depicted on his coat of arms. He even wrote a strong Declaration of Support for the “Godly endeavor” of Mayor Sally last November.
The rest of our Monday was taken up with an all-day training session for about 60 of Bishop Bastes’ priests and seminarians. Fr. Boquet spoke for three hours on the role of the priest, and Dr. Ligaya and I covered the various aspects of the anti-life agenda for the Philippines. Bishop Bastes attended the last hour and a half, and concluded the day by exhorting his priests to become more involved in life and family issues. He also asked HLI to continue its missionary activities in his diocese.
We were up early as usual on Tuesday and drove over to Mayor Sally Lee’s home for a fantastic breakfast which included crab omelets. While eating, we talked to Village Captain Melvin Hainto and his wife Joycee, who were asked by the mayor to join us for breakfast. The Haintos have four children (which is unfortunately becoming rarer in the Philippines). It was exciting to hear firsthand how he backed up Mayor Sally by refusing to let the government’s RH workers into his village when they tried to circumvent the mayor’s authority by directly forcing contraception on the people.
The Department of Health had sent what it called a “medical mission” to his village, but when he found out that the sole purpose of the “mission” was to distribute contraceptives, Mr. Hainto escorted them out of the village.
Pro-Life Media
After breakfast, we had a scenic one-hour drive through spectacular country back to Legazpi City (named after the conquistador who took over the Philippines in 1545), and to Brenda Locsin’s radio/television studio, station DZGB. Brenda and her husband José own PBN (People’s Broadcasting Network), and are truly fervent Catholics.
Brenda is head of the Legazpi Diocesan Family Life Commission, and has declared PBN to be a “pro-life station,” refusing to accept contraceptive advertising even though it means the loss of substantial income. She even bravely refused to provide a platform for a national senator who was a co-author of the Reproductive Health Bill, and turned down a staggering amount of money so he could push his agenda.
Having truly pro-life media on your side is truly a blessing — it gets pretty wearisome reading even-handed headlines in the lamestream media in the Philippines, such as “Why Do Some Pro-Life Groups Hate Women So Much?”
José and Brenda have Mass in their tiny 25-seat chapel when a priest is available. So they were very happy to have Fr. Boquet celebrate it for the staff. The singing was excellent, as are the working conditions. This station has been operating since 1958, and one of the men hired at the beginning still works there!
In mid-afternoon, we returned to Manila, and it took us two and a half hours to drive the five miles from the airport to our hotel. And to think that the traffic conditions in Manila have greatly improved since the first time I visited here in 1995. . . .
In the afternoon of the next day, we drove to the beautiful home of Attorney Tony and Roby Borja of Quezon City. Fr. Boquet celebrated Mass, and then we gave talks to about 20 people from the local Legion of Mary. We spoke on dissent and how individual people can defend the Culture of Life. The next day, we had a very interesting discussion at the University of Asia and the Pacific with Dr. José Maria Arsenio G. Mariano, the president of the university, Dr. Antonio N. Torralba, senior research fellow, and Attorney Jo M. Imbong, longtime stalwart HLI friend and one of the chief fighters against the RH Bill.
This finished our whirlwind mission, but the fight against the Culture of Death continues to rage intensely in the Philippines, the last Catholic nation on Earth to show any real resistance to the “wickedness and the snares of the Devil.”
Please pray that Mayor Sally wins her second term on May 9, and pray that she ignites a pro-life revolution in her beautiful city and nation. Human Life International will continue to return to the Philippines, strengthening the Culture of Life, until the population suppression cartel finally gets the message: The Philippines is pro-life!
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