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| A young family |
Since I work around the Barangay Ayala-Alabang area, I can't help but be concerned with the barangay ordinances they come up with. The barangay council of south Manila's most affluent village address recently issued an order seeking to penalize anyone selling and buying contraceptives without a doctor's prescription. This ordinance made some noise the past week, mostly objections, citing that it conflicts with other laws and presents itself to privacy issues. As for the part of the barangay, they were firm in their ordinance. However, the city of Muntinlupa has recently disapproved the ordinance at the height of the issue. This now means that anyone in Barangay Ayala-Alabang can freely buy condoms regardless of reason. Getting a prescription costs at least P250, whereas a three-piece condom pack is just P10. If this ordinance got in the way, I think I would suggest to a possible condom consumer to shell out eight pesos for fare to Las Pinas or Alabang instead of seeking a prescription worth P250. It is good that it didn't. I have to laud the barangay, though; it did show some balls in there by coming up with that barangay resolution. But, apparently, there were more with bigger balls, who went against the influential barangay council.
The barangay condom issue came at a time when the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is making its rounds at Congress. At mass this Sunday, there was a prayer dedicated to counter the RH Bill. The sight of the people kneeling and saying the prayer sends a strong message, I have to admit. I did kneel with the rest, but I prayed more for my future wife and mothers who would make decisions in their lives later on. I hope they make good ones as the one I am making in support of the RH Bill.
on my way home, the jeepney driver and (presumably) his wife had four kids between them. none of them looked a day older than five, and they were sharing coke in a plastic. i felt sad -- the couple looked really young -- and to be burdened with sooo many mouths to feed, minds to educate, and bodies to clothe is just too much in this horrible economy. i'm a staunch catholic, and i too, knelt when the parish said its prayer to counter the RH bill. but that couple i saw earlier could've benefited from some form of contraceptive, natural or otherwise.
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