What should the DOH do about the CBCP?

I asked the titular question at this morning’s HIV Summit hosted by the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC). The event started with several speakers discussing the state of HIV and AIDS in the country; and the measures that must be taken by the people in attendance — mostly leaders from different sectors of society who share HIV/AIDS as an advocacy.

After the talks the participants were allowed to ask questions and make comments. Several participants had their say, some raising issues not mentioned in the talks. These issues were addressed, often at length, sometimes by more than one person.

Yet with the hundreds in attendance, in none of the talks, questions, and comments did anyone raise the CBCP issue. The CBCP is and has been the strongest political opponent of the DOH or any other sexual health advocacy group since Ever. The recent death of the RH Bill is almost entirely thanks to them. More recently, Secretary Cabral, PNAC Chairperson and Secretary of Health, has received harsh criticism and has even been pressured to resign from her post.

The CBCP Problem was the elephant in the room, and I couldn’t wait to cry elephant.

I got my chance toward the end of the open forum. I’ve embedded the video below. (It’s not in the video, but I asked the question using the microphone at the table assigned for members of faith-based groups, which was only a few meters away from mine.)

In case you’re wondering what the answer to my question was, there was none. The reason for this could have been the lack of time (we were about to have lunch) or the lack of an answer. But I realized later why they had their tongues tied.

Shortly after I asked the question, at the faith-based table sat an elephant — Bishop Yniguez, CBCP public affairs director. Ceremoniously, the event host acknowledged the presence of His Eminence. And the participants, leaders in the fight against HIV and AIDS, advocates of artificial family planning and comprehensive sexual health education, applauded.

24 comments

  1. I'm glad you threw that on the table for people to see. My mother's an OBGYN and she would've loved to see that question addressed. I may show her this clip.

  2. tsk tsk, kaya pala nagiging zoo na ating bansa, too many sacred cows and elephants in to room.

    Remember moral story of Orwell's "Animal Farm"? where the pigs proved that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The CBCP needs to learn about boundaries

  3. Hey, I think it was great you brought up the topic despite the bishop. They are THERE on that Meeting, for that Day. But for the rest of the year EVERY STEP and EVERY Effort the DOH makes in reproductive health they will be undermining it. Sure they sent a TOKEN bishop, talking about sacrificing bishops, but they had MORE than one left.

    Strategically speaking- what the point of letting them in when the entire organization will still undermine the RH effort wasting money and effort of the government? There is no strategic value IMO. 1 Bishop cannot go against the church without being defrocked and already they have begun the polarization by calling all people who agree with RH to "re-examine" their faith.

    Nakikisakay lang sila sa credibilty ng DOH. disgusting.

  4. Hi Ryan,

    I think Dr. Tayag set the tone early on when he said, "the debate about condoms is over." That for me was the strongest rebuke against the CBCP. We shall see of course, that this is translated when we develop the next AIDS Medium Term Plan. And the CSOs will definitely ensure that effective prevention programmes are in place — regardless of what the CBCP says. It will be a lot of work, but the ground has been laid.

    • Hi Malu,

      Did he also say that? If so, then there were at least two speakers who did (the one I remembered saying that was a woman). By the way, outside the room, when the speakers were on the way to the press conference in the second floor, I ran into Dr. Tayag. He told me: "Thanks for asking *that* question." I wanted to ask him for an answer but soon the media was already interviewing him.

      During our group discussion on resources the problem of the CBCP was brought up by several people. I wonder if the other groups — aside from the one with a CBCP representative, of course — brough it up, too.

      I guess what I mean is everyone in the room knows it is a problem. But for whatever reason, perhaps political or maybe even religious respect, no one could say it directly. If it were only in the summit this wouldn't be such a problem. But I'm afraid what our country is going through is just a scaled up version of the elephant in the summit issue.

      But yes — I'm sure the DOH and everyone in the summit will do all they can to further the goals of our shared advocacy. And the CBCP will continue to try to oppose us every step of the way. The question is, are we willing to do something different about them this time?

Leave a reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here