12/17/2012
Hello followers,
It has been a long while since the last update.
While this remained largely stagnant, the articles that remain testify to the very need of the RH Bill in the Philippines. A need that, as of 7:00pm on this date, has been addressed and enacted into law.
I never thought i’d be writing this entry, but I am glad that I am.
Face the Facts was a small but, I felt, a necessary movement. It started from an anti-RH billboard that I saw near Guadalupe station MRT - erected right behind the commercial center, among working class homes and steps away from the squatters area. That particular area is known for being near the most expensive billboards along EDSA (The bench billboards, for those wondering). Money that could have gone into relief operations and care went into propaganda. Of note, while there was a time the billboard was taken down - I saw it again, even nearer EDSA, which means they paid even MORE money to get it to the people.
Meanwhile, and this is with respect to friends who work among the ranks of the extreme secularists: I did not like that the fight, for a time, seemed to be an issue of “your god vs. my god, or non-god”. I was then— a non-practicing Catholic. I believed in God, but I also believed in the RH Bill. I am for secularism, but I wasn’t so hot on the Bible bashing. It wasn’t about whose God it was, it was science; it’s health, it’s blatant misinformation that cost lives.
So, came Face the Facts. It took awhile, eventually the Christian sensibility did come out and joined in the good fight.
I was pessimistic about seeing the bill passed in my generation, I had thought that most Pinoys would listen to the sway of the Catholic Church more than reason. I am so glad to have been proven wrong.
Through Face the Facts, it has been a pleasure to see both sides of the coin. It was interesting to see how people addressed the advocacy. I learned a little more about the Filipino in the process.
In the end, as exhausted as I was with the issue, I am so glad that sense prevailed.
Today, I saw my government work. I believe it is a blessing, and in itself, a miracle.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed, ‘hearted’, and plugged this movement, especially for putting the blog on tumblr radar.
Personal thank yous: to Reis, for being the first one onboard with it. Thank you, Marco and Lauren, for being among the first to plug and mention it in later blog entries. To Vicky Ortega, for those long lunches and for sharing her own insight from her own advocacies in the provinces.
To Cholo Laurel, for allowing me to extend the core of this advocacy via Positivism.
And to Carlos Celdran, who indulged my tiny request for a retweet that got my followers in the hundreds in ONE DAY. Thank you for the good fight. Till the next time I walk your way. ;)
All my love,
Mia
http://miamarci.wordpress.com and http://miamarci-ink.tumblr.com
