REVISITING INTRAMUROS

I remember a few years back when I had my last tour of Intramuros. My fiance found out that my last visit was way back when I was in grade school and my recall of the place was already quite hazzy. It was a romantic date. We visited the churches in the area - Manila Cathedral and San Agustin. It was quite nostalgic. The churches withstood the test of time and several centuries of change. The adobe walls though ancient represented the remarkable strength of stability. As we walked the streets, some still bore the same bricks that lined the path over 200 years ago, my mind played images of how life might have been during our history's Spanish era.

However, Intramuros is home to the darkest ages of my country's history. That was the time when the Philippines was under the Spanish colonial rule. The church, although advocating Christianity also was imperialistic. The priests then abused their power using religion to govern and influence the country. To be excommunicated by a priest was like being outcast and condemned from heaven! Sadly, history has a strange way of repeating itself.

A few days ago, Carlos Celdran, a famous tour guide of intramuros and a very vocal advocate of the Reproductive Health bill (RH Bill) made headline news. He interrupted a mass by appearing in Manila Cathedral, dressed in a black suit and hat looking like Jose Rizal, with a huge placard bearing large dark letters that said "DAMASO". For those who did not know, Damaso is a notorious and abusive spanish friar in Jose Rizal's subversive novel Noli me Tangere.  This irked the priests and they called the police to have Carlos put in jail for a night.

Now Carlos is not an ordinary citizen. He comes from a very affluent family and he is well educated. He did not do what he did out of a whim. In my opinion, he was very gutsy with his approach in calling the churches attention regarding a major issue that has been pervading the country for several administrations. Quoting a friend: "This guy has balls!"

The issue here is the RH bill. The Phillipine population has grown out of proportion and there was a need for the government to do some measures to keep it under control. The RH bill states that the government will educate its people in all the methods of birth control. It does not support abortion but will provide post-abortion assistance without condemning the person. The catholic church has been protesting the sanctioning of this bill under the belief that any form of contraception is like abortion itself. The constant meddling of the church has contributed to the delay of this bill's approval and implementation. And while all this dilly dallying is going on, the population is increasing by the minute.

What Carlos Celdran did was merely to express what most advocates of the RH bill feels. The constant interferance of church in state affairs greatly reminds us of the Spanish era when "Damaso" ruled. His arrest and imprisonment only justified the thought how the church still lived in the colonial mentality when freedom of expression was taboo.

The country is now under the new administration of President Noynoy Aquino, son of a former president. They too are very much Catholic but Pnoy is very adamant on his stance on the RH bill. It fell on his hands the tough responsibility of dealing with the church's influence in this issue. The RH bill was passed on from several administrations with no resolve. Hopefully the buck stops with him and finally there will be a solution to the population explosion with a common ground that will satisfy all sectors of society. The challenge there is how he will keep the intermarraige of church and state on a peaceful level. There were news that the church was threatening to excommunicate the president for his views on this bill. This is so ridiculous since the last excommunication that I know of happened during Rizal's time!

What saddens me is that I now see Intramuros for what it is. Intramuros is still a beautiful landmark of our history but it reminds me of how the church's mentality is still trapped in that ancient time.  It is home of the CBCP who are a mere handful of men who do not see the entire picture of what our modern society is all about. Yes people and morals have changed. We no longer live in the skirts of Maria Clara. The choice of birth control should be left of the individual provided you educate them with all the possible methods. The church should be there to guide us spiritually in making the right decisions, not to impose what they feel is right for them.

Intramuros and its beautiful adobe walls now is a concrete representation of how the country continues to live in its Spanish colonial mentality. The church is as stubborn as its adobe walls which explains why our society has not progressed despite the passing of centuries. I understand fully why Carlos Celdran chose such a venue to air his grievances in a manner that stole headlines. As I updated myself with the news, it was like revisiting Intramuros for me. It's a wonderful place trapped in time, but not a place I would like to be in.