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PHILIPPINES
Presidential scandal
Cardinal calls for resignation
Manila’s Cardinal Jaime Sin called for the resignation of Philippines President Joseph Estrada as a gambling scandal connected to the president threatened to explode into a major political crisis.
Estrada rejected the claim that he had received 414 million pesos (US$8.7 million) in payoffs from gambling kingpins and said he would not resign. “The president is in a fighting mood. . . . (He) said he would not step down as he was duly elected by a majority of the electorate,” said presidential spokesman Ricardo Puno.
Cardinal Sin issued his demand as the Senate opened a formal investigation into the allegations against Estrada. “In the light of all the scandals that have besmirched the image of the Presidency in the last two years, we stand by our conviction that he has lost the moral ascendancy to govern,” said a statement from the priests of Manila and signed by Cardinal Sin. “We believe that . . . for the good of the people, he must relinquish his office and turn it over to his constitutional successor.”
Abortion pill
Bishops recall constitutional protections for unborn
The Philippines, the mostly Catholic Asian country where protection for the unborn is enshrined in the constitution, may legalize the abortion drug RU-486.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported, “Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez was quoted earlier as saying that RU-486 is not an abortive drug.” The paper also said, “He was reported as saying that if the drug’s manufacturer filed for registration with the Bureau of Food and Drugs, the application would be treated like any other and would not be blocked.”
Romualdez’ claim has sparked massive reaction in the country. The Philippine Bishops’ Conference noted that all those who take RU-486 are automatically excommunicated. Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the bishops’ conference, corrected Romualdez, noting that RU-486 is not only an abortifacient, but is abortion itself. “Ipso facto excommunication. It does not have to be announced anymore. It is automatic,” Msgr. Quitorio said in a news briefing.
Philippine Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad has urged the Department of Health to ban RU-486. “RU-486 is the equivalent of a miniature chemical bomb detonated inside a mother’s womb,” he said. He told the Senate that the US approval of the drug allows American women to wage chemical warfare against unborn children “in the name of the so-called right to choose and the right to privacy.” Romualdez admitted to the press that the country’s Department of Health had recently registered Levonorgestrel, an abortifacient “morning-after” pill.
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