Sinking Republic

Today is the 40th day of the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, a maritime tragedy that led to the death of about 800 passengers. An unknown number of bodies remain stuck inside the ship, along with several toxic cargoes, and the ship is still visible just a few meters off the shorelines of Sibuyan Island, its hull sticking out of the funereal, otherworldly calmness of the sea. For several weeks now, our office has been participating in the congressional inquiry on the disaster.

If the congressional inquiry has led to anything, it is this: a tragedy of that magnitude couldn’t have been an act of God or fate. Ignore the grandstanding of legislators who could only think in terms of soundbites. Some questions that were raised during the hearing actually point to the root of the disaster, and they tell us that the archipelago is actually littered with floating coffins.

For instance, why are roll-on, roll-off (Ro-ro) ships like the MV Princess of the Stars being used in the Philippines when in fact they are not suitable for open seas? Evidence points to the fact that Ro-ros are among the most dangerous ships to use for navigation. They are strictly regulated in other countries: they can’t sail for more than 10 miles, are only allowed to sail in inland waters, and only if they are near the shoreline. It is not appropriate for the wave height of open seas even under normal weather, so just imagine how difficult it was to steer MV Princess of the Stars when it was already in the middle of the storm. Compared to other types of sea vessels, Ro-ros sink fast because of its design; survivors of the recent tragedy all said that the ship sank fifteen minutes after the ship’s master issued his abandon call.

Pro-life, anti-abortion

pro-life, pro-choice

Anti-Abortion Device

SHARE IT IF YOU LIKE IT!

GMA’s Quiapo politics

But then again, what’s new? Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) may be a pathological liar, clearly a fraudulent president, a human rights violator, but she is an economist, one that got her education in the West at that. In short, she knows the economic perils of an exponential population growth and the burden it imposes on government resources. She knows, too, the strategic benefit of increasing access to reproductive health in terms of healthcare access for women and, ironically, in reducing cases abortion.

Why, then, this position? It is not devoutness, although she has claimed that God spoke directly to her to urge her to run during the last presidential elections (A curious Vatican gift to the Philippines. God is known to be partisan in the Philippines, and he has always made it a point to pick several candidates during elections). Her position is political – she doesn’t want to offend the talibans in the Catholic hierarchy, whose support has always been crucial for her political survival. One could not separate her position from the repeated refusal of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to call for her resignation, impeachment or ouster.

What unites the position of the Catholic hierarchy and GMA’s is fraud and fundamentalism. CBCP has anchored its anti-abortion campaign on the Reproductive Health Bill despite the fact that the bill does not legalize abortion. The truth is, it would take more than an act of Congress to legalize abortion in the country: a constitutional provision that requires the State to “protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception” is popularly interpreted to be a de facto ban on abortion.