First, let me extend a very warm welcome to the many new Filipino readers that have discovered this blog in the past 24 hours. My husband is from Australia, so I do get down to that part of the world on occasion and I hope to visit your beautiful country at some point in the future.
It is great to have you here, although the circumstances of our meeting are, to say the least, unusual.
It seems one of your esteemed Senators, Tito Sotto, plagiarized a blog post I wrote on February 23, 2011 entitled How The Pill Can Harm Your Future Child’s Health, lifting entire sections of the article basically word for word that was delivered in a speech to the Senate Floor regarding the possible passage of the highly controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
What’s worse, Senator Sotto is denying the charge of plagiarism, saying in an interview with ABS-CBN:
“Why would I quote the blogger? I was quoting Natasha McBride.”
Nice touch Senator. Â You almost had me convinced you were a nice guy with the tears and all.
Many of your citizens have emailed me assuring me that was a put on, and I’m starting to think they are right.
A thief is a thief, Mr. Senator. Â Denying it doesn’t get you off the hook; it just makes you a lying thief.
On the bright side, I am thrilled that your lapse of moral judgment has brought much-needed attention to the fact that the birth control pill can have devastating consequences to a woman’s long term health and possibly those of her children and even grandchildren.  Gut dysbiosis is a serious condition that has multi-generational consequences that women need to be educated about and completely aware of before making the very personal decision to use them.
It was indeed brave of you to take this controversial position. Â Kudos to you for that.
By the way, I am truly sorry for the loss of your son.
As the mother of two sons myself, I can only imagine the pain and devastation you have felt from such an experience.
While this has been a highly charged and hopefully enlightening experience for all involved, it’s time now to set the drama aside and get back to fighting the good fight by continuing to educate people about how their food and pharma choices affect not only themselves but also those they dearly love.
And although my attorney will likely try to persuade me otherwise, for now I’m moving on as I’ve got work to do.
Women of the Philippines: I am terribly sorry my blog was used and twisted against you. You deserve the choice to use The Pill if you want or need to based on your particular circumstances. While I want you to know that this choice has health consequences as does the decision to use any pharmaceutical drug, I in no way would ever condone taking this choice away from you! Â Mabuhay!
What I can say about RH Bill already posted in my blog at
http://arvin95.blogspot.com/2011/05/rh-bill.html
Kahit pa may RH bill na hindi pa rin masosolusyonan ang pagdami ng populasyon dahil likas na sa mga Pilipino ang pagiging malibog.
As a Catholic, I think it is a far greater sin to create a human being that you can’t feed than to take a pill that will prevent you from the forced starvation of children.
Also, regarding RH bill. Sadly, I know that our certain hobby back home is yep, laying some pipe down on the misis or the mister. Cheap, healthy and of course nobody gets tired o that. The thing is, I know how rich our country is regarding natural resources also it has been said that the country can be sustained by using Mindanao’s resources alone. There ain’t no problem with the country, the thing is, our government has been fucking up our shit ever since after the Marcos regime. I’m tellin yah, if I can bring that nigga back to life, aw shit, errthang would be different. Everything just keeps on going up, gas prices, food, jesus even rice is so expensive now. Taxes is also a bitch, but I DON’T see any kind of progress. I visited Phils. last June, I must say, there is a ton of those Government projects that aren’t finished. Flooding is still an issue and several other things. It is somewhat depressing to see how a country so full of potential being torn asunder by the fucking government. Y’all need to see how far behind we are compared to the other ASEAN nations. Vietnam is amazing, economy is booming. Japan got atom bombed twice less than a hundred years ago, got hit by major earthquakes, a big ass tsunami and look how it is right now. Google the before and after images of Japan, now that’s how a government should be like.
Don’t use kudos, he ain’t gonna figure out what that is. And puhlease tell that guy tito stop using the “i lost my son” routine. That shit done been used already. I dunno why people o the motherland keep on puttin celebrities in places of power. I can name a few celeb politicians that I know for a fact that really do an amazing freakin job at governance, like Vilma Santos! Much props to yah lady, you really do try. I spent half my life in Batangas, Phils, and here at Queens, NYC. I know how hard life is in the motherland, but I am still hoping though, that one day Pinas would change. Change for the good. What Tito Sotto did, is an embarrassing and cruel reminder that we need to be a tad more strict regarding picking our candidates for government. If that guy can’t do proper research and reading and has to resort to PLAGIARISM to make a decent speech, who knows what else has this guy fucked up coz of his laziness. Jesus, Grab a book man, Honestly.
Senator Sotto must say sorry to Sara.End of the story. Personally, the main problem is that there are lot of Filipinos who are not aware of their options iregardless of their class.There is family planning. My mother undergone for a ligation after giving birth of 6 children but my father was not in favor of it. I saw my mom using pills before being ligated but still she got pregnant because somethimes she skipped to take one so meaning if she didnt take pills then she would have more than 6 children? I am from lower-lower class of family and I know how hard it is to provide the needs of our family and one thing I learned is that we have choices in life. We can plan our family but given the safest option that will not ruin the health of the mother and child.Education is the key to promote the healthy family and healthy country. Execution of the law after being educated is next to productive individual.
WELL SAID, AGLACAW! I cannot agree more!
This is first hand experience. You? What’s your basis for your stand?
EVERYBODY MUST RESPECT EACH OTHERS OPINIONS! Otherwise, all these “intelligent” comments and remarks would amount to NOTHING at all. I strongly suggest to everyone to just leave your personal comments and NOT TO DEMEAN or CRITICIZE OTHERS for what they believe in. Having said that, here’s my 2 cents worth:
1) ON THE ISSUE OF PLAGIARISM
Obviously, there will be opposing ideas as to whether Sen. Sotto indeed committed plagiarism by lifting portions (big or small) from the blog of SARAH and using it in his speech on the SENATE floor. I SAY, IF IT WAS INDEED PLAGIARISM, THEN THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY FIND OUT IS FOR MS. GRACE TO SUE IN COURT ( whichever court she deems she will have a good chance to win). Otherwise, SEN. SOTTO and his STAFF must apologize and Ms. Grace SHOULD ACCEPT the apology and that’s that! WE CAN NOW CONTINUE WITH THE BUSINESS IN HAND AND THAT IS THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE BILL.
2) ON THE ISSUE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE BILL
Again, as human beings with different mind sets/characters/intelligence and religious beliefs, we expect OPPOSING OPINIONS on the matter. Obviously, there ARE CERTAIN CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES that must be discussed thoroughly so that a COMPROMISE CAN BE REACHED.
But what is VERY important and NOW QUITE URGENT is to ADDRESS the sorry state of the HEALTH CARE of our Filipino women (the poor and the ignorant and NOT the rich, affluent women with just one, two or three children). I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT IT IS THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT THAT PROVIDES THE MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PROS AND THE CONS OF THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL. Most of those who oppose the bill do not see the complete picture which really includes and PERTAINS to the underprivileged. HOW CAN THERE BE REAL FREEDOM OF CHOICE IF THEY DO NOT KNOW ALL THE CHOICES AVAILABLE!
“The only thing CONSTANT in this world is CHANGE”. Lest I be accused of PLAGIARISM, I would like to cite the person who FIRST USED THAT PHRASE.
The Philippines now has 100 MILLION in population. While the God-given natural resources of the country may still be enough to cater to the FOOD NEEDS of such a RELATIVELY BIG POPULATION, can you imagine the FOOD, HOUSING, HEALTH etc situation after 20 years from now when the present 100 MILLION can be extrapolated to reach 150 MILLION at the present POPULATION GROWTH RATE! Do we need to wait for this time before we will ACT? Will we have to follow CHINA’s POLICY of INE CHILD PER FAMILY after 40 years when our population would grow to about 300 MILLION by then?
WE MUST ACT NOW WHILE THE SITUATION IS STILL MANAGEABLE! IT IS OUR MORAL OBLIGATION THAT BEFORE WE BRING ANOTHER CHILD INTO THIS WORLD, WE MUST HAVE SOMETHING FOR HIS FUTURE!
One thing is for sure, GOD GAVE US FREE WILL and INTELLIGENCE to be able to decipher what is right and what is wrong, TO ADJUST OUR BELIEFS BASED ON THE CHANGING TIMES!
Madam, I don’t know what you’re views are personally, but if you’re quoting from someone of dubious claim, I don’t know if you should even raise an issue on the potential side-effects of contraception.
http://filipinofreethinkers.org/2012/08/16/sottos-pseudoscientific-source-who-is-natasha-campbell-mcbride/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+FilipinoFreethinkers+(Filipino+Freethinkers)
SOTTORIZE v- To plagiarize, then deny, then deflect, then delegate the blame.