The article critiques a tactic used by some representatives of the Philippine Church to pressure legislators to vote against House Bill 5043, commonly known as the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill). The tactic involves threatening politicians who support the RH Bill with a Church-organized campaign against them in the 2010 elections. In the author’s assessment, such a tactic is inconsistent with the Church’s way of proceeding and that it distorts the proper role of the Church in politics. Comparing the Church campaign against the RH Bill to warfare, the author draws from the “just war” tradition of the Church to argue that the use of political pressure is an unethical means to oppose the RH Bill.
ISSN 1656-2739 (Online)
Philippine E-Journals
