Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 18 | Page 7

September 16 - 30, 2018 OPINION PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY Reyfort Publishing & Entertainment  Rey Fortaleza - Publisher Carlito Pablo - Editorial Consultant Rosette Correa - Senior Editor Jun Cordero - Associate Editor Writers - Crisanta Sampang ; Columnists - Geoff Meggs, Ben Berto, Editha Corrales, Mon Datol, Fr. Jerry Orbos SVD, DeeDe e Sytangco, Alan Samuel, Erie Maestro, Sandee M. Ed Malay, Jayne Anastacio, JJAtencio and Willie J. Uy (Manila Bureau Chief) Alvin Barrera / Mon Correa - Graphics and Layout ; Rolly Fortaleza - Graphics Design JoelCastro - Website; Julian Fortaleza - Sports Editor; Ricardo Fortaleza- Sports Photography Editor: Dean Guzman; Photograhers- Charles De Jesus/ Christian Cunanan Office Add: 9955 -149th Street, Surrey, B.C. V3R 7N2 Email: [email protected] Website: www.philippineasiannewstoday.com http://www.reyfortmediagroup.com Tel: (604) 588-news (6397) Fax: (604) 588-6387 Copyright of letters and other materials submitted and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the Publisher may freely reproduce them in any other forms. Opinions and views expressed are of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY. E-mail: [email protected] Breaking Point By Rosette Correa To a lot of people today, it’s all about choices and freedoms. It’s “my right, my choice” to just about anything. It’s about MY food to eat, MY movies to watch, MY clothes to wear, MY ideology to pervade throughout society even if others don’t agree to it. Society has come to a point where it doesn’t matter what others think, feel and say about MY choice - it’s their problem, not mine. Abortion is a highly debated topic in North America because of the great divide that separates the pro- choice from the pro-life advocates. On a Netflix documentary recently, the issue was reduced to one thing - which Chief Justice of what political party appointed him/her would put down his/her signature on the call to reverse the 1973 landmark decision Roe Vs. Wade, which gave women the right to seek an abortion up to the second trimester. Since 1973, Republican standard bearers have chosen to backup Evangelical Christians who call for the reversal of Roe Vs Wade and defund Planned Parenthood, the biggest supplier of abortions since the 1980s, as well as artificial contraception and dead baby parts for stem cell research. To date, there is a stalemate as to which way the vote for the reversal would sway, as Democrats Clinton’s and Obama’s presidencies put three pro-choice justices in the SC, and it is the hope of pro-life advocates that Republican backed Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court Bulong Pulungan By Deedee Siytangco Reprinted from Manila Bulletin ANGEL THOUGHTS ‘Every Artist was once an amateur.’ —Ralph Waldo Emmerson ‘Creativity takes courage.’ — Henri Matisse On another “rare night out” for this grandma, we went to Solaire for “The Best of Aliw” concert. The gaming tables were full as with slot machines. We glided past them to have dinner with September celebrant, Alice de la Cruz, her husband Joel, Cecile Patricio of the SM Group, and Beth Sison Tagle, with another September celebrant, Charo Yu and her son Jay. Then on to the musical, which we learned, was a collaboration by The Right to Choose Life would finally be the signature that would reverse the abortion law. There are already many states who have reduced the number of abortion clinics, especially after the exposure of partial late terms abortions, and many are following suit. Do you notice anything? While politicians and pro- choice advocates talk about women’s rights to reproductive health and abortion, there is no mention about the unborn child, or his/her right to live. It’s all about science, healthcare for women, and their right to choose. One congressman from Texas asked, “What if the mother had a conversation with her unborn child? What would the child tell his/her mother?” Still, the angry crowd in Texas shouted, “Women’s rights! Women’s’ rights!” and nothing about the rights of the unborn child. It doesn’t really matter, as Hillary Clinton herself said, because the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights. I’m confused. She used the word “person” to describe what was inside the womb, and if you are a person, you are a citizen of a country, therefore, you have rights. If the “thing” inside the mother’s womb is not a person yet, what is it that Hillary Clinton carried in her womb for nine months before she came out as Chelsea Clinton? In the States, it’s a political battle for pro- choice advocates, while it is a moral one for pro-lifers. Who cares what the child will feel, being torn apart , limb by limb, while the abortion doctor counts the number of pieces it has on the tray beside the mother who is both in physical and psychological agony over a decision she had to make because the state said it was okay to kill her own child? Abortion affects both the mother and child, and many studies have seen its effects on women for many years. The public just doesn’t get to see it. They only get the side that says the rights of a woman have been upheld, even though the rights of the unborn baby were not. And what about Canada? While the States has the “decency” to discuss and debate on the topic, Canada has no law on the termination of pregnancies. A pregnancy can be terminated up to the ninth month of pregnancy. In more gruesome terms, a child can be murdered until the time that it is about to enter into the world. Canada has no laws, either federal or provincial, governing when abortion may not be performed. If you phone the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario, they will tell you there is no abortion regulation, but it is up to each individual physician. To date, about 110,000 abortions are performed in Canada yearly, and 77% of people do not know that Canada has no law on abortion. While the goal is not to have it at all, to at least protect fetal life in the late stages of pregnancy, as Parliament was told by Canadian Supreme Court in the 1970s , should be enforced. While we waste time working on laws on how to distribute marijuana, and wondering who to vote for in the next elections who would ruin our dreams of owning a home, hundreds of Canadians die every day because they are aborted. September 30 is Life Chain, and will h appen all over Vancouver. Families, individuals, and communities who value life will let the city know that it regards all human life as sacred - from conception to its natural end. Where will you be on that day? MUSIC, POETRY, AND DANCE AT THE ‘BEST OF ALIW’ Aliw Awards Foundation, Inc., the Inner Wheel Clubs of the Philippines, District 381, and Solaire Resort and Casino. Solaire, it seems, likes encouraging OPM performances, so we had a first class theater. Established in 1976, the AAFI started the practice of bringing together its top awardees in one show called the Entertainers of the Year in 2006, to give the public the opportunity to watch great entertainment. This year, Elizabeth Sison Tagle, 381 District chairman of the Inner Wheel Clubs of the Philippines and former AAFI president, agreed to co-produce the project, thus hitting two birds with one stone by helping the two organizations close to her heart raise funds for their projects and providing the public with the best entertainment possible in one magical night. Beth was very millennially dressed that night, shimmering in her denims and her sequined rubber loafers—talk about bling! Solaire Resort and Casino, in line with its objective of promoting OPM and Filipino artists, offered The Theatre as a venue for “The Best of Aliw.” Since this was a first for all three, it turned out to be not so much a financial but an artistic, creative success. Freddie Santos, Aliw Hall of Famer, is to be credited for the WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM innovative presentation of combining song, dance, instrument, and poetry in a single show. From the start, he wanted this concert to be different from every other concerts presented in the Philippines. And he succeeded. So, kudos, Freddie! The talented cast enthusiastically agreed to recite the poems chosen by Freddie in different dialects and languages. Stars of today and yesteryears took turns in reciting the poems Direk Freddie assigned to them. The concert was truly unique, with the lovely young dancers of the Halili-Cruz Dance Company performing between the stars’ numbers and Merjohn Lagaya CONT PAGE 11