MANILA, Philippines - At least 5,000 faithful attended Thursdays prayer rally against reproductive health bills in Iloilo City, a day before a similar pro-life march-rally was to take place in Manila, a radio report said.
Visayas-based Bombo Radyo reported that 5,000 residents flocked to the Freedom Grandstand in Iloilo City for the prayer rally led by Jaro archbishop Angel Lagdameo.
"The church is not against family planning. The church is not against population management," Lagdameo said in his homily at the mass, but stressed that the morality of the couple must be respected.
He added the reproductive health bill in Congress was a "play on words" and was meant to fool people.
Lagdameo is president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and is expected to attend Friday's prayer-march from the Santo Domingo Church to the University of Santo Tomas.
The report said most of the participants were students from major schools and universities in the province. Priests and nuns also attended.
However, the report also said the students had their attendance checked.
Speakers at the gathering lectured on the value of life and how the proposed reproductive health measures, now pending in Congress supposedly, conflict with the value of life.
Lagdameo said there is a need for people to bring back the sense of God, which he said brings with it a sense of dignity and the dignity of life. - GMANews.TV