The new law will guarantee the implementation of rules and regulations on how the state, including all government agencies, would respect the right of Filipinos to choose their religion.

“With this bill, Filipinos will be encouraged to pursue spiritual growth by affording them the freedom to conduct their lives in accordance with their faith or religious belief without the fear of persecution, threat, or punishment,” lawmaker Eddie Villanueva said in a speech endorsing the law.

Villanueva lauded his fellow lawmakers after careful deliberation and rewriting the bill to make it “inclusive” to all forms of faith, including those who wanted to exercise their right not to believe.

“… this measure also aims to promote a free market of religious ideas in the country where no religion is suppressed or quelled over the other. By leveling the playing field for the propagation of different religions, Filipinos are afforded the full spectrum of varying faiths and the freedom to choose to which they will subscribe,” Villanueva added.

The bill has enumerated the rights of every person to propagate one’s religious beliefs, the right to disseminate religious publications, the right to religious worship and ceremonies, the right to organizational independence, and the right to freedom against discrimination in employment.

The law criminalizes compelling a person, by means of force, threat, intimidation, or punishment to choose or not to choose a religion; to obstruct, hinder or prevent the flow of access to religious information; to defame, harass, or humiliate a person by reason of one’s religious belief, among others.

The Magna Carta on Religious Freedom Act was first tabled in 2021 but faced criticisms from humanist and non-religious groups for allegedly being “too Christian.”

Religious minorities like Muslims, and atheists, cried foul over the language and form of the bill that allegedly assumed all Filipinos were Christians.

“For far too long, the non-religious, atheists, and humanists have never been given a voice nor their sentiments heard in any policies or bills crafted by our lawmakers despite the Philippines being a secular State. And if this Magna Carta of Religious Freedom becomes a law, it will endanger the lives of many people, not only the non-religious but even civil groups,” Javan Poblador, Chief Executive Officer of Humanist Alliance Philippines, told reporters in May 2021.

Several Muslim leaders have likewise opposed the passage for giving the preferential option to Christians but not to non-Christians.

“The Magna Carta of Religious Freedom is supposedly aimed at protecting the right of the public to freedom of religion or belief. But instead, it gave preferential treatment to religious groups, especially Christians, while completely excusing humanist and minor religious groups,” Muslim scholar Ismael Ahadas told UCA News.

The Philippine atheist society said that approving the bill disregarded the international human rights standards on the right to religious belief, including the right not to believe in any form of deity or religion.

“The bill may have repercussions for humanist organizations and activists, as well as broader civil society in the Philippines, who are already forced to operate in an increasingly authoritarian environment marked by repressive ‘red-tagging’ practices and the abuse of anti-terrorism legislation,” Filipino atheist Gismar Ocaya told UCA News.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said it was not easy to draft a bill that would cater to all denominations but outlining religious rights was a “necessity” in every democratic society.

“We need to know what our specific rights are… and what the corresponding punishment is should anyone dare violate that right,” Father Joven Hestula from the CBCP Commission on Ecumenical Affairs told UCA News.

The post Philippine law to protect religious freedom appeared first on Hizolalaw.

“We need a new law to recreate a new Department of National Defense,” Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

In an earlier interview Teodoro told CNN Philippines that he wants to reform the department and called for an increase in “investments” to enable the DND to do what it needs to as service providers of its agencies. 

Agencies under the DND are the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Office of Civil Defense, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, the National Defense College of the Philippines, and the Government Arsenal.

Teodoro said the new law should encompass “the evolving definition of national security.”

The DND chief said this will allow the creation of “an evolving structure where skill sets can be developed, we can grow our own capabilities in order to better serve the five agencies under us and serve the national interest.”

Teodoro has said he will push for a bigger budget for the DND given the need to acquire more capital assets to boost military capabilities, add infrastructures, and improve overall national defense.

The post New law needed to reform DND, secretary says appeared first on Hizolalaw.

Miriam Azurin, GAIA deputy director for Asia-Pacific, said the full implementation of laws such as Republic Act (RA) Nos. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and 11898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility is the solution to waste issues.

“Meron na tayong mga batas (We already have laws), so it’s just a matter of implementation and education to the citizens,” Azurin said during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

Azurin noted that the proposal to resort to waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration would be a deterrent to the full enactment of RA Nos. 9003 and 11898.

“So, all of these legislations, if there’s waste-to-energy, ay hindi po siya magiging (will not be) successful because there will always be a plan to burn those plastics and will encourage plastic production or production of plastic waters kasi kailangan iyon (because that is needed),” she said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2019 issued guidelines on the establishment and operations of WTE facilities, but environment advocates challenged them before the Supreme Court in 2021.

DENR assured at the time that Administrative Order No. 2019-21 on WTE followed set guidelines and targets for solid waste avoidance and volume reduction through source reduction and waste minimization measures in accordance with ecologically sustainable development practices.

The agency said the guidelines comply with Presidential Decree 1586 (Establishing an Environmental Impact Assessment System); emission standards as contained in RA 8749 (Clean Air Act); effluent standards as contained in RA 9275 (Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004); and regulation on the use and disposal of hazardous substances and waste as stipulated in RA 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Act of 1990).

Azurin said WTE projects with incineration processes have an adverse impact on health, livelihood and the environment.

She said GAIA intends to hold a day of action against incineration during the Asian Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on June 13 to 16 to call for the cessation of support for WTE incineration.

She said this year’s ACEF would serve as another venue to promote “false” solutions such as the adoption of WTE technologies.

Azurin also lamented that international financing institutions, such as the ADB, insist that WTE incineration is the single solution to waste and energy problems. (PNA)

The post Advocacy group says law enforcement is the solution to the waste problem appeared first on Hizolalaw.