|  | Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula
Interim President, Human Life International
| | Dear friends, I've sent you this urgent email because all of us who count ourselves among the people of life here in the United States need to take immediate action in order to help the Church in the Philippines defeat a very serious attempt to impose abortion on the Filipino people. In a very real sense, what's about to hit the island of the Philippines is the moral equivalent of the monstrous tsunami that struck Japan a few weeks ago. Without question, the "abortion tsunami" has already overwhelmed most of Asia and is killing millions of innocent children. And now a rogue wave is bearing down on the Philippines and threatens to sweep away this Catholic pro-life stronghold. To help Human Life International erect the spiritual dikes and dams needed to protect the people of the Philippines, it is critically important that you click here and send Human Life International the largest contribution you can make today. Here's the situation and why your immediate help is so critically needed. As they have done for the past several years, anti-life forces are once again trying to ram the abortion-laden "Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act" bill through the Philippine Congress. And if they succeed this time, the President of the country says he'll sign the bill into law. If that happens, it will mean the total destruction of the Philippines as we know it today. This is why I've sent you this urgent email and why I'm counting on you to click here and help HLI defend the Filipino people, and other life-loving people around the world. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has come out strongly against the "Reproductive Health" bill. The bishops rightly call it a "moral corruption" and Jo Imbong, CBCP Legal Counsel, says the bill "undermines fundamental rights and the ideals and aspirations of Filipinos as written in the Constitution." Our man on the ground in the Philippines, Dr. Rene Bullecer, reports that Western organizations such as USAID and UNFPA have spent over $600 million promoting the bill. Dr. Ligaya Acosta, HLI's Regional Coordinator for Asia, made this bold public statement: "Our President ran and won on an anti-corruption/anti-poverty platform. We wish to tell him that there is a corruption worse than corruption of money, and that is corruption of human lives and moral values. And there is a poverty worse than material poverty and that is spiritual poverty. We also wish to remind our legislators that we elected them to serve the authentic aspirations of the Filipino people and not to serve the imperialistic agenda of international death peddlers who are bribing them with mind-boggling amounts of money." And because of the courageous leadership of both the bishops of the Philippines and HLI's pro-life missionaries there, the people are rising up and making their voices heard. For example, a few weeks before the "Reproductive Health" bill was set to be voted on in Congress, HLI helped organize a "March for Life" that drew over 50,000 people in Manila. We've also equipped the Philippine pro-life resistance movement with materials and strategies that they are using to create nationwide grassroots opposition to the "Reproductive Health" bill. And so far it's working, praise God! In spite of intense pressure from the international abortion movement to have this bill passed and signed into law by March 8 - in time for International Women's Day - stalwart pro-life lawmakers successfully delayed a full vote in the first session of Congress. The next session won't begin until May 9. That gives us FIVE precious weeks to reach out to more people and solidify the pro-life forces in the Philippines. Again, though, it is critically important that you click here and provide HLI with as many dollars as you can so that we can help fund this last-ditch stand by the Philippine pro-life resistance movement. As Dr. Bullecer put it in his latest report: GOD and Our Lady are really on our side. The Prayer Marches and Symposia that HLI has either co-sponsored or initiated have really worked to deter the actions of the devil. As you can see, our people on the ground in the Philippines are giving their all to this fight. They have put their trust in God and His Blessed Mother. They refuse to quit the fight. But in order for them to have any chance of success they absolutely must have your help ... both spiritually with your prayers and materially with your dollars. I beg you to be as generous with both as you possibly can ... especially during this penitential season of Lent. Make the salvation of the Philippines part of your Lenten almsgiving. And as you consider how much to give to this fight, keep these two important facts in mind: - We have FIVE WEEKS in which to lead the Filipino people to reject the "Reproductive Health" bill that would destroy their life-loving culture.
- The Philippines is one of only two Catholic countries in all of Asia. It has long been a pro-life stronghold. Should it fall, then I fear for the entire Pacific region of the world.
For both those reasons ... I call on you to click here and join Human Life International as we stand with the bishops and people of the Philippines and fight to keep their country abortion-free! Thank you for your critically needed help today. I will send you periodic updates of the situation as I receive them from Dr. Bullecer. And know that in heartfelt gratitude for your support, I will remember you at each Mass that I offer. God bless you. Sincerely yours in Christ,  Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula
Interim President, Human Life International | 
