MANILA, June 26, 2013—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Family ad Life (ECFL) will hold a prayer vigil on July 9 the date set by the Supreme Court for the RH Law oral arguments.
Fr. Melvin Castro, ECFL executive secretary, in an interview over Church run Radio Veritas said the intention of the prayer vigil is for the high court to consider the controversial Republic Act (RA) 10354 or Reproductive Health (RH) Law as ‘unconstitutional.’
Castro urged Catholics to take part in the gathering and asked for prayers reminding that it is a ‘prayerful’ and ‘festive’ assembly meant not to criticize anyone but to encourage Filipinos to continuously oppose the law which was secretly signed last December 21st by President Benigno Aquino III.
“Let us all see each other at the Supreme Court at nine in the morning to pray over and not to criticize anyone. Let us pray for the justices that they may stand firm for the constitution. Let us pray that the justices will freely decide on the matter,” Castro said in the vernacular.
Ten of the justices voted in favor of halting the law’s implementation with five justices voting against the issuance of status quo. The justices who voted against were Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno and Justices Antonio Carpio, Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas Bernabe and Marvic Leonen. (Paul De Guzman)
