Press Release
October 1, 2010

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan today says the CBCBP’s statement that President Aquino may face excommunication from the church if the government pushes through with providing the poor with free contraceptives is unwarranted.

“Resorting to a threat of excommunication is unfortunate and uncalled for. Does the church really want to have a head of state excommunicated? The last time this happened, if I remember correctly, was some 500 years ago in Europe. We want to become a progressive, modern nation, and most certainly not a society that is backward and behind by some 500 years.”

“Both church and state must find agreeable terms wherein our poorest of the poor will benefit. It is in the best interest of the country that both institutions reach a compromise that will push our nation out of poverty and towards genuine progress.”