Columns Senator Pimentel Fatherhood Matters
| Fatherhood Matters |
This is the keynote message by Sen. Nene Pimentel on the occasion of the 28th anniversary celebration
of Handog Kay Itay (Father’s Day Awards), June 15, 2008, Quezon City:
Chairman Jonathan Navea and Prof. Edith Buenventura of the Ideal Parents and
Family Foundation (IPFF); Dean Amelia S. Mapagu, distinguished awardees led by
Senate President Manuel Villar and Chief Justice Renato Puno, ladies and
gentlemen:
First, thank you
for inviting me to speak before this illustrious group of fathers who your
organization, the IPFF, is honoring today as the recipients of today’s father’s
day awards.
Millions of deserving fathersThank you also for the kind citation that you are bestowing upon me on this
occasion. Though not totally merited, I accept it on behalf of the unnamed
millions of fathers and even grandfathers who deserve it much more than I do.
At this point, let me express my congratulations to the good fathers who are
honored today. Needless to say, they have shown by specific examples in their
lives that they could make and have made a difference in the lives of their
families and of their communities.
Father’s role, threatenedIn these days when the role of fathers in the founding of families is being
seriously threatened by cloning, I suppose it is but fit and proper that we all
acknowledge the invaluable contribution that Chairman Navea has done to make
our country and the world know that fatherhood matters.
BrainsSince 1980, Chairman Navea has been the brains behind the celebration of what
he and his group now in the IPFF call as the Annual Huwarang Ama/Father’s Day
Awards.
For that singular devotion to the cause of fatherhood, Chairman Navea deserves
our collective respect, appreciation and applause.
Simple ideaOn this most auspicious occasion, as I stand before you, there is only one
message that I can articulate for your consideration. And it is this. A simple
man, Mr. Jonathan Navea, has brought and is bringing to the attention of a
confused world the simple concept that without a father a family cannot even
begin to be.
The message is really stupendous because in its simplicity, it challenges
heretical assumptions that human beings can play God and dispense with the role
of fathers in the founding of families.
The challenges at first started in the realm of theories until scientists in Scotland brought forth Dolly, the first cloned
sheep, in 1976.
AlarumsToday, scientists claim that they are capable of cloning even “a viable human”
from his or her mother.
I ring the alarums on this matter not because I fear that men would be
marginalized in the scheme of human reproduction but because I am apprehensive
that the whole structure of society might eventually come tumbling down once
such a folly becomes accepted as a universal fact of life.
Foundation of societyEven in a secular country such as ours, the family is considered the foundation
of society.
And traditionally, the family consists of three angles: a father, a mother and
children.
Without the father as the 1st angle that makes the family a viable and
sustainable pillar of support of the nation, the family would collapse and
along with it, the nation also.
Father’s roleThe father’s role in the family, after all, is not limited alone to his
function in the biological reproduction of his children. He is also the person
co-responsible with the mother to care for them and bring them up as
responsible citizens in the city of God and even in the city of man.
Finally, let us thank Chairman Navea, and his organization, the IPFF, for
strengthening the family by their dedicated effort year after year to honor the
fathers - and the mothers – of the nation.
Without the courageous manifestation of their concern for the family,
Philippine society would be that much lesser for it.
God bless you, Sir, those who work with you in the IPFF and the fathers of the
nation. # # #
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