The Institute of Family Studies (IFS) in VA, U.S.A. stated on 18 September 2013 in its website that:
“Sustainable societies depend upon strong families. Nations that seek to remain economically and politically vital must reproduce themselves; children are most likely to thrive—socially, emotionally, and economically—when they enjoy the shelter and stability of an intact, married family; marriage is most beneficial for children when both parents are positively invested in their lives; and families are most likely to flourish when they can be built upon strong economic foundations. These are the truths that inform the work of the Institute for Family Studies, a new initiative dedicated to strengthening marriage and family life, and advancing the welfare of children through research and public education.
“Strong families make a strong nation”. – “First Focus on Children”, (firstfocus.org), 16 March 2017
“Strong families are necessary for a strong nation” – “Guyana Chronicle, The Nation’s Paper”, (guyanachronicle.com), 28 September 2017
In our own “chronicle”, The Philippine Star, in its 23 September 2002 Editorial posted on its website, it says: “Strong Family, Strong Nation”, and we quote:
“In the age of s*xual liberation and rapidly changing mores, some people may find it old-fashioned to believe that one of the pillars of a stable nation is a stable family. But a nation’s first line of defense against drug abuse and other evils of society is the family. Children of dysfunctional families or broken homes are vulnerable to drug abuse and involvement in crime.
Today the nation starts marking Family Week. The annual event, now on its sixth year, aims to foster public awareness of the social ills that threaten families. One of the biggest problems is violence against family members, especially women and children. While the problem is prevalent in depressed communities with low literacy, it is by no means unique to the poor and uneducated.
Last year, the Philippine National Police received 5,668 complaints of wife battery nationwide. The Department of Social Welfare and Development, meanwhile, provided assistance to 5,504 women in especially difficult circumstances, with 37 percent victims of physical abuse, 15 percent of s*xual abuse and 12.6 percent of trafficking for various illegal purposes. Of the s*xually abused women, 70.4 percent had been r***d, 28.2 percent were victims of in**st while 1.5 percent complained of acts of lasciviousness by family members. Children are just as vulnerable to physical, s*xual and verbal abuse. Many child s*x workers roaming city streets were forced into prostitution by their own parents.
Few people are willing to intervene in family relationships. Neighbors are reluctant to help even when they hear a woman or child screaming in pain next door, victims of an abusive family member. Most people who see children getting cheap thrills from sniffing rugby simply shrug, believing parents should discipline their own children.
If you poke your nose into such problems, you risk being told that it’s none of your business. Yet some government agencies and concerned non-government organizations are doing just that, intervening where possible, providing counseling to those interested, and even calling in the police where needed. It’s difficult, sometimes thankless job, but it has to be done if we want every citizen to live a decent life and contribute to nation-building. Strong families make for a strong nation”.
BCIDP Exclusive School for Couples Philippines was born at a time where the country was greatly stricken by the pandemic NCOV-19 virus and the government has to impose a total lockdown called Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for sixty (60) days starting in 15 March 2020 until 30 May 2020. During this lockdown period, 783 murders were recorded[1], or equivalent to ten (10) killings a day in different places and reasons; 602 people were r***d[2] for different places and reasons, or equivalent to eight (8) r***d a day; then on 21 June 2020, it was reported that 214,000 lockdown babies are about to be born after nine (9) months[3]. Studies have shown that the major problems being continuously solved or handled by the Philippine government for the last thirty-three (33) years are i.e. poverty, corruption, criminality, illegal drugs, among others. BCIDP Exclusive School for Couples believes that all these problems emanated from the homes of every Filipino family because of a very weak “foundation”.
A worldwide news magazine on the net called “N-IUSSP” conducts scientific findings from demographic research carried out all over the world, published on 10 July 2017 the “Rise of Divorce, Separation, and Cohabitation in the Philippines”. It reported that: “Although most Filipinos still value marriage, the proportion who separate from their spouse, both legally and informally, is increasing”.
On 31 December 2015, Rappler published: “IN NUMBERS: The State of the Nation Marital Woes”, where the state’s lawyer reported an annual average of 10,000-11,000 annulment / nullity of marriage / divorce recognition cases filed since 2010[4]. These “dissolution of marriage” cases are initiated by whom? The WIVES.
📷
In a continuous effort of some sectors pushing for the divorce law in the country to seemingly “end” their marital woes, “annulment and legal separation remedies (available) are not enough for (these) divorce advocates”[5]. But “the Senate did not match the House’s enthusiasm for the divorce bill, and it failed to hurdle the 17th Congress[6].
Filipinos have developed a culture of “turning to the government” to provide solutions to life’s personal problems despite claims to being “the only Christian nation in Asia” and “80% of its population are pre-dominantly “Catholics”[7]. [Those who broke away from being Catholics have called themselves as “Christians”]. In other words, despite this fact of being “Godly people” or “conservative people” as foreigners say, majority of Filipinos do not see the “Supreme Being” as the only 100% source of solutions to life’s complicated problems as evidenced by these studies and continuous findings on “the state of the nation’s marital woes”. The Constitutional formula of “separation of Church and State” seems ineffective for three (3) decades now, to our view.
The Bible gave the formula:
Proverbs 11:14: “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers”. – NIV
Right after the Marcoses were thrown out of Malacanang Palace through a “People Power” revolt, in 1987, an Executive Order No. 209 was issued by then President Corazon Aquino where the “Family Code” was born. Its Article 149 says:
“Art. 149. The family, being the foundation of the nation, is a basic social institution which public policy cherishes and protects. Consequently, family relations are governed by law and no custom, practice or agreement destructive of the family shall be recognized or given effect. (216a, 218a)” (emphasis ours)
The “foundation”, as Merriam & Webster defines it:
“an underlying base or support especially: the whole masonry substructure of a building”;
“a body or ground upon which something is built up or overlaid”
It is indeed, the strength of every nation without any exemption to this country Philippines, depends on how strong our FOUNDATION is, how strong our Filipino families are.
If you ask the “human manufacturer” who is GOD, it is the MALE MAN who serves as the foundation of the family[8]. The answer is simply found in our “manufacturer’s manual”, the BIBLE.
Unless this country’s leader is equipped with the RIGHT advisers, only then Filipinos will have the opportunity to enjoy the good life they all deserved, even without the need to leave their families behind to find greener pasture overseas.
This country had been suffering for many centuries now due to a “damaged culture”[9], which was already seen over 30 years ago by the outside world. Now, we still “enjoy” the same impression.
It is for this reason that “BCIDP Exclusive School for Couples” advocates “Stronger Marriage Foundations & Happier Families in the Philippines” since 2013 where its founder, started to propagate the said advocacy through the help of social-media where he branded himself as “Papa Angelo, your “God & Man’s Laws Life Counselor” provide the necessary GUIDANCE for our foundation: THE FAMILY.
Because if every Filipino family have the RIGHT GUIDE, every member of the family shall have the RIGHT LIFE towards their family’s journey. If this RIGHT GUIDE are transferred to children or heirs, applied and maintained consistently and accordingly, this nation shall continue to have a STRONG FOUNDATION to stand firmly for every “pandemic” of human life.
[1] Philippine Star, 01 June 2020;
[2]Philippine Star, 25 May 2020;
[3]Philippine Star, 21 June 2020;
[5]One News.ph, 10 Feb 2020;
[6] https://www.onenews.ph/why-annulment-and-legal-separation-are-not-enough-for-divorce-advocates
[7] https://www.niussp.org/article/the-rise-of-divorce-separation-and-cohabitation-in-the-philippines/
[8] Dr. Myles Munroe, “The Male & The Family”, Youtube video;
[9] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1987/11/a-damaged-culture/505178/
