To the board of judges, to my competitive fellow debaters, to my noteworthy colleagues and most of all to the my fellow students , A vexed afternoon!

AS the third speaker let me enlighten all of you to the topic of same sex marriage why it is not practicable to accept it in our country.

Let me quote the preamble of the 1987 Philippines constitution

“We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.

As quoted in the preamble of the Philippines constitution, that we Filipinos implore the aid of God to build a humane society.

It wouldn’t be surprising for anyone of us today if I, as a member of the negative side, would use the Bible to dispute the same-sex marriage. It would actually be a bit a commonplace that, in these kinds of topics requiring moral arguments, the Bible is quoted.

But, we cannot get away from the Bible since the Bible is one of the authorities of our morality in this Christian world. And Philippines is a Christian country, only excusing our Muslim brothers in Mindanao, But the majority of us here are Christians.

I’d like to remind you, not tell you because this is already a common knowledge to us all, that the cities of Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed by fire by God because people there are engaging into same-sex intercourse – sexual intercourse between the same sexes. (Gen. 19: 4 -5) 

This is a clear proof that God is against same-sex marriage. 

As I have mentioned a while ago, the BIBLE is only one of the authorities of our morality.

Another authority to our morality as citizens of the Philippines is our culture. Culture is defined as way of living. And culture is also affected by the laws that can be found in the Philippines constitution. How does culture affect our society? Culture, understood as the breadth of human practice, affects our society at nearly every level including politics, sexuality, gender and identity. In short, culture is formed through social practice, and therefore has a nearly totalizing effect upon society. As it is also stated in the preamble of the Philippines constitution .And failure to follow the constitution means we don’t follow the laws established on this country.

ARTICLE XV of the Philippines constitution talks about The Family

Let me enlighten you by reading it

Section 1

“The State recognizes the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development.”

What is the definition of family in the society?

A family is composed of a Mother! Father and Children

And Basically it is the foundation of the nation.

It is very clear that Same sex relationship is not indicated in the Philippines constitution, and it is prohibited for it is a mockery towards our almighty god and to our country.

For so long, we have observed and preserved the moral standard that marriage is between a male and a female. 

Section 2 of Article 15 states that

Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.

SECTION 3. The State shall defend:

(1) The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood;

(2) The right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development;

If you have noticed on Section 3 there are 2 words stated in there

1. Spouse2. Children

Therefore the word marriage in section 2 is defined as a union between a man and women only, making possible to rear children.

Can same sex marriage create a child? The power to procreate is only between man and woman and not by man and man, woman and woman.

Others will say, we are too selfish , and they can also build their family, and same sex marriage should be approved because it is done in other countries, but I will ask you.

Since when the norms became the basis of morality? It doesn’t mean that everyone is doing it , then it should be accepted , and implement our minds that it is ok. A wrong thing can not be right! And wickedness never was happiness!

This culture of marrying only between a male and a female has caught our habitual obedience for many, many years and has defined to concrete sense our definition and perception of marriage. 

I, as a Filipino, upon hearing the word MARRIAGE, form in my mind an image of a man and a woman. 

Lastly, ladies and gentlemen, another of the authorities of our morality is tradition. One of our traditions is that the husband will carry the wife from the doorstep to the bed after marriage. It gives me Goosebumps to imagine a man carrying another man from the doorstep to the bedroom. More so, I don’t know who’s going to carry who. 

Another tradition that we have in the Philippines is that the solemnizing officer shall declare after the marriage “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Too bad that after legalizing the same-sex marriage, a very disturbing declaration will be done between the husband and the husband or the wife and the wife. 

We on the negative side strongly believe that marriage is ordained of God and by our society and it is only between a man and women. And it is practicable to that our society shouldn’t accept such fallacy.

Let us not legalize same-sex marriage. It will pollute our society. Let us maintain the wall between our society and same-sex marriage. Let’s pity the children of the next generation.

Mr./Mrs. Moderator I am now ready for the interpolation .