The pending Bill will require all schools to implement comprehensive sex education for students aged 10 to 19. - PHOTO: ST FILE
MANILA (The Straits Times/ANN): A proposed law mandating sex education in all Philippine schools has triggered outrage in the predominantly Christian nation, with critics claiming this will weaken religious values and undermine parental authority on matters of morality.
But supporters argue that such knowledge is necessary in order to make informed choices and avoid unwanted teenage pregnancies.
The Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act or Senate Bill No. 1979 aims to make sex education mandatory in public and private schools to, among others, address the rising rate of adolescent pregnancies in the country. But a wave of objection from conservative and religious groups has put paid to hopes for a smooth passage for the Bill.
The pending Bill will require all schools to implement comprehensive sex education for students aged 10 to 19, from upper primary through secondary levels.
While sex education has been part of the Philippine public school curriculum since 2018, this is not the case for private schools, many of which are run by the Catholic Church. Currently, about 10 per cent of students in the country attend private schools.
Proponents like Senator Risa Hontiveros – who authored the Bill – seek to craft a national programme to address the alarming cases of adolescent pregnancies, some as young as 10 years old. There were 3,343 young mothers under the age of 15 years old in 2023, up 39 per cent from 2,411 in 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
In addition, one in 20 Filipino babies are born to mothers 15 to 19 years old, noted non-governmental organisation Child Rights Network (CRN). Some of these babies were “fathered by men significantly older than the (teen mothers), highlighting disturbing power imbalances that often lead to abuse,” the rights group said.
“Teen pregnancy accounts for almost 60 per cent of school dropouts among young girls, severely limiting their potential and costing the country billions in lost opportunities,” CRN added.
The Bill also provides for an “age-appropriate, culturally sensitive” comprehensive sex education that would teach adolescents about informed consent, contraception, sexually transmitted disease, gender-based violence, pornography, among others.
Up until now, the Bill has received scant attention from the public since it was filed in 2023; senators gave it the go-ahead at the committee level in July 2023 and debates among lawmakers have been ongoing since mid-2024, pending Senate approval of the Bill.
But controversy erupted in January this year, after the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution (NCFC), a collation of church groups, posted a video on Jan 10 sounding the alarm against the implementing guidelines of the Philippines’ comprehensive sexuality education programme.
The “explainer” video, featuring personalities like Jerika Ejercito-Aguilar, daughter of former president Joseph Estrada, went viral within a week. It has garnered more than 280,000 views on Facebook and has been shared over 5,300 times.
“(This Bill) will hypersexualise children at a very early age,” said NCFC convenor and former Philippine Supreme Court chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who also appeared in the video. “They’re going to talk about it. Supervised by who? Only by the teacher, a stranger”.
While the word “masturbation” does not even appear anywhere in the Bill, the conservative religious group has launched a social media campaign against the proposed law which it believes would be “guided by international standards” – and this, NCFC fears, would be too liberal for Filipino mores and values.
That video included screenshots of documents of sex education guidance which were not explicitly referenced. Among these was a 2010 document from the World Health Organization (WHO)‘s Regional Office for Europe and Germany’s Federal Centre for Health Education, stating that children aged 0 to 4 may be taught about early childhood masturbation, and those aged 6 to 9 may learn about sexual rights.
The overwhelming public uproar following the video’s release led to seven senators out of the 18 who signed the committee report on the Bill in 2023 withdrawing their support days after the video was posted. And no less a figure than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told reporters on Jan 21 that he would veto the proposed law if the “abhorrent” elements were not amended.
Certain elements in the Bill that critics find objectionable include provisions that allow minors to access reproductive health information and services “without the need of consent from a parent or guardian.” And if that adult consent is not given, minors may obtain one from a duly licensed and trained health service provider.
“These provisions are clear violations of the Constitution,” said Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, who wants the Bill recalled and subjected to further scrutiny, adding it also does not recognise the “natural right and duty of parents over unemancipated children”.
Ms Hontiveros countered critics by saying the proposed sex education curriculum would not blindly follow international standards.
“The Bill also states that if there are provisions (in those international standards) that are not suitable for the context and culture of the Philippines, they will not be applied. That’s common sense,” she said in a media statement on Jan 15. “No one else is going to dictate to our government apart from us Filipinos”.
Viral video over liberal ‘international standards’ sparks public uproar
Mrs Ellen Lopez, 46, a practising Christian and parent to an eight month old, said that while she is in favour of preventing teenage pregnancies, the Bill “seems to be encouraging our children to learn about concepts they are not capable of fully understanding at such a young age”.
“I feel like it goes against the (religious) values being taught us,” she told The Straits Times.
While there is a need to teach children sexuality, this should be done in a way that is appropriate to their age and sensitive to their culture, said Senator Grace Poe in a recent interview with local media.
There are provisions in the Bill that need to be amended so that it can pass the scrutiny of senators, she said.
“I am a mother, too. It is important to teach them how to protect themselves. But there are explicit matters that may be harmful for the young minds of children,” Ms Poe said, adding that there should be a “clinical approach” to tackling the Bill so that it does not “encourage anything beyond promoting the safety” of children.
Lessons in classroom will complement values taught at home
Sales and marketing assistant Krisvi Siongco, 37, who is Catholic and has an eight-year-old son, fully supports the Bill.
“I don’t see mandatory sex education as sinful. They’re not going to teach children how to have sex, but how to have a responsible attitude towards it,” Mrs Siongco told ST, adding that what is taught in the classroom would complement the values she instills in her child at home.
It is not uncommon for conservative religious groups in the Philippines to lobby actively against proposed policies they deem as opposed to their religious beliefs.
The Philippines is the most populous Christian-majority country in Asia, with about 86 per cent of its 118 million-odd population identifying as Christian. The majority of Christian Filipinos are Roman Catholics.
Divorce and abortion remain illegal in the country. It also took Congress 14 years to pass the reproductive health law in 2012, which allows universal access to family planning methods.
The resulting clamour over the anti-teen pregnancy Bill prompted Ms Hontiveros to file a substitute version in the Senate on Jan 22 to address concerns raised by certain quarters, omitting the contentious “guided by international standards” phrase.
“I hope this allays valid and genuine fears,” Ms Hontiveros said in a statement on Jan 23. “I hope this helps bring us senators together to finally pass a Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act our country so desperately needs.” - The Straits Times/ANN