Church tells youth to shun unsafe sex

CEBU, Philippines - The Catholic Church called on the youth to shun earthly temptations and respect the “sanctity of body and soul”.

Fr. Trinidad Silva, chairman of Commission on Social Communication said this in light of reports that call center agents are at high risk of acquiring Human Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

He admitted that “such an alarming report is a tough job” to combat especially with the ill effects of risky sexual behavior among the younger generation.

“What I know is that people at that stage are practicing these activities in the wee hours of the night. Their workplace is also conducive to such behavior,” he said.

He said that security is one of the reasons that they are motivated to have sexual tendencies since they receive a good paycheck.

Call center agents have more benefits than workers from other industries. They also have higher savings and provide more financial support to family members.

But he emphasized that the youth, who are vulnerable to impulsive decisions should be guided first by their parents before the Church can actually do its job through spiritual guidance.

“Ultimately, they decide on their own and they know what they are doing,” he said.

He however said that the Church has always been ready to address the problem of HIV-Aids especially concerning the younger generation.

In fact, he said that there is the Commission on Service whose primary goal is to address the problem of HIV-Aids which serves as a secretariat of the Church in addressing the worsening trend of sexual encounters among the youth.

The commission is spearheaded by Rene Bullecer who is also the executive director of Aids Free Philippines and the country director of Human Life International.

“It’s time to remind them that there’s more to life than just money and sex,” he said adding that medical intervention coupled with evangelization are the immediate actions to be done.

Based on a study conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute entitled “Lifestyle and Reproductive Health Issues of Young Professionals in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu”, it was found out that compared to non-call center workers, more call center agents have experienced risky sexual practices like early sex, unprotected sex, sex with the same sex, casual sex, regular non-romantic sex, commercial sex, premarital sex and nonconsensual sex.

The study was conducted to examine the economic, social, and health status of young professionals less than 35 years old working at call centers and non-call centers.

It was also revealed that more call center workers have a poor or fair self-assessed health compared to non-call center workers.

However, they face higher work-related health risks such as sleeps pattern and diet disorders.

In the 2009 Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serological Surveillance (IHBS), it was revealed that the number of Filipinos afflicted with HIV/AIDS especially among high risk populations is steadily growing. 

Although the number of new HIV infections has dropped by 17 percent globally since 2001, the number of new cases here in the country has increased by 334 percent.

The Philippine HIV/AIDS Registry reported that for October 2009, 80 new HIV cases have been confirmed by the STD/AIDS Cooperative Central Laboratory. This was a 36 percent increase compared to the same period last year. 

This brought the total of cases for 2009 to 626. Four of these new cases were reported as AIDS. There was no death reported for the month of October. 

The cumulative number of HIV cases from 1984 to October last year is 4,218, of which 828 have become AIDS. Of the 828 cases, 314 have already died. The most common mode of transmission was sexual contact (3,798 out of 4,218), while the least common was through mother-to-child transmission (49 out of 4,218).   

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council is scheduled to ask the Department of Health to institute measures to prevent further increase of HIV-Aids by conducting massive information campaign against sexually-transmitted infections and most of all to conduct intensified campaigns against sex dens posing as massage parlors and bars.

City Councilor Edgardo Labella said he received reports that some sex dens are operating by posing as massage parlors, KTV bars and some other night spots.

Ilya Abellanosa-Tac-an, head of the City Health’s sexually transmitted disease detection section, was earlier quoted saying that since in 1989 there were close to 100 HIV cases in the city that were reported to them that prompted her to encourage all the entertainers in night clubs to submit themselves for testing.

Labella was alarmed after he learned that the officials of the Philippine General Hospital announced a few days ago that the number of Filipinos infected with HIV climbed dramatically in the past 10 months.

According to him the statistics of the Department of Health showed that the number of HIV cases rose to 709 in last year, compared to only 528 in 2008. Labella said “if this current trend holds the HIV patients in the country could balloon to an alarming 20,000 cases by 2020.”

A source confirmed that female attendants of some massage parlors in the city accept sexual services.

“Kay wala may lock ang pultahan sa mga massage parlors, ang masahista pa ang mosulti og unsaon nga dili na maabli ang pultahan bisan pa’g pugson kini og abli sa gawas,” the reporter narrated.

A doctor of the Philippine General Hospital Infectious Disease Treatment Complex described the spread of AIDS in the country as already epidemic.

Labella said while most of those who contracted HIV are sex workers, homosexuals and drug addicts, but the hospital records showed that still many of them are young urban professionals, like call center employees who acquired the virus after casual or group sex.

“Such disappointing account is attributed to young people’s changing views and attitude towards sex, as they tend to casually engage in multiple-partner or group sex, which are easily organized or set up through social networking sites on the internet,” the councilor said.

It prompted Labella to sponsor a resolution scheduled to be discussed on Wednesday’s regular session urging the DOH to conduct a massive information drive to warn people about the gravest dangers of unsafe sex.

Medical experts also said a person can be also contracted with AIDS when he undergo blood transfusion using the needle that was used by another person with such disease, or through sex with AIDS victims. — Marjun A. Baguio and Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)