MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday assured the public that its approach to sex education in public schools responds to the needs of students in a “culturally sensitive” way amid objections from family rights and religious groups against the implementation of the new framework.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara acknowledged the objections raised against the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) but stressed how the agency has been working with experts to ensure that its programs are “effective and culturally sensitive.”
CSE seeks to address teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and gender-based violence.
Recently, family rights groups, including the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution (NCFC) and Project Dalisay, criticized the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill for adopting the CSE framework.
The CSE is a framework promoted by United Nations agencies like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Population Fund.
It focuses on a sexual rights-based and inclusive approach to help younger people make safe and responsible choices.
One of the main points of contention raised by the groups is a provision in the current version of the bill that allows sexually active adolescents to access reproductive health services, goods and facilities without parental consent.
The bill includes a provision for confidentiality, meaning parents may not be notified of their children’s activities.
Groups have also raised concerns that if the bill is enacted, it could include versions of the CSE framework that teach concepts of self-pleasure to children as young as four years old.
However, Angara stated that the DepEd is not implementing any curriculum that teaches such concepts to young students.
Against CSE
Echoing the complaints of the family rights and religious groups against the CSE framework under Senate Bill 1979, former House deputy speaker Lito Atienza assailed the proposed measure in the Senate yesterday.
The integration of CSE into the curriculum for four-year-old students defeats the Senate’s claims of addressing the rising number of teenage pregnancies, Atienza said.
He criticized the curriculum, claiming it includes teachings on topics such as childhood masturbation for children as young as four and introducing six-year-olds to bodily pleasures.
Atienza also expressed concerns about the bill’s provision that by age nine, children would have their own sexual rights.
He further highlighted Section 5 of the bill, which allows adolescents to access health services, goods and facilities without parental consent.
“The rise in teen pregnancies is not due to the lack of knowledge about sexuality, but rather the over-exposure and easy access of our children and youth to adult content and materials on the internet and social media,” Atienza said.
‘Stop spreading lies’
Sen. Risa Hontiveros yesterday condemned a conservative group for spreading “falsehoods” about her bill aimed at addressing the growing number of teenage pregnancies in the country.
She dismissed as “fake news” the claims made by the faith-based group of ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno that the measure would encourage sexual activity among the youth.
The faith-based group National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution established “Project Dalisay,” which posted Facebook videos warning the public about the bill, accusing it of encouraging sexual behavior.
“There is no provision that teaches or promotes masturbation among children aged 0 to 4, and ‘bodily pleasure’ and ‘sexual rights’ among those aged 6 to 9. Absolutely none of those concepts exist in our bill. Those lines in their supposed rebuttal are complete and total fabrication,” Hontiveros said at a press briefing yesterday.
“I can confidently say: these outrageous claims from Project Dalisay were pulled out of thin air,” she added.
Eleven senators have so far supported their group’s position against the bill, according to Sereno, who was at the Senate yesterday to talk to senators.
“The bill promotes the hypersexualization of children. Why are children being taught to touch sexual parts in a classroom of two different sexes, mediated by a teacher who is a stranger to the child?” Sereno said at a press briefing.
The former chief justice also argued that the bill adopts “foreign” and “un-Filipino” guidelines from the World Health Organization and UNESCO regarding early sex education, and claimed that it grants children the freedom to engage in sexual activities without parental consent or guidance, an allegation Hontiveros strongly denied.
“It is fake news that sexually active children would no longer be guided by their parents. There is no law or policy here that attempts to prohibit parents from guiding their children,” Hontiveros said.
Teenage pregnancy
In 2023, there were 142,276 adolescent mothers, including 3,343 individuals aged 15 and below. This marked a 6.6-percent increase in ratio from 2022, when there were 150,138 adolescent mothers, with 3,135 of them under 15 years old, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) revealed, citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Due to these alarming figures, Undersecretary Angelo Tapales, executive director of the Council for the Welfare of Children, stressed the need to pass Hontiveros’ bill.
The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill is pending second reading in the Senate as of March 2023, while its counterpart in the House of Representatives was passed on third reading in September 2023.