News

Monday June 21, 2010


UN-Backed Sex-Ed Program in Philippines Put on Hold

By James Tillman

MANILA, Philippines, June 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has decided to put a hold on the implementation of a new UN-backed sex-education program in elementary and high schools. The program had caused an uproar in the country, and was heavily opposed by parents and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“We decided to hold in abeyance the teaching of the sex education module until a final decision is made on the consultation process,” DepEd Secretary Mona Valisno said.

The new program, “Institutionalizing Adolescent Reproductive Health through Lifeskills-Based Education,” would have given sex education to children as young as 12. It was set to be introduced in 80 elementary and 79 high schools around the nation.

It would have incorporated sex education into the entire curriculum, not only in classes such as Health, Science, and PE, but also Music, Arts, Mathematics, English, and others. Valisno said that despite the momentary halt, some sex-ed subjects, such as the scientific treatment of the reproductive system, would still be handled.

Attorney Jo Imbong is representing about 30 other individuals who went to court to get an injunction to stop the program and have it ruled unconstitutional. The case was filed at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and named Valisno and Undersecretary Ramon Bacani as respondents.

Valisno said, however, that it was not the suit that influenced the DepEd to put the sex-ed project on hold. She also said that the DepEd was open to modifying the contents of the program if it goes against Christian values.

Nevertheless, the conflict between the Department of Education and various religious organizations and parents regarding sex education is not new. The Filipino government has backed off a sex-ed program in the past because of the opposition of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“Our stand here is very, very clear,” said Archbishop Paciano Aniceto on the Church-run radio program Veritas. “The Constitution mandates that it is not the right and not the responsibility of the DepEd to teach about sex education, it is the family or the parents.”

The Philippine Constitution says that the “natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.”

It also says that the “State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.”

Archbishop Aniceto, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life of the CBCP, has urged Present-elect Benigno Aquino III to scrap the new program.

“[Aquino] is responsible for the spiritual, mental and physical advancement of the people,” he said, according to CBCP News, and so he should “do what is according to moral law, according to the dignity and rights of every Filipino.”

Human Life International-Asia executive director Dr. Ligaya Acosta criticized the government’s insistence that children need sex education, stating that sex education “is actually a course in systematic behavior modification, designed to change the child’s entire belief system.”

“The glaring truth is that researches around the world substantiate the fact that the more contraceptive programs are aimed at the young, the more pregnancies, abortions, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer of the cervix results,” Acosta said.

The suit headed by Imbong states that teaching sex-ed to the young is dangerous because of their emotional immaturity. It takes note of the United States as a country in which sex education has had harmful effects.

“In the United States, sex education has not only resulted in irreparable erosion of parental authority, it spread sexual immorality and delinquency among the youth,” it reads.


See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com:

Philippines Scraps Sex Education in Schools After Catholic Opposition

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061908.html