Oversexed Country

In her most recent visit in the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV), Ilongga Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago strongly lobbied for the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in a forum organized for the Women’s Rights and Welfare Week celebration.

Among the features of the RH Bill that Senator Santiago highlighted in her talk is the of sex education or “Adolescent Reproductive Health” in the Grade 5 to senior high school curriculum and she viewed the bill’s passage too necessary a measure to compliment the Department of Education’s Memorandum No. 26 that incorporates sex education in Science, Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP), Health, Heograpiya Kasaysayan at Sibika, and Mathematics. We in The Augustinian believe that passing the RH Bill partly for the reason of intensifying the government’s sex education drive is overkill.

Going by global comparatives in basic literacy, science and math wherein Filipino students’ scores are normally poor, it is inexpedient for the government to further burden them with a subject on the more titillating aspects about the birds and the bees beyond basic biology where their performance is mostly appalling. Why can’t we just focus on improving our global competitiveness in more important disciplines like the abovementioned rather than teaching our students something that they should already know by nature?

If the RH Bill will be passed, its provisions shall be compulsory and so taking up “Adolescent Reproductive Health” shall be required, no matter what. What now shall happen to the constitutional guarantee of the rights of the parents to be responsible for the development of their children’s moral behavior? Clearly, the said bill’s provision on mandatory sex education wouldn’t give Filipino parents and their children “informed choices.” In fact, it curbs a fundamental parental right – the right to the moral formation of the young ones, especially on sexual matters. Parental guidance, so to speak. It’s such a shame that though most of our lawmakers are mothers and fathers, they’ve discarded the fact that parents are more competent to teach their children reproductive health values. What if there’ll be a clash between the ideas on sexual health values that shall taught at home and in school? Surely, the fragile young minds will only be left in confusion, only creating a new problem.

Those in the government, especially policy-makers, should at least appreciate the principle of subsidiarity. Things are better left discussed where people are more knowledgeable and more experienced than adolescents are – the home and the family. Parents are the ones who should guide their children in growing up as responsible, sexually healthy, and morally sound individuals, regardless of creed and practices. After all, it is in the home where basic education begins. To reinforce sex education program in schools would only waste the national government’s funds and the energies of teachers who aren’t even well-trained to be “Adolescent Reproductive Health” instructors.

While DepEd’s Memorandum No. 26 is already absurd for being justified only on grounds of overpopulation and not putting to waste the country’s HIV-Aids prevention program (when in fact there are no standard schemes to measure overpopulation and that there’s no HIV-Aids epidemic in the Philippines), pushing for the passage of the RH Bill will only complicate the state of our “oversexed” country. Our bachelor president needs not to closely monitor the direction to which the pendulum would sway because the cardinal rule still applies: parents know what’s best for their children.