MANILA, Philippines?A Quezon City court has junked the appeal of around 30 parents seeking to stop the teaching of sex education in selected schools as mandated by a Department of Education memorandum.

In an order, Judge Rosanna Fe Romero-Maglaya of the Regional Trial Court Branch 88 denied the petition for a temporary restraining order of the parents, led by losing senatorial candidate Lawyer Jo Imbong of the Ang Kapatiran (The Brotherhood) Party, against the Department of Education.

Imbong and her group asked the court to order then DepEd secretary Mona Valisno and undersecretary Ramon Bacani to stop the teaching of sex education, saying it violated the petitioners? rights as parents in molding their children?s values.

The court said the petitioners were unable to prove that their rights were indeed violated as the parents were unable to show that their children were studying in schools where the sex education module would be pilot tested.