Atienza opposes condoms in schools

 Lito Atienza

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza on Saturday criticized the plan of the Department of Health (DOH) to start distributing condoms in schools next year and said parents, not teachers, should give sex education to their children.

“Schools should not be distribution centers [for] condoms,” Atienza said. “What is the connection of a condom in a child’s education? None.”

He disagreed with the sex education plus condom approach to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Good manners, right conduct

“Our public schools will be better off teaching our children … sports, culture, good manners and right conduct,” he said. “Parents should be encouraged to teach sex education to their own children.”

The senior deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives proposed reverting to the Department of Education’s old name—Department of Education, Culture and Sports.

The plan to distribute contraceptives in schools was announced on Thursday by Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial amid the alarming rise in the number of youth living with HIV and AIDS in the country.

The DOH said 10,279 HIV cases were recorded among 15- to 24-year-olds from 2011 to 2016.

Atienza slammed the figure as part of a “scare tactic that is part of a world population control strategy.”

“The Department of Health and the Department of Education are using wrong solutions to the real problem, which is children growing up without education and good values,” he said.

Self-control

“If you reserve everything for your marriage, then AIDS will be gone,” he said. “Let us fight this with self-control, with the education sector instead teaching children how to be good and not how to be bad.”

Ubial said the condoms will be provided to students after proper counseling. School authorities, teachers and health-care providers will be prepared for the task, she said.

Atienza also said including sex education would be an added burden on teachers.