A Filipino health worker shows condoms that are given for free to the public by the Department of Health in Manila, Philippines, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. A human rights watchdog says the Philippines is facing one of the fastest growing epidemics of HIV in the Asia Pacific, fueled by government policies that restrict intervention, including access to condoms by men who have sex with men. (Photoby AARON FAVILA/AP)
Update
Two more senators were cold to the plan of the Department of Health to distribute condoms in schools as they pushed for sex education rather than encourage underage students to engage in sex.
“Para sa akin, hindi maganda e. Parang pag distribute mo ng condom parang sinabi mo na: ‘O, OK lang kayong makipag sex (For me, it’s not good. It’s like when you distribute condoms you’re telling them It’s OK to have sex). It’s a sin,” Senator Manny Pacquiao said on Tuesday.
“Alam mo yung (sex), adultery, immorality, yan ang ayaw na ayaw ng Pangioon (You know sex, adultery, immorality are frowned on by God). That’s detestable in God’s eyes,” added Pacquiao.
Senator Grace Poe, meanwhile, would rather take the side of caution rather than exposed children to promiscuity.
“I think that they should be also aware of the reality but you know children can be promiscuous,” Poe said in a separate interview.
“I really think education is very important. It’s not to impose our own beliefs on that but to guarantee also their health, well-being, and safety,” she added.
Poe also believes that the use of condoms should also be made available to women but it should not be imposed on them.
“It’s about choice…Hindi dapat ipilit pero dapat available kung gusto nila (It should not be compulsory but should be accessible),” she said.
Aside from Pacquiao and Poe, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has been vocal against the DOH’s planned distribution of condoms to high school students.
Plan also worries Robredo
Poe’s fears over DOH’s condom distribution plan were echoed by Vice President Leni Robredo.
While she supports the administration’s family planning policy and believes that the government should extensively search for solutions regarding the population increase, the objective of DOH in giving out condoms may do good, or may not.
“Pwede siyang maging mabuti kung bahagi siya ng mas malaking programa na ineeducate mo ng tao bago mo binibigay. Pero ang akin iyong for the sake na makapagbigay lang, delikado iyon. Delikado in a sense na baka nagpo-promote tayo ng kultura ng promiscuity,” she said in an interview in Cebu City.
(It can be good if it is part of a bigger program to educate the person before you give these out. But for me, if it is just for the sake of just giving out, that is dangerous. It is dangerous in a sense that we might be promoting the culture of promiscuity.)
Robredo said that the distribution of condoms should be a part of a bigger or more comprehensive program in the implementation of the reproductive health law.
“Mas education na parang freedom of informed choice dapat. Ito ang dapat na sundan, hindi iyong basta lang mamimigay,” she added.
(It should be intended for education, with freedom of informed choice. This should be followed, not just distributing condoms.)
The DOH on Tuesday said that it will push through with its plan to distribute condoms in schools despite criticisms from different groups, including the Catholic Church.
READ: DOH to ‘pursue but won’t rush’ condoms distribution in schools
The agency said that distribution of condoms will help educate the students on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), especially now that cases of HIV and AIDS in the country are increasing. /ac