MANILA, Philippines – The debate between progressive and conservative child rights advocates on how sexuality should be taught in schools has gone on for over a month, but a forum bringing them together showcased several areas where they agreed, including the important role of parents in guiding their children on sex.
On Saturday, February 22, prominent figures and analysts from both sides of the debate were in one space as the Movement Against Disinformation held a forum called Comprehensive Sexuality Education: The Truth of the Matter at Ateneo Law School in Makati.
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Despite conflicting views on the “hows,” the all-women panel still managed to agree that there should be some kind of sex education in the Philippines that is age- and culturally appropriate, with an emphasized role of parental guidance.
The debate stemmed from religious initiative Project Dalisay, which, in January, began a campaign against comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and what they believed were questionable provisions of the adolescent pregnancies prevention bill. (LIST: Project Dalisay’s out-of-context claims vs anti-teen pregnancy bill, CSE)
Advocates who had long worked on the bill had to amplify their own campaign, correcting notions that CSE would corrupt children.
Not all parents equipped
Jerika Ejercito, a mother of five representing Project Dalisay, put emphasis on the need for partnership with parents in the educational system.
“There also has to be partnership with the parents. Involve us. You want to teach our children? Ask us. You want to mandate something for the school? Ask us,” she said, later on adding that she teaches sex education to her children aged 10 and below.
But an audience member inquired with the panel about how being confident as a parent to teach their children about sex may come from a place of privilege. Confident parents may be educated, while parents in poor communities where adolescent pregnancies more often occur, might not be.
Elizabeth Angsioco, chairperson of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, said she believed that nobody will disagree that parents should be involved. However, she talked about conversations her organization has had with women in poor communities and their discomfort in guiding their children about sex.
“What we see and what we have always encountered in poor communities is that actually, mothers are hesitant, are not comfortable to talk with their children, with their adolescent girls especially, about these matters, primarily because they were not also taught about this. Primarily because they consider this as taboo in terms of our culture,” said Angsioco.
Another civil society organization working with communities echoed this. Synergeia Foundation Philippines President Milwida Guevara said parents have asked them for an orientation on sex education, as their understanding about it is simply anatomy and reproduction.
“We have to work with teachers and parents to let them appreciate that sex education is not only about anatomy and how our body works. It’s about protecting your body. In fact, it’s the biggest challenge of children now — sexual abuse,” she said.
Jaye dela Cruz Bekema, director of legislative affairs of the office of Senator Risa Hontiveros, said how the senator’s anti-adolescent pregnancies bill, also criticized by Project Dalisay, already involves parents.
“It is written in the adolescent pregnancy prevention bill…. It actually mandates that parents be taught effective interventions in order for their children to know their boundaries, to know consent, to understand their bodies in a way that is culturally sensitive and also culturally specific,” said Bekema.
Dropping the ‘C’?
Bekema and University of the Philippines professor emerita Sylvia Claudio maintained that the Philippines was free to modify CSE in a way that is culturally appropriate, and that documents from the United Nations and World Health Organization were more suggestions rather than impositions.
Bekema also spoke from her perspective as a mother of a two-year-old and a seven-year-old.
“I don’t want my kids to get pregnant at 15….But if that cannot happen, if because of social media, if because of all these things that they are exposed to, they want to explore their sexuality and explore it in a different way. I want them to be guided by scientific, empirical, evidence-based information,” she said.
The mother and lawyer added that while she does not want congressmen to decide a curriculum for her children, she still wants legislation that indicates the parameters of what sex education should look like.
But former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who is now the main face of Project Dalisay, maintained that CSE is a “brand.” She said that the Philippines should still have sexuality education, but without the “C.”
“Let’s talk about a Filipino sexuality education. I agree with all my co-panelists. Let’s remove the rubbish. Let’s remove the harmful effects, and let’s start anew. But right now, the Constitution and our laws are sufficient. What is needed is a whole of community approach led by principally the parents,” said Sereno.
The adolescent pregnancies prevention bill was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives in September 2023, while the Senate counterpart has been up for second reading. Senator Hontiveros refiled the bill, adjusting parts that Project Dalisay flagged.
Should the upper chamber decide to continue discussing the bill, it will only have days to pass it once session resumes in June after the midterm elections, and adjourns to make way for the 20th Congress. – Rappler.com
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