Sex ed guided by int'l standards cut from anti-teen pregnancy bill

The sponsor of the controversial Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill in the Senate has removed the provision on Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) "guided by international standards" after a backlash from critics, which included President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

In a manifestation in the Senate plenary, Sen. Risa Hontiveros bared the filing of a substitute bill which will also limit mandatory CSE to adolescents aged 10 years old and above, and include a provision guaranteeing academic and religious freedom.

"I am filing an amendment by substitution that seeks to address the objections in the bill," Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros is one of the three authors of the questioned Senate Bill No. 1979 and is the chairperson of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality which reported the measure in the plenary.

Senate President Francis "Chiz"  Escudero said the senators will discuss whether or not to return the substitute bill to the committee or push through with the period of amendments on the floor.

Marcos in an interview with reporters said he would veto the measure, which he indicated would lead to children aged 0 to 4 years old getting taught how masturbate, and children having the right to try different sexualities.

Former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who is part of the group that questions SB 1979, inisited that the bill provided that the CSE will be in line with "international standards," which she deemed to be the curriculum set by the UNESCO and the World Health Organization.

Sereno said this curriculum by international organizations has provisions about teaching or encouraging masturbation for children aged zero to four years old, and teaching "bodily pleasure" or "sexual rights" to children ages six to nine.

Under the previous version of SB 1979, the Comprehensive Sexuality Program will be “a compulsory part of education, integrated at all levels with the end goal of normalizing discussions about adolescent sexuality and reproductive health and to remove stigma at all levels.”

Section 6 of the previous version provided that CSE "shall be integrated in the school curriculum, guided by [the Department of Education] and international standards."

Seven out of the 18 senators which signed the committee report on the measure have withdrawn their signatures.

Hontiveros has repeatedly said that SB 1979 contained no provision on childhood masturbation.

On Wednesday, Hontiveros said SB 1979 is a "reasoned and appropriate response to this national crisis that is teenage pregnancy."

She lamented that the measure has been "muddled by so much disinformation" and reiterated that the measure had no provision on children about masturbation, anal sex, oral sex, and other concepts that are not appropriate for children.

"Natakot ang sambayanan. Pero uulitin ko, wala naman ang mga ito sa bill. At kailanman ay hindi ito makakapasok sa anumang panukala na aking sinusulong," Hontiveros said.

(The country was alarmed. But as I said before, these are not in the bill. And they will never be included in any measure that I will push.)

Hontiveros insisted on the need for a CSE not only for the youth but for the parents, citing the 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey which showed that Filipino youth would rather ask no one than ask any of their parents about sexual and reproductive health.

"I cannot in good conscience support the complete removal of Comprehensive Sexuality Education from our policy landscape," Hontiveros said. –NB, GMA Integrated News