Palace welcomes Hontiveros substitute bill on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention

Malacañang on Friday welcomed Senator Risa Hontiveros' substitute measure of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention bill.

''Well, we always welcome initiatives like those kasi it means she finally realized that there must be something [objectionable] to her earlier version. But we are not judging her version at all,'' Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told reporters. 

Hontiveros said she would file a substitute measure for Senate Bill (SB) 1979 or the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill after her colleagues' withdrawal of support for the proposed law.

At least seven senators have written to Senate President Francis Escudero informing the latter of their withdrawal of signatures on SB 1979.

Hontiveros had removed the provision on Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) "guided by international standards" after a backlash from critics, including Marcos.

The lawmaker said the filing of a substitute bill will also limit mandatory CSE to adolescents aged 10 years old and above, and include a provision guaranteeing academic and religious freedom.

To recall, President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. said he would veto the measure which he indicated would lead to children aged 0 to 4 years old getting taught how to masturbate and having the right to try different sexualities.

Asked what was Marcos' basis for the supposed provision about masturbation after Hontiveros insisted it did not exist, Bersamin explained that the Chief Executive could have read something which had indications of masturbation.

''This is very common, you know when you read something, you read the lines and there are between the lines... language is very broad, you have a connotation, denotation and the other implications of language,'' Bersamin said.

''Let's give the President a benefit of the doubt about that no? He probably read there something that indicated to him that it is going to include masturbation... he's entitled to that opinion,'' he added. —LDF, GMA Integrated News