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NewsTranscript
00:00Now, let's talk about the request of teaching to students of Comprehensive Sexuality Education or CSE.
00:08Let's talk about the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill in the Senate, Senator Risa Ontiveros.
00:14Good morning and welcome to Balitang Hali, Senator.
00:17Good morning or good afternoon, Ms. Connie. Thank you for the invitation.
00:23How urgent is it that the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill should be passed
00:28and is our country ready for this?
00:31We are ready. Actually, we are waiting for this.
00:35Ms. Connie, it is very urgent because it is only 2019,
00:39so it has been more than half a decade since the National Economic and Development Authority
00:46declared a national and social emergency for teenage pregnancies here in our country.
00:52Since then, and especially since the pandemic,
00:57the incidence of teenage pregnancies did not decrease but increased.
01:03Can you imagine, Ms. Connie, from 10 to 19 years old?
01:08Since the pandemic, the incidence of teenage pregnancies increased by 10%
01:14in that entire age range of 10 to 19.
01:17And if it increased in the ages 15 to 19 by 9.7%,
01:23in the 10 to 14 years old, it increased by 35%.
01:28So it means that our children and students are increasing, not decreasing.
01:34It is more likely that they will not be able to finish their studies,
01:38will not be able to prepare for a good job and find a job,
01:42because it is too early for their family to be established,
01:47while they are still young.
01:50But Senator, a family rights group is alarmed
01:55about the implementation of this comprehensive sexuality education program
01:59because they say that there is a provision that does not include,
02:03that is not age-appropriate and that it is possible to violate moral, societal, and spiritual values.
02:09What do you say about this?
02:15Precisely, and in the text of Senate Bill 1979,
02:21Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy,
02:23the comprehensive sexuality education there,
02:26which is one of the preventive measures for teenage pregnancies,
02:30will remain age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate.
02:35Just like what was passed in the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law of 2013
02:41by the Supreme Court, which is constitutional,
02:46and the same standards, age and developmentally appropriate,
02:50that are observed by the DepEd in their CSC curricula.
02:55So the group said that they were alarmed, but they became alarmists
03:00because it is too advanced to think about it,
03:04and they were mistaken in attacking the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill.
03:11This is fake news.
03:14But what they are saying is that this is international,
03:19and we are adapting it.
03:21Are we going to adapt everything in there?
03:23Or are there international standards that we will change
03:28according to our culture and our faith?
03:32Exactly, Ms. Connie.
03:35In our cultures here in the Philippines,
03:38along with different beliefs,
03:41and in the current context of our country,
03:44any view of international sources
03:48will ultimately remain below
03:53the context and culture of our constitution.
03:58The CSE curricula in DepEd is now being used to say
04:05that if we still see gaps or mistakes,
04:10we can fill it or avoid it until the period of amendments
04:14in the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill.
04:18But is it true that they are saying that in one of the provisions,
04:23in their culture or in other cultures,
04:25it is accepted that children are sexually active.
04:28There are people who say that it is not true in the CSE
04:31that if a child is active at the age of 6 years old,
04:35it is not allowed to have children.
04:38What is the truth in that?
04:40Ms. Connie, the truth in that is one of their fake news
04:45against the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill.
04:48Where did they get the idea that we, as parents,
04:52cannot say that our children will be guided?
04:56There is nothing in the text and spirit of the Senate Bill 1979.
05:01There is nothing that will prevent us
05:05from prioritizing our children.
05:08Even in the Comprehensive Sexuality Education Provision
05:11in the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill,
05:14we are together as parents in the CSE
05:17to enable us to talk about this important thing to our children.
05:24Together in the CSE, not only our children and students,
05:28not only us as parents, but also the teachers
05:32so that they can handle in an age and developmentally appropriate way
05:37this material in the DepEd curricula.
05:40Just to be clear, in the original that we adopted
05:45or the one that was obtained by the International,
05:48this will be the standard in the CSE,
05:51there is no such provision even?
05:53Or there is one for them and they will change it for us?
05:56They will change it for us.
05:58But there is the original.
06:00But there is one study that I learned,
06:03we were not referenced here in the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy
06:08because our sole reference is the CSE that is already there
06:12in the Constitutional and the DepEd CSE that was approved and rolled out
06:17in the Responsible Parenthood Law.
06:20Because the group became alarmist,
06:23the group spread fake news against our bill,
06:27we learned what UNESCO and WHO are citing.
06:33There is only one study that we saw commissioned by WHO
06:39but for study in Europe.
06:42So it is not referenced here in the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill
06:47and basically it is just common sense that whatever the international references,
06:53in the end, the buck stops at the Philippine Constitution.
06:57Thank you very much for the information and your time, Senator.
07:02Thank you, Ms. Corny.
07:03That was Senator Risa Ontiveros.