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Gregorio Miguel Pallugna

I WAS driving the car when my 11 year-old nephew asked me something about STD. I was surprised by the question and so readily told him that the person who could better explain that to him was his aunt, my sister who is a nurse, and who was also with us in the car. Partly, I also wanted to give my sister a hard time in having to explain such a sensitive matter to a young boy. My sister was equally surprised and belched out a loud objection saying that he was still too young to know about that stuff. I was trying to convince her that he was old enough to understand when my nephew very calmly said, “I can already understand. In fact, I already know the male and female reproductive parts.” Then, he added that he even knows about Aids. This illicited an even louder protest from my sister who, by the way, is not even religious. I was thoroughly enjoying the moment seeing how my sister was caught in such an awkward situation.

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This conversation came at a very apt time considering that the news recently has been talking a lot about the Reproductive Health (RH) Law provisions on sexuality education and the free distribution of condoms to high school students. The DOH has already declared this month that they have alloted P1 billion for the distribution of condoms in schools nationwide as part of their effort to stop the spread of HIV/Aids. Quite expectedly, this earned strong opposition from conservatives and from people coming from the religious sector. The main argument against it is that it will send a message to children that sexual intercourse for the youth is acceptable as long as it is done safely, and consequentially that it will promote promiscuity. This argument is not totally misplaced as the improper implementation of this plan will most likely result in it being misunderstood by young people. But, to say that the only viable alternative is to encourage abstinence is plain preposterous!

Who are we kidding? We all know very well that sex is no longer as taboo in our society as it was considered to be before. The easy access to sexually suggestive and even explicit content brought about by the internet and other media has advanced the exposure of the youth to the issue of sex. As pointed out by the DOH, majority of the new cases of HIV/Aids in the country come from the 15-24 year old age bracket. The youngest recorded case of HIV in the Philippines is even 11 years old! Younger people are engaging in sexual intercourse, and that is a fact we cannot turn a blind eye to. The main reason why this is happening could be because of the failure of society, particularly the conservatives and the religious sector, to protect the youth from being exposed to sex at a very early stage. Abstinence has been the only alternative offered for such a long time and is still even being promoted by the DOH in the ABC approach in preventing Aids. A, being “abstinence” and C being “condom use.” Abstinence however has already proven to be not very effective in preventing the surge in HIV/Aids cases among the youth as can be seen from statistical data.

With or without the distribution of condoms, a considerable chunk of our youth are already engaging in sexual intercourse. Cringe if you must but that is a fact that cannot be emphasized enough, and which cannot be reversed at least for this generation. The youth are already at a very high risk of acquiring HIV/Aids unless they learn the consequences of not taking proper precautions. The DOH program in giving sexuality education and distributing condoms, with the help and support of society, might be the only viable alternative for the youth today.

My nephew is only in fifth grade and he already knows all these things. When I asked him where he learned about Aids he told me it was taught in their sexuality education class. I asked him what he knew about it and he explained it to me with remarkable accuracy, including the ways in which it can be acquired and how it could be prevented. My sister was still hysterically objecting to the conversation and the revelations at this point when my nephew, again very calmly, said “Don’t worry auntie, I know about these stuff so I know that I should not do it.”

Perhaps we are underestimating our youth. They are surprisingly more informed and mature for their age than we were before. Like my nephew, the young people of our country are so easily absorbing whatever they see in media, and to say that sexuality education is to be shunned will only widen the gap between negative sexual education from the internet and positive sexuality education from the health sector. We can be like my sister who hysterically kept objecting to talking about the matter or we can listen to my nephew who said he can already understand and that he knows better now. The RH Law is a beautiful legislation that can help my nephew and all other young people in the country. Let us at least give them a chance.

 

(Gregorio Miguel H. Pallugna is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro.)

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