S i g n i s I n d i a

MANILA, June 21, 2010— A lawyer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has led a group of parents in filing a class suit against education officials for including sex education in schools’ curricula.

Atty. Jo Imbong, CBCP Legal Office executive secretary, and 30 other parents went to court Monday seeking to redress of their grievances as the education department began implementing the UNFPA-assisted project “Institutionalizing Adolescent Reproductive Health through Lifeskills-Based Education.”

Named respondents to the still unnumbered case for Prohibition, with a Prayer for Preliminary Injunction/Temporary Restraining Order, filed at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, were DepEd Secretary Mona Valisno and Undersecretary Ramon Bacani.

Imbong said the move was the “first step to reclaim our culture” and more than just assailing the controversial memorandum and asserting their rights as families, “the suit filed this morning points a finger at the forces that are reshaping the hearts and minds of our children.

In a press conference, Imbong said sex education planted into the educational system for the past three decades changed the people’s views making them accept couples having two children “that we are almost bursting at the seams because of ‘unwanted pregnancies’, that morality is relative and sex can be a topic for group dynamics in the classroom.”

“Why do many youngsters today trifle with their bodies? Why to most couples today choose not to marry? Why do many marriages fail? Why are we governed by policies that are hostile to new births, and why have birthrates in this country significantly decreased?” she asked.

She said the young has “metamorphosed into an age whose mindset is a refusal of moral limitations in the sphere of human sexuality.” She added condom ads are shown on primetime television “where ads splash contraceptives in the guise of family planning” making the country’s young unfamiliar with stable marriages and stable families.

Atty. Imbong described the over-all program as “contraceptive imperialism” because it is funded “generously” by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

She said DepEd has used a new term for sex education – “population education” as they use the term “life skills-based education” which they made synonymous to “gender education.”

Imbong vowed to put together a nationwide mechanism for parents and parent associations “so that DepEd defers to us, not we to them.”

During the press conference, Imbong and Dr. Ligaya A. Acosta, Director for Asia-Oceania of Human Life International, presented to the media information materials known as komiks with graphic illustrations of couples involved in sexual acts and other activities.

The komiks were reportedly funded by the country’s Department of Health, UNFPA, Cooperacion Espanola, ReachOut – Reproductive Health Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

CBCP - Episcopal Commission on Family and Life Chairman Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto said the church will forever remain vigilant in its opposition to the sex education program being promoted by the government because it runs counter to the teachings on morality.

Asked of the existence of dysfunctional families due to the continuous departure of Filipino workers for overseas employment, the prelate said couples should seriously discuss the consequences of their decisions because foreign employment will always have its downside.

“While a father or a mother would leave for abroad, other relatives may have to fill the vacuum, say grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles and aunties and other relatives which would be able to discuss matters about sex,” the 73 year-old prelate said..

Novaliches Bishop Antonio R. Tobias said they will continue to mobilize their faithful to be on the lookout for sex education modules being taught in government-run schools.

He said they are concerned of the manner sex education is being taught to intermediate elementary pupils and high school students.

Both Imbong and Acosta took DepEd to task for incorporating sex education into English and Math subjects as shown in educational materials produced by the government through regular appropriations. (Melo M. Acuna)