00:00The Senate heard the comprehensive sexuality education in the country.
00:06The Department of Health also shared the data regarding the adolescent birth rate and HIV-AIDS.
00:11This is what Daniel Manalastamos reported.
00:15In the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education regarding the increasing number of adolescent pregnancies
00:20and the implementation of Department Order No. 31 of the Department of Education
00:25where it is also hot to talk about comprehensive sexuality education,
00:30Senator Sherwin Gatchalian criticized how the CSE is being implemented, especially in classrooms.
00:36The Senator's opinion, if the program is just going to be confusing,
00:55if you ask me, my own personal opinion, if this is a source of confusion,
01:02then let's suspend it for now until we fix it and we make sure that it's clear from the policy makers.
01:10Senator Risa Hontevero also clarified a few things about the CSE.
01:14The CSE program is taught to children who are 0-4 years old
01:21about childhood masturbation or what about anal sex, oral sex.
01:27Is that being taught in our schools?
01:30There's nowhere in our curriculum that teaches these things to learners between 0-4.
01:36We don't cover that because our learners start at 5 years old in DepEd.
01:42Hontevero also asked DepEd if the CSE is exploiting the rights of parents to their children.
01:49DepEd said no.
01:51That's far from the truth.
01:53In fact, the CSE is supplementary.
01:56It's not meant to supplant or override the parental authority of the parents over their children.
02:01It's just a support.
02:04The Department of Health also shared a few facts about the adolescent birth rate
02:09where some children are born to mothers who are 15-19 years old.
02:14According to the DOH, it's up to the children who are in the adolescent age
02:18because the body is not ready.
02:21In 2020, it was 24 per 100,000 or in real numbers, 121,896.
02:32In 2021, it was 22 per 100,000 or 112,990.
02:40In 2022, it was 24 per 100,000 or 123,362.
02:48In 2023, it was 25 per 100,000 live births or 132,157.
02:57Besides the teenage pregnancy, the DOH also shared an alarming number of HIV-AIDS.
03:04Our young people with early HIV-AIDS have higher risk behaviors
03:10and it's harder for them to get HIV-related services.
03:15According to our data, on average,
03:18our young people with HIV-related diseases
03:21were HIV-positive when they were 16 years old.
03:26On average, they used a condom when they were 17 years old.
03:32Why? That's what we need to look into.
03:35On the other hand, we have the former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
03:39Sereno was known by several groups as a critic of Senate Bill 1979
03:44or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023.
03:48According to the former Chief Justice,
03:50she has no problem with sex education.
03:53She also believes that this will solve the problem of teenage pregnancy and HIV.
03:59But when it comes to sexuality education,
04:01So when you talk about sexuality education,
04:03it is already exploring identity and going to the very foundation of who we are.
04:10Are we male or female?
04:13Daniel Manalastas for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
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