Government to give away condoms

MANILA, Philippines – Government health authorities will distribute free condoms today to customers of flower shops in Manila’s Dangwa Flower Market, reversing a nine-year-old policy against the promotion of artificial birth control.

The Department of Health (DOH) emphasized that he move is intended mainly to fight HIV/AIDS and not to promote artificial contraception, much less sexual licentiousness, in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

“This is not for family planning. This is for the prevention of HIV/AIDS which is now on the rise,” Dr. Ed Janairo, director of the DOH’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told The STAR.

In line with the policy of the Arroyo administration, the DOH does not procure condoms and other forms of contraceptives and has given low priority to family planning programs.

The DOH promotes natural methods of birth control, such as lactational amenorrhea method, standard days method, sympto-thermal method, basal body temperature and cervical mucus methods like billing ovulation and the Mercedes Wilson.

Today, the DOH launches its anti-HIV/AIDS campaign “Ingat Lagi, My Valentine” program to raise awareness about the disease.

The event is in collaboration with the Global Fund Round 6-HIV/AIDS Component and the Philippine National AIDS Council.

Under the project, the DOH will set up information booths on Dos Castillas corner Maria Clara and Dos Castillas corner Dimasalang in Dangwa from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Flower vendors will give out gift stubs and information materials to their adult customers while minor customers will get only information materials plus candies or chocolates.

The buyers will then present the stubs at the booths to redeem their free condoms.

Janairo said the DOH did not spend for the condoms. He said companies DKT and Durex have provided the prophylactics for free.

Janairo said the DOH is promoting what it calls the A-B-C strategies to fight the AIDS virus.

A stands for abstinence from sex, B for be faithful to your partners and C for condom use.

He admitted that of the three, condom use is the most acceptable to the public.

“Because it’s mechanical or physical so people are most like to accept it. While A and B involve emotions or feelings so it’s really hard to promote them,” he added.

The DOH earlier sounded the alarm over the increasing number of cases of HIV/AIDS in the past three years, especially through sexual contact between males. This was partly blamed on the growing popularity of online social networking.

Records showed that in December 2009 alone, there had been 126 new AIDS cases, the highest in 25 years.

For the entire 2009, a total of 835 AIDS cases have been reported.

RH Bill

The use of contraceptives is one of the salient features of the controversial Reproductive Health bill, which is being eyed as the solution to the country’s ballooning population, which is expected to reach 94 million this year.

The bill has been pending at the House of Representatives for years due to strong opposition from the Catholic Church. Some Roman Catholic bishops have even promised to campaign against presidential candidates in favor of the bill.

The bill enjoys the support of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, and groups advocating women’s rights and women’s health.

The RH bill provides for information dissemination and access to both natural and modern family planning methods.

Flower power

Meanwhile, flower sellers have been forced to cut prices due to the prevalence of cheaper and more readily available imported flowers, particularly from Thailand.

Most of the flowers sold around Dangwa come from either Baguio or Thailand.

Len Pantua of Hana’s Flower Shop said that they expect people to rush to Dangwa beginning today until Monday to buy flowers for their loved ones.

“Most of our customers are students who would buy either a stem, three pieces or even a bouquet of red roses for their loved ones,” Pantua said.

“They really save up their money to buy flowers for their girlfriends,” she said.

She said that although Valentine’s Day falls on Sunday, there would still be those who would only make their purchases on Monday, Feb. 15, payday for many workers.

About 80 percent of their customers buy red roses, and only 20 percent go for pink or white ones or for other flower varieties.

A dozen red roses costs P250 to P300 while a single stem rose is priced at P30 to P50.

Pantua said they also deliver flowers but sometimes the delivery charge is more expensive than the flower itself. For instance, the delivery charge from Dangwa to Manila Hotel is about P300 while delivering to destinations in Makati City may cost the sender P500. This is why many people prefer to pick up the merchandize from their store.

Over the years, flower vendors have upgraded their packaging. They used to merely wrap the flowers in cellophane, but nowadays they use colorful Chinese paper, sinamay or abaca paper.

Baby’s breath or asters are added to bouquets of roses. Some flower arrangements may also include teddy bears priced between P50 and P100, baskets worth P50 or P100, and heart-shaped balloons on sticks with romantic messages worth P50 to P80. –-Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) with Evelyn Macairan