MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government on Sunday defended its policy of distributing free condoms to mark Valentine’s Day after influential senior church officials labeled it “vulgar”.
“It was about distributing HIV information to adults, adolescents… we had this ‘be careful’ Valentine’s campaign because of the rising number of HIV/AIDS in the country,” said Eric Tayag, head of the government’s epidemiology center.
Tayag told ABS-CBN television that Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral had instructed his team to come up with “an innovative way” of getting across the safe-sex message.
Tents and booths were set up at Manila’s wholesale flower market on Saturday, where condoms and HIV/AIDS information was distributed a day ahead of Valentine’s Day.
“It is vulgar, it is lewd, it is gross. To what extent would they entice young people to be promiscuous?” Archbishop Oscar Cruz said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The Roman Catholic Church forbids artificial birth control including condoms and has consistently opposed population control programs.
Bishop Teodoro Bacani was quoted in newspapers as saying that giving out condoms might only increase the number of HIV/AIDS cases, adding that the government should have promoted abstinence instead.
Tayag however said the government was trying to work with the Church to stem the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases, adding that “abstaining and being faithful are tenets we share with the Church.”
While the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines is still relatively low, Tayag said there were signs that it is increasing, with 126 new cases found in December, the highest level in one month in 25 years.
About 75 million Filipinos, out of a national population of 93 million, are Catholics, a legacy of the country’s Spanish colonial past. –Agence France-Presse
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
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October –
Monthly Observances:
Industry and Commerce Safety Month
National Statistics Month
Local Government Month
Consumer Welfare Month
Cooperative Month
National Quality and Productivity Improvement Month
National Health and Wellness Tourism Month
National Indigenous Peoples Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Elderly Filipino Week
Week 2: National Health Education Week
Local Government Week
National Mental Health Week
October 17-23:
National Week for Overcoming Extreme Poverty
October 18 – 24:
United Nations Week
Last Week:
Nurses’ Week
Consumers’ Protection Week
Week of the 4th Sunday:
Barrio Farmers’ Week
Daily Observances:
First Monday (Oct 4): Universal Children’s Day i
n the Philippines
Oct 5: National Teachers’ Day
Oct 10: Local Government Day
Third Thursday (Oct 14): Conflict Resolution Day
Oct 21: Tenants’ Emancipation day
Oct 24: United Nations Day
Oct 29: National Indigenous People’s Thanksgiving Day
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