DOH to boost family planning

MANILA, Philippines – The new administration is boosting the country’s family planning program, with Health Secretary Enrique Ona saying yesterday he would propose the procurement of contraceptives using government funds.

In an interview during the celebration of World Population Day yesterday, Ona stressed that to effectively promote responsible parenthood, couples should be allowed to make informed choices by exposing them to all methods of population management.

“The couple should be given freedom to decide how many children they would like to have. That’s normal. Every couple does that. And so it is very important that they are given all the necessary information on how they may (decide on) the number of children, the spacing of children,” he said.

Ona said it is the duty of the government to make information and services on artificial and natural or scientific methods of family planning available to couples.

“Teach them (couples) all of these, give them the options and then let them decide… But we all agree on the value of life. So it is very clear that we are against abortion,” he said.

The health chief also said that the DOH would make contraceptives available in all of its clinics.

“We have to give them options. Whatever the community wants or demands, if within our reach, we’ll give it to them,” he said, citing the use of condoms to prevent AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

‘Contraceptive mentality immoral’

On the other hand, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday issued a pastoral statement reminding President Aquino that the government’s program of promoting a contraceptive mentality through education and medical practices is immoral and would not bring good to the people.

The CBCP issued the pastoral statement at the end of their two-day 101st Plenary Assembly that was held at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center along United Nations Avenue, Manila over the weekend.

The bishops discussed several issues including sex education and the Reproductive Health (RH) bills during the plenary but CBCP president Tandag, Surigao del Sur bishop Nereo Odchimar reiterated that there are no changes in the stand of the Catholic Church on these concerns.

“Human life is a gift of God and has to be respected and protected from conception until natural death. Education does not merely deal with knowledge and skills; rather it must promote values that are inherent to us as Filipinos. Parents have the primary right to educate their children and sex education has to be done in the family,” he said.

Independence respected

Former Education secretary Mona Valisno, meanwhile, said that former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo should be given credit for not blocking her move to push for the integration of sex education in the basic education curriculum (BEC) starting in Grade 5.

Valisno said that with the strong opposition of the Catholic Church to the DepEd’s move to integrate reproductive health education or sex education in the BEC, she had expected Mrs. Arroyo to order her to stop the program.

“In fairness to the former president, she respected our independence and did not issue an order for to us to stop the program,” Valisno told The STAR.

The former education chief strongly pushed for the implementation of the program last March when she was appointed to the top DepEd post by Mrs. Arroyo despite having only about three months to serve. –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) with Evelyn Macairan, Rainier Allan Ronda