Education officials sued over sex education order

THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) is facing a class suit over an order to teach sex education in elementary and high school.

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A boy yawns inside a classroom in Manila, June 15. A class suit was filed Monday against Education officials for a memorandum that requires the teaching of sex education in elementary and high school.

Twenty-four petitioners led by Jo Aurea C. Imbong, defeated Ang Kapatiran senatorial candidate, yesterday filed the case against acting Education Secretary Mona D. Valisno and Undersecretary Ramon C. Bacani for the order that integrated sex education in the elementary and high school curricula.

The petitioners asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order against the implementation of DepEd Memorandum 261, Series of 2005 and to "declare it null and void."

The petitioners said sex education is "unconstitutional" and "illegal" since it is funded and supervised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which adopted the definition of International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action in reproductive health that include the right of people "to have a satisfying and safe sex life."

Entitled "Operationalization of the UNFPA-assisted project ‘Institutionalizing Adolescent Reproductive Health through Life-Skills Based Education,’" the order directed the teaching of sex education and reproductive health in both public and private schools.

"Is it appropriate and reasonable for these ‘satisfying and safe sex life,’ family planning, condoms, IUD (intrauterine device), contraceptive pills, and other devices to be taught to our grade school and high school pupils?" the petitioners said in their 28-page motion. "For what purpose? To entice them to get sexually oriented at an early age?" they added.

The case has been raffled off to Quezon City Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Rosanna Fe Romero-Maglaya of Branch 88.

Ms. Imbong and the petitioners who claimed to be parents said the order violates Article II, Section 12 the Constitution which states the "sanctity of family life."

The petitioners noted that teaching sex education to the young will be dangerous given their "emotional immaturity and vulnerability."

They cited a 1988 survey in the United States that said abortion, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and rape were the top issues that concern the youth. At that time, 70% of American students are taking up sex education, the petitioners said.

"In the United States, sex education has not only resulted in irreparable erosion of parental authority, it spread sexual immorality and delinquency among the youth," the petitioners added.

Earlier, Ms. Valisno said that sex education will be pilot-tested in 80 public elementary and 79 high schools nationwide this school year.

In a phone interview, she said the project is not yet "fully implemented."

Ms. Valisno said a dialogue is being held among parties, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, whose representative is Ms. Imbong in her capacity as head of legal office. "I don’t know what is there to stop because we are still in the dialogue stage. We are not teaching the whole of it [curriculum] yet.