Churches open doors to teenage mothers

My first time to attend a concert of Manila Tytana College president and former UP Diliman chancellor Sergio S. Cao was last Sunday.  Not having been invited to his 10 previous concerts, after Sunday’s performance I vowed  to be present in the coming years musical events.

My enthrallment, experienced I am sure by all of the mostly senior Cao admirers who filled Abelardo Hall at the UP Conservatory of Music to the rafters, was due to  his unique presentation of songs and jokes. There was no dull moment, as he sang such old time favorites as Jack Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual,” and Engelbert’s “The way It  Used to Be,” Enrico Caruso’s “O Sole Mio.”  His  long-time chum, internationally known pianist Raul Sunico, played numbers from the musicale “My Fair Lady,” and the audience participated in the singing of pieces from “Sound of Music.”

It must be mentioned that his other accompanist was DOST Undersecretary and first woman dean of the UP College of Engineering Rowena Cristina Guevara. “ Look, she is a mathematician and a musician both,” Serge said. A surprise singer was Betsy Enriquez, a former vice chancellor, who sang with flair, “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Cry Me a River.”

The concert was a three-in-one, so called because it was first a tribute to Cao’s icon, former UP regent Nelia Teodoro Gonzalez, that’s why it was titled “NighTinGale.” The concert, for the first time, was no fund-raiser, but those so moved could donate to the Nelia T. Gonzalez Undergraduate Scholarship program at the UP Virata School of Business which is celebrating its 100 years of business education in the Philippines (the second reason for the concert). Nelia has just been awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by UP. To honor Dr. Nelia, Cao had her favorite songs played, like “Moonlight Serenade,” and a series of Basil Valdez’s songs.

Third reason is Cao was celebrating his 55th birthday last Sunday. He told jokes, about how a senior friend complained he was not driving his car well, but it was because he had his hand brakes on.  And how another was driving down a hill and bumped the car ahead of him; he got down and told the driver, “Inatrasan mo ako.”

He sang a friend’s song, Romy Pesaña’s “Hanggang Langit.” He wanted to tell more jokes, but it was becoming bed time for many in the audience.

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Prayers  do move mountains, but  are  they enough   to respond to the swelling number of victims of HIV/AIDS patients and unwed pregnant teenagers?

How then should the churches deal with these two serious problems?

“Stop being judgmental of young people and instead, offer concrete, proactive reproductive health programs and clinical services,” Bishop Rodrigo Taño told pastors in a sea of 1,300 participants  in an Interfaith Summit on  Teen Pregnancy and HIV/AIDS held at the Ynares Sports Center in  Antipolo City.

“Go outside  the gates of your churches, and reach out to those who are ‘hurting’ and these are the high school teenagers who are burdened by unplanned pregnancies and victims of HIV/AIDS,“ he urged interfaith leaders, academics, students and representatives of local governments. “I believe that interfaith groups have it in their power to offer something concrete and  proactive, such as church-based health centers that offer family planning and contraception, prenatal and post-natal services and also counseling.”

The summit was organized by the Interfaith Partnership for the Promotion of Responsible Parenthood Inc. or IPPRP, in collaboration with regional and provincial LGUs and health advocacy networks. In attendance were young people and parents. Rizal Vice Governor Reynaldo welcomed the participants; Antipolo City Vice Mayor Josefina Gatlabayan talked about the city’s ordinance on responsible parenting. Also present was  Dr. Philip Ynares.

Quoting from documents, Bishop Taño, IPPRP chairman,  said the Philippines has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the ASEAN, and one of the seven countries with the  fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world.

On the other hand, the 2014 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality study 4 (YAFS 4) reports that around 14 percent of Filipino girls aged 15 to 29 are either pregnant for the first time or are already mothers – more than twice the rate recorded in 2002.

The situation, said the bishop, “is appalling and unacceptable. It only means our neighbors in ASEAN have committed themselves to very concrete RH programs for their own young population, and we have been in denial of this humungous situation.”

The problem is exacerbated “by the misguided actions of those who wish to derail the effective implementation of the RH Law,”  Bishop Taño said.

Rev. Prof. Vernie Compas, IPPRP executive director,  said that with regard to “unwed mothers,” the numbers are almost the same for evangelical and Catholic churches according to a survey done in Antipolo in 2011.  He  said church  groups “can be active partners of the government in implementing the RH Law since it is cross-cutting with other social issues including the economy.”

Compas, who also heads the Liberty Christian Fellowship congregation in Antipolo, and founding president of FILNET – a network of over 5,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFW), said  interfaith groups should provide  church–based health centers with RH services for teenagers.  “It is crucial that we, in the interfaith churches are proactive, that we have an open door to teenagers when they are not yet in a panic mode, so that they can remain in school; acquire an education and get more life skills. Apart from mobilizing our own doctors, nurses and social workers, we  must include responsible parenting and access to RH services in their sermons, in their  Bible study groups,  and in premarital counseling sessions,” Compas said.

Jenny  May Cabogtong0 Malapit, a 20-year-old peer educator in the IPPRP Youth Ventures program, said, “My fellow youth should also seek the right information about HIV, since it is not well taught in school. Sometimes, even teachers have the wrong information about HIV. We should be told how HIV can be avoided,  contracted and transmitted, where to get treatment, as well as how to treat people who are HIV positive.”

Pastor Ephraim Guerrero of Pateros lamented the proliferation of overly-romanticized relationships  among  young people on local television. “Parents must weigh in heavily. They should make their children understand that their aspirations are important, and the consequences of unplanned pregnancy and HIV/AIDS is something they should seriously discuss with their children.”

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