PopCom-7 wants sex education in schools

CEBU, Philippines - Commission on Population regional director Bruce Ragas is hoping that sex education will be taught in schools to lessen, if not stop, the rising number of teenage pregnancy,

“It is very alarming when you expose your young people to early pregnancy. Taas pa nga time nga reproductive pa sila (and this) endangers their lives and future,” Ragas said in an interview with the media during the Population and Development Policy Forum that PopCom hosted yesterday.

To solve the problem, Ragas said sex education “should be appropriately given according to age.” He said PopCom is already trying to work with the Department of Education, which reportedly has a module for it, to “properly implement” it.

Ragas revealed that the youngest mother on record was a 12-year-old from Bogo City, which had 223 reports of teenage pregnancies as per its record last year. In Negros Oriental, a 13-year-old also got pregnant, he said.

It was only very recently that PopCom started gathering data on teenage pregnancy, and according to him, if it happened in Bogo City and Negros, there could be similar cases in other areas in the region.

“We have not seen the records of other LGUs (local government units). If it happened in Bogo, there’s no reason di ni mahitabo sa other LGUs,” he said.

This is why, among PopCom’s thrusts is to “intensify” the campaign on sex education among young people, especially after observing that younger teens are engaging in pre-marital sex, he said.

“There is a large number of young people (who are into pre-marital sex) and (we are) trying to reach out and orient… to delay pre-marital sex or as much as possible, they will avoid. And delay marriage and focus on their studies,” added Ragas.

Part of their education is to also teach the public in barangay level about responsible parenthood, especially that most of the victims of teenage pregnancy are in the marginalized sector.

The University of the Philippines Population Institute’s Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study showed that more than 503,000 of the 1.4 million estimated youth in Central Visayas in 2013 have engaged in pre-marital sex.

Of this number, more than 353,000 did not use any form of protection, 73,000 have “casual sex” experience, while 46,000 have “Fubu” affairs or having regular sex without emotional attachment, said the study which PopCom-7 presented to the participants in yesterday’s forum. — (FREEMAN)