Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin came to the defense of President Marcos after supporters of the proposed Senate Bill (SB) 1979 or the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) Program urged the President to not veto the said measure.

Bersamin said this after Marcos announced that he would immediately veto SB 1979, if "passed in that form," due to "ridiculous" and "abhorrent" provisions that remove parental consent from the CSE and teach children as young as four years old how to masturbate, which Senator Risa Hontiveros claimed was not mentioned in the original proposed bill.

In an interview in Pasay City, the Palace official asked the public to not fault Marcos, saying there was probably something in the measure that prompted the President to make such statements.

"Let us give the President the benefit of the doubt about that. If he probably read something that indicated to him that is going to include masturbation, he’s entitled to that opinion. Anyway, it’s not yet an official act from him," he told reporters on Friday, Jan. 24.

"You can have your opinion about language, about the tenor or the text. But, you know, do not judge that particular statement because later developments already showed that statement may no longer be true or valid or current or… You know that is what I mean," he added.

According to Bersamin, President Marcos was speaking as a concerned parent when he said he would veto the bill.

"He’s a parent. That’s a personal comment from him," he said.

"When you read something, you read the lines and there are between the lines also. Language is very broad. You have connotation, denotation, and the other implications of language," he added.

The former Supreme Court Chief Justice revealed he also has reservations about the bill but said he would not "prejudge" the legislature.

"I’m also thinking of my grandchildren. I think it is not good to be legislating this. Because that is, my province has the head of the family," he said.

"I will not prejudge the legislature. It is their absolute power to legislate on this if they want to do so," he added.