Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the Department of Education (DepEd) should revert to the implementation of the mandated Reproductive Health (RH) education while currently reviewing its policy on comprehensive sexuality education (CSE).
![sherwin gatchalian .jpg](https://images.mb.com.ph/production/sherwin_gatchalian_a4cebf0413.jpg)
Gatchalian made the call following a Senate hearing tackling the controversial Senate Bill No. 1979 or the proposed Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education pointed out RH education is mandated by law and thus, the DepEd should remain faithful to its duty of providing RH education to adolescents.
During a recent Senate hearing, Gatchalian noted the inconsistencies between the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Act of 2012 or Republic Act No. 10354 and DepEd Order No. 031 s. 2018, which sets the policy guidelines on the implementation of CSE.
DepEd officials explained that the RPRH Act provides legal basis for DepEd Order No. 031 s. 2018. Section 14 of the RPRH Law provides that age- and development-appropriate reproductive health education shall be given to adolescents 10 to 19 years old.
Among the topics covered under RH education are values formation, sexual abuse and violence against women and children, and teen pregnancy, among others.
But Gatchalian noted that under DepEd Order No. 031, CSE is integrated across all levels of basic education, which is not consistent with Section 14 of the RPRH Law.
“It went beyond what the RH law calls for. Let’s stay faithful to the intention of the law that RH education will only be taught to adolescents,” Gatchalian said.
DepEd Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs Filemon Ray Javier admitted that the wording of DepEd Order No. 031 is confusing due to its broad phrasing.
But he clarified that learners below 10 years old are given foundational knowledge in preparation for sex education proper.
DepEd Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara had vowed to order a review of the CSE currently integrated in the basic education curriculum following appeals to suspend the implementation of the program.
The DepEd chief, however, assured there are no concepts like "masturbation" included in the current curriculum.
Angara said he made it a point to check claims that some of the contents of SB 1979 were “ridiculous,” and “abhorrent.”
This was in reference to the claim of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that some of the contents of SB 1979 were “ridiculous,” “abhorrent,” and a “travesty of what sexual and sex education should be to the children.”
Nevertheless, Angara said DepEd cannot permanently suspend the CSE's implementation because it is mandated by law.
“Certainly to correct certain flaws pointed out by the legislators, to ensure that it is age-appropriate, maybe we can do that. Kaunting (With some) corrections, tweaking,” Angara told reporters in an interview.