Presidentiables slam DOH Valentine condom campaign

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 01:40 PM Mikhaela De Leon

After getting flak from the Catholic church, the government health bureau's Valentine condom-giving campaign was also criticized by seven presidential candidates at a forum on Monday.

At a presidential forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), the participating aspirants were asked whether they would be willing to fund the distribution of condoms or other forms of artificial birth control to the public. On Valentine's day, the Department of Health (DOH) gave away free condoms to people at the Dangwa flower market in Manila.

All seven participants – Sen. Benigno "Noynoy” Aquino III, Gilbert Teodoro, Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Nicanor Perlas and JC delos Reyes – said they would not fund any such campaign, whether for contraception or for preventing the spread of sexually transmitted disease such as AIDS.

Survey frontrunner Sen. Manny Villar and former President Joseph Estrada were absent during the forum.

'Educate the people'

Gordon and fellow senator Madrigal agreed that instead of giving out free condoms, the government should focus on educating the people on the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immunodeficiency disease (AIDS).

For his part, Aquino clarified that budget issues are not for the president to decide on, but for the Congress to deliberate. But the 50-year-old bachelor quickly added, “I support responsible parenthood.”

Although Perlas said he was not against the distribution of condoms, he said he was concerned about its “questionable” timing.

“It depends on the context. It happened on February 14 [Valentine's day]. So under what context was it done?” he said.

While he admits that the use of condoms could be an effective preventive measure against AIDS, administration bet Teodoro maintained that family planning should remain the “the moral choice of the person” and that the government should support a person's decision whether to use a contraceptive or not.

Born-again evangelist Villanueva said he maintains his earlier stance against “any form of abortion.”

The Catholic church considers the use of artificial contraception as abortive.

The youngest presidential candidate Delos Reyes cited Thailand's condom campaign for his argument. He said that the program backfired and had even resulted to higher incidences of AIDS when it was launched.

“The government must push for moral policies. The condom campaign is a waste of money. It is uneconomical and immoral,” he suggested.

“Against AIDS, not for contraception”

Malacañang defended the DOH's campaign, saying that it does not give away free condoms to promote contraception, but to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS.

“The government has no program to give away condoms for contraception but only for preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said.

Apart from the DOH, another government agency the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) vowed to intensify its advocacy against the spread of the dreaded disease among workers.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque has instructed the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) to educate workers on how to avoid the spread of HIV-AIDS, particularly in the workplace.

Recently, reported cases of HIV-AIDS were seen at “near epidemic” levels with the number of new infections climbing to 334 percent from 2001 to 2009.

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