When the Department of Health announced that many Filipino youths were contracting HIV, unearthing the root cause of youthful promiscuity was a no brainer. It was thus an outrageous surprise that Health Sec. Pauyn Jean Rosell- Ubial came out with the idea of distributing condoms to senior high school students as response to the HIV trend.
Many jeered her for that; condoms would be more bane than boon. The rubbers would provoke, not prevent. Her proposal missed the root canal.
The first chance I got to cover the health secretary, I was poised to clamp down on the issue. “Are you really that serious about condom being distributed to young people?” I asked. Her expression conveyed she had already given up on that; it was an option in the DepEd that antedated her, she said. That was a relief.
I was ready with a bag of words she could chew on. “If many young people are getting promicuous, it’s naturally their libido don’t you think? And if there’s something that affects their libido, don’t you think it’s because pornography is too accessible to them?” I asked. She smiled.
I went on; “It’s their smartphone and how cheap it is to have internet which is saturated with all kinds of pornography. Porno is illegal in our country so if we ban it in the internet system of the Philippines, we are not merely blocking something illegal. We would also be removing a major trigger of the libido of young people.”
I went on: “In China and other countries, some websites are barred from their internet systems for political reasons. This means there are ways to block websites in a country. So ma’am, would you support any move for the government to block porno websites?”
“Yes, Anything that will stop the spread of HIV-AIDS,” she replied. I found her affectionate.
And so it happened that I had a front page story in a national newspaper the following day. But that wasn’t my objective. I had hoped that the story would inspire the government to block porno sites in the country’s internet system. But my story headed only to the following day’s wet market, to be used as tinapa wrapper.
A few weeks after my story, the Commission on Population came out with a report saying Filipino youths are into early sex due to exposure to pornography and sex-related content on the internet, social media and other digital media.
The study, “Post-Millennial Filipinos: Renewed Hope versus Risks,” looked into the sexual behavior of young adults (ages 15 to 24) in each of the country’s 17 regions. Researchers from the University of the Philippines Population Institute and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation analyzed data from the 2013 nationwide Youth Adult Fertility and Sexuality (YAFS) study per region.
The study found that adolescents in Central Luzon (Region III) who were exposed to the internet early were also more likely to initiate sex. Those who had accessed the internet and who regularly drink at a younger age were more likely to engage in early sex, the study found.
Popcom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said their findings should help policy makers tailor-fit programs per region to address teenage sex and pregnancies and sexually risky behavior among the youth.
“With this evidence, we can have more responsive interventions for young people,” Perez said.
The study said that most boys in Metro Manila (National Capital Region) were exposed to pornographic materials. Almost 30 percent of the youth, mostly male, in the capital have engaged in sex before turning 18 while the same number have been exposed to pornography prior to their first sex.
The study found that exposure to pornographic materials was the main factor that encouraged early sex among youths in Metro Manila. Peer pressure, lifestyle, religion and socio-economic status were not such a big factor.
In the news recently were minors, as young as 12 to 14, raping girls of their age. In these violent cases of sexual nature, is it
yet difficult to pin down the triggering factor?
Despite the PopCom study, no one, but no one in government has initiated moves against web porno. The powerful devil himself must be at play.
Perhaps, in Congress, an ally.
In one of her modern-day apparitions, the Blessed Mother was asked what sin mostly led to eternal damnation. She replied: sins of the flesh.