Escudero, Villanueva not keen on adolescent pregnancy bill
Some senators have expressed reservations over Senate Bill No. 1979 or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023 that is being pushed in the upper chamber.
Senate President Francis Escudero said on Thursday he does not support the bill in its current form and has proposed several amendments to it.
“It’s still undergoing the ‘rigors of legislation’ and is currently in the period of interpolation … I will await the final version that will be put to a vote where, hopefully, most of my proposed amendments will be carried,” Escudero said in a statement.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, a devout Christian and son of popular evangelist Eddie Villanueva, also opposes the bill.
“The title of the bill is very deceiving—preventing teenage pregnancy. But if we read the entire bill, just like what they are saying, the devil is in the details,” Villanueva said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum.
‘Prelude to abortion’
He likened the measure to the proposed Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (Sogie) bill. “It’s like Sogie bill. Yes, it’s antidiscrimination but it’s like a prelude to same-sex marriage. This bill is also like a prelude to abortion,” he said.
Villanueva pointed out that there is a “massive, valid concern” from different groups that several provisions are “radical, inappropriate, damaging to children.”
For one, he said, the bill attempts to remove from the parents the authority to educate their children about sex by allowing schools, village officials and other government agencies to teach minors about sexuality.
The senator added that he is opposed to the idea that the government’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program would be patterned after other countries’ policies.
“It should be based on our culture and beliefs. We are taking care of our youth. We need to guide them. That’s why I don’t see any national emergency for sexuality education,” he said.
Villanueva added that some senators plan to withdraw coauthorship on the measure.
Total fabrication
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, author of the measure, said SB 1979 has no provisions about teaching or encouraging masturbation for children age 0 to 4 years old, and teaching “bodily pleasure” or “sexual rights” to children age 6 to 9 years old.
She said the bill, which is pending on second reading, has been crafted based on principles of responsible parenthood and reproductive health law. She refuted claims that it is unconstitutional.
She likewise emphasized that the controversial CSE is not derived from Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe.
“There is also nothing in the bill that states that foreign policies must be followed. So claims that the prevention of adolescent pregnancy bill is unconstitutional are really wrong,” Hontiveros said.
“Absolutely none of those concepts exist in our bill. Those lines in their supposed rebuttal are complete and total fabrication,” she added.
She earlier identified the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution’s Project Dalisay as responsible for spreading misinformation about the measure.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, a representative of Project Dalisay, said their group is opposed to some provisions of the bill, stressing that the measure runs counter to the Constitution.
Escudero, meanwhile, denied that Sereno influenced his stand on the measure.
“She did not (tell me not to support it). She just expressed concerns over it. When I spoke to her she said that their group is against the bill per se,” Escudero said.
