Good Afternoon Mr. Chair. Ladies and Gentlemen good afternoon.

The topic our debate is

whether the DOH should give condoms to high school students. The proposition could be simply
defined as one where the government, as represented by DOH, should give contraceptive in
form of condoms to high school student. When we say High School students, it is limited from
ages 13 to 19. This house sides in the affirmative as it will lead to more positive effects in the
society and to the teen himself.

As the first speaker, I will discuss about the beneficiality of the act if such action should be taken
by the government. The most valuable effect would be that it would eradicate, if not lessen, the
major effects of unprotected sex; Teen Pregnancy, Over Population, and Sexually Transmitted
Diseases.

Let me start by stating that, the ability to control ones sexuality and make informed,
responsible decisions about ones sexual health is a basic human right. Some ASEAN countries
as well as in the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, France and Germany protect this right by
providing comprehensive sex education in their schools and implementing public programs to
promote sexual health.

Adolescents nowadays are getting worse on sexual health measures. In a study conducted by US
National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, published of December 5, 2014, it is
stated there that teens in the Philippines have higher rates of pregnancy and abortion than
some of the neighboring ASEAN countries. Young women in the country experience intercourse
at a younger age, use less effective contraception, and report higher rates of using no
contraception at all than young women in some ASEAN countries.

Nearly sixty percent of pregnancies are unplanned or unwanted. In the Philippines, according to
the 2010 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study by the University of the Philippines
Population Institute (Uppi) and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, about
30 percent of our Filipino youth nationwide from ages 15 to 25 admitted to having a premarital
sex experience. Whats worse is that 38 percent of our youth are already in a live-in
arrangement. In the recent years, around 15% among 2 million babies were born to mothers 15-
19 years old alone. Young mother gave birth to 818,000 babies in 2000 alone. This means,
almost one of every 10 babies is born to teenage mothers. Hence, such number of babies born
per ratio of teenage mothers greatly affects the population.

Now, let us look at the history and statistics of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines. According
to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), teenage pregnancy has a huge rate in the Philippines,
especially among the poor. 2/3 of Filipinos, who give birth before age 20, belongs to the low
class society. The risk is, almost 10 percent of the born babies from young mothers are
malnourished. As years passed by, the statistics are getting higher. According to the study done
by the Population Institute of the University of the Philippines, more than 46 percent of teenage
pregnant woman resort to induced abortion which is against the law and the Church; 2 of every
5 teenage pregnancies are unwanted ones. If the government wont start acting on this, this
problem will be worse as years goes by.
 In the developed world, the causes of teenage pregnancy is different in the sense that it is
mostly outside marriage and carries lots of social stigma. Thus, adolescent sexual behavior is
one of the causes of teenage pregnancy. In our world today, having sex before 20 yrs is the in
thing, it is even normal all over the world and this is brought about high levels of adolescent
pregnancy which creates sexual relationship among teenagers without the provision of
comprehensive information about sex.

Let us now go to diseases obtained due to unprotected sex. For one, AIDS. HIV/AIDS infection in
the Philippines is low but growing. The Philippine HIV/AIDS Registry Fact Sheet of 2015 of gthe
Department of health shows that the country remains under 0.1% of the total population in
2015. The Philippines has one of the lowest rates of infection, yet has one of the fastest growing
number of cases worldwide. The Philippines is one of seven countries with growth in number of
cases of over 25%, from 2001 to 2009. Further, from 1984 to 2015, the region with the most
number of reported cases were Metro Manila with 11,081 (44%), Region 4A with 3,230 (13%)
cases, Central Visayas with 2,260 (9%) cases, Region 3 with 2,025 (8%) cases and Region 11 with
1,460 (6%) cases. 3,734 (15%) of cases were distributed around the rest of the country while
1,146 (5%) had no data on the region. There are several factors put the Philippines in danger of
a broader HIV/AIDS epidemic. They include increasing population mobility within and outside of
the Philippine islands; adverse to publicly discussing issues of a sexual nature; casual sex, and
unsafe sex among others.

We now ask ourselves, ARE THERE LAWS ADDRESSING THIS PROBLEM? Under the 1987
constitution Article II section 15, it states that the state shall protect and promote the right to
health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. Hence, it is a mandate from
the supreme law of the land to safeguard and be an advocate for the protection of its peoples
right to health. Again, ARE THERE LAWS ADDRESSING THIS PROBLEM. The following laws are
implemented to address the social issue of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines; not directly
but is connected to that topic as well: the RH Bill which includes sex education and the use of
contraceptives--- and thats about it. This tells us several things: firstly, there are not enough
laws that address teenage pregnancy since it is really difficult to monitor it. Secondly, this social
issue cannot be prevented with the help of laws since people cannot be controlled in their
decisions. And thirdly, this is a social issue that continues everywhere and not even government
officials or politicians know how to control it. (omit nako ni or dili na?)

Just recently, the Department of Health declared that they would start distributing condoms to
high school students. This is a small step made by the government but would really have a
massive effect in the society. For one, it would educate high school students about protective
sex and in turn, would prevent teen pregnancy as well as its contribution in the alarming
population of the country.

Condom availability programs have been researched numerous times with similar results. When
schools that make condoms available to students are compared to similar schools that do not, it
becomes clear that students who have access to condoms do not have more sex, but they are
more likely to use condoms. This study was conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics
or AAP. The AAP statement also points to a recent meta-analysis of interventions to increase
condom access, conducted both in the United States and internationally. The analysis found that
these programs increased condom use, the acquisition of condoms, and condom carrying.
Under the same study, it was also concluded that students who are being educated early about
safe sex reduces the risk of being pregnant at early age as well as incurring STDs.

It must also be noted that condom distribution does not increase sexual activity. The
pediatricians say studies show the availability of condoms does not increase sexual activity but
can decrease unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

At the end of the day, if such program is being implemented properly and students are properly
educated about safe sex thru the use of condoms, there is no harm done. It is better to act by
educating youth and preventing dangers of unprotected sex (STD, teen pregnancy, etc) than to
turn an eye blind on the reality that premarital sex is rampant in the Philippines.