EDITORIAL - Duterte should stop DOH condom distribution in school clinics

The Department of Health has announced that starting next year, it will be distributing condoms not only in traditional health facilities but also in school clinics. According to Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, this is part of efforts to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS that is sweeping the country. If this is all that Ubial is capable of imagining, then she better resign her post. She does not deserve to be in the Cabinet.

On the other hand, since this now seems to be the season for protests, why not launch massive and crippling nationwide demonstrations against this misguided move whose only foreseeable consequence is the corruption of the country's young by encouraging them to engage in pre-marital sex ostensibly made safe by the use of condoms?

This is not to paint the young as completely innocent and naive. It would be hypocritical to close our eyes to the fact that times have changed and, with them, so have our values. The young have, for quite some time, been engaging in pre-marital sex. But it is one thing for them to make their own personal discoveries about their own bodies, and another for government to actually lead them there, knowing how disastrous the consequences can be for most.

True, condoms can be a means to have safe sex. But just because they provide some protection does not mean it is now perfectly all right to distribute them to anyone anywhere. It becomes even worse if you happen to be the government and the one you are distributing the condoms to happen to be young people who are still in school.

The mere knowledge that condoms will be made available for the taking in school clinics is destructive in another way. It will distract students from their studies. Sex is a powerful thing, whether in the act itself, or even just as a matter of conversation. The moment students hear about the availability of condoms in school clinics will lead them to thoughts and discussions about sex, taking their attention away from their studies.

There are a wide variety of means by which the government, any government, can utilize to combat the HIV/AIDS scourge. And while condoms can be among the many means, it does not necessarily follow that they have to be distributed in schools. At the very very least, it sends the wrong message to the students. It tells them in no uncertain terms that it is perfectly all right to have pre-marital sex for as long as it is protected sex.

If Ubial does not abort the plan, or if she refuses to resign, then maybe President Duterte should fire her. Duterte has repeatedly made it a point that the reason he has embarked on an aggressive anti-illegal drugs campaign is because he wants to save the country's young from the scourge. Well, here is another threat to the young, Mr. President, conceived and crafted from deep within your very own Cabinet.