MANILA — CIBAC Party-List Representative Bro. Eddie Villanueva has urged the reconsideration of House Bill No. 8910, the House counterpart to Senate Bill 1979, which aims to implement the Comprehensive Sexuality Education bill as a measure to combat teenage pregnancy.

Critics of the bill have expressed concerns about the comprehensive sexuality education framework being modeled after international guidelines. Villanueva is advocating for House Bill 8910, which was approved on its third reading by the House of Representatives in 2023, to be recommitted.

According to Villanueva, while addressing the issue of teenage pregnancy is important, House Bill 8910 is among the legislative measures that he believes act as a gateway for introducing foreign ideologies that conflict with the Philippine Constitution and the deeply rooted God-centered and family-oriented values of Filipinos.

Specifically, Villanueva asserts that the bill will open the door for curriculum standards set by international organizations, which he claims introduce inappropriate topics like masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex into the education of children as young as six years old.

The CIBAC representative also pointed out that the proposed legislation undermines parental authority by allowing minors to access reproductive health services and make decisions about their sexuality without requiring parental consent.

“The bill contradicts Biblical principle and Constitutional mandate of giving the parents the natural and primary duty to rear their children. It also betrays the Constitutional policy of the state responsibility to promote and protect the physical, moral and spiritual well-being of the youth,” Villanueva said.

He hopes that his colleagues in Congress will heed his appeal. Villanueva has called for the bill to be sent back to the committee level to ensure its provisions comply with the Constitutional framework.

📷 CIBAC