How not to vote

Art by Aaron Felizmenio.

I just came across this interesting article in Tapat, an online news publication (soon to be print tabloid). It talks about how to be a good voter by describing the bad habits of a bad voter ("bobotante").

Here's one that must be reiterated:

3. “Di ko kilala mga kandidato. Bahala na sa makikita ko sa balota.”
Napakaraming mga web pages tulad nito na nagpapakilala sa mga kandidato. Pag bibili ka ng cellphone, nag-re-research ka pa ng sandamukal at nagtatanong-tanong ka kung ano ang okey na bilhin. Naghahanap ka pa kung san ka makakamura. Andami mong oras na naka-log in sa Facebook pero yung pagbasa man lang ng profile at list ng mga kandidato online, di mo magawa. Tapos rereklamo ka ng kung sino-sino ang nananalo.

It's true that before we go vote, we have to do our homework! It sucks that it seems many are more willing to do enough (or too much) homework on a gadget that they want to buy, but think so little of the candidate they will vote. Remember, this is they guy who will represent YOU in the next few years of your life as citizen.

I like this one too:

6. “Di na ko boboto, wala rin naman magbabago.”Ok lang yan, pero huwag ka ring masyadong mag-reklamo. Dahil ang di mo pagboto, katulad na rin ‘yan ng pagsuporta mo sa taong ayaw mong manalo. Ang di mo pagboto, ay hindi direktang pagboto sa kandidatong di mo gusto.

Your non-vote is an indirect vote cast for the person you do not wish to put in office. When you vote and your candidate doesn't win, well, at least that gives you the right to say "I didn't vote for that guy" when his term turns out to be an epic fail. 

But seriously, if there is a candidate you deem worthy of the position, don't hesitate to cast your vote for him or her. More than a right, voting is a RESPONSIBILITY. It's the role you fulfill to help chart the course of the country. I use a nautical idiom purposefully: because in seafaring terms, err just one degree off course and your direction completely changes in time. Before you know it, your ship does not find port and you are lost.

So, study... and vote wisely.

A few truths to think about

I suppose it's high time I explain why I do not like contraception, and I fear I have no more excuses to leave it for another day (weekend, month, year) given the fact that I am currently stuck in my room for the next few days/weeks. Also, I am trying very hard not to scratch this chicken pox, and typing gives me a reason to keep my fingers busy doing something else.

Enough with the intro. Here, a few truths I've been mulling over for the past few days. Pramis, they're connected to contraception.

TRUTH #1. We are responsible for our actions at all times. You'd be shocked and scandalized if you see someone leave a post in the middle of the train tracks with the intention of preventing the train from reaching its destination (nevermind if people die in the process). If somebody bombed a bridge, the city would arrest him for killing people he never intended would be there and for destroying a key part of commerce and whatnot.

So why is it considered "smart" to insert an intrauterine device with the intention of stopping a fertilized egg (100% individual human being) from implanting in the womb? What makes it different? It's not wrong because you don't actually see any dead bodies? Any gradeschool kid can tell you when life begins--that "it's only tissue" is a useful lie that fake feminists tell in order make contraception and abortion acceptable.

Say what you want but it doesn't change the truth that you don't know if you are killing anybody by using contraception methods that are abortifacients at the same time (the pill, IUD, emergency contraception). It's like the "rustling in the bushes" idea: should you shoot if you don't know it's a person? Obviously, no.

TRUTH #2. We are responsible for taking care of Mother Nature and the Earth. Though we have the ability to discover things and to make use of science to achieve our goals, we are also responsible for the health of the world around us.

I don't understand how this concept is so clear when it comes to cutting down pine trees in Baguio or clubbing baby seals in the northern lands. Heck, we even prefer natural products for our bathing and beautifying to preserve nature and keep our bodies "chemical free"! But why is it that when it comes to not just polluting but also perverting the body, suddenly nobody sees green? That's exactly what contraception is: pollution and perversion. For it to work, it has to upset the woman's natural body processes. Contraception means taking something that is right and good (the reproductive cycle) and twisting it to serve your own ends. And speaking of selfish ends...

TRUTH #3. Contraception has a selfish end. From childhood, we are taught to be selfless. If we listened back then, we know that sharing is good, doing service for others is good, etc. Of course, it's also good for us to leave nice things for ourselves--though never at the expense of others. So why does contraception go against all that? Contraception fosters an inclination to choose the self over other people.

Again, I know that contraception is not abortion. But contraception teaches a person to be closed to the possibility that a new human being is formed as a consequence of sex. In the end, it's just you enjoying what you can do with your body and intentionally erasing some undesired natural effect. (Note: it's not a side effect.)

I'm not saying family planning is bad. By all means, married couples should definitely plan their family. But they should be selfless enough to plan it in a way that is open to surprises. Don't they say "life is full of surprises"? If married couples are not open to life, what happens when a surprise (despite all the contraceptive methods they use) still comes their way? This is how people begin to accept abortion.

TRUTH #4. A true feminist appreciates the female ability to bear a child. I admire the earlier feminists; the ones who went against the norms of society that women can't vote, study, or speak their mind. I thank them for what they did, for without them I would probably not be writing now. The later feminists, however, seem to have gotten the ideals all wrong! They want to be equal to men; particularly, they want to be like men who can have sex anytime and with anyone they want without being "punished with a baby." This is a snowball of lies that just keeps getting bigger! (If you don't believe me, figure out--with study--why the women's liberation movement in the 1960's is closely tied to, er, the birth of the widespread use of birth control. Particular question to ask: What did these women think they were liberated from?)

First of all, women can never be equal to men because they are not men. (Before any violent reactions, I say men can never be equal to women either.) Women and men are complementary, that means they can work together as a team and balance each other out. They can both have PhDs, carry 500lbs, be good at styling hair or whatever. The point is, no matter what their individual skills are, they are not the same and that is a good thing.

Secondly, men are not exempt from having responsibility for a baby. They can run away, I suppose, but that just means they've owned up to not being man enough. :-P

Thirdly, a baby is not a punishment, but a gift. Not every sexual act leads to a baby. For lack of a better word, it's a miracle, which is best explained by Dr. Manhattan in this scene in Watchmen:

from Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Call it a fertilized egg, zygote, embryo, or fetus--it's still a new person with the 46 chromosomes and complete DNA of a homo sapiens sapiens. But, more importantly, as the excerpt emphasizes, that baby is a unique human being--only one in all the world. And this unique person asks for only one little thing from moms and dads at this point in life: that he (or she) be allowed to live. And how can he live? By the very beautiful process called the complete 9 months of pregnancy that only women can do. Don't hate it, ladies--be proud of it! 

TRUTH #5. Chastity rocks--and it leads to real happiness. So it's true that many people are having their babies before they get married. Everybody's doing it blah blah blah--forget it. It's still not the way to go. If everybody shoplifted at 7-Eleven, does it make stealing all right? While there are happy endings to those premarital baby stories, you can't ignore the fact that for most of them, it doesn't turn out quite so fine in the end. :-(

The problem with contraception is that it makes premarital sex "ok as long as you don't get knocked up"--which practically gives people license to do whatever they want, provided.... Plant this philosophy in the heart of every young person and you create a society of Anything Goes As Long As You're OK, You're Healthy, You Don't Hurt Anybody, And... oops, now there's a contradiction.

A philosophy of "doing whatever you want" is--and will always be--incompatible with "watching out for the good of others." You can never become selfless when the philosophy of your heart is hedonism: achieving only your own happiness, your own pleasures, you you you you. Where does the self end and others begin? No where.

That's why chastity rocks! Chastity is a recipe for true love. Why? It teaches a person to care for the well being and happiness of another person. It teaches self mastery and self sacrifice, and in the end rewards people with a happy marriage, happy kids, and happy families! Because you learn not to think of yourself, you are more likely to work harder on a marriage than someone who would just give up and run away from problems because "it hurts." Remember, marriage is not easy--and it will hurt at some point. It's not Cinderella fitting a glass slipper and then wearing beautiful gowns for the rest of her life; it's Mr. and Mrs Weasley putting all seven kids through school with a single income and lots of creativity! I mean, between Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, who lives in a happier home?

What's the point of it all? Don't believe what you see on popular TV, idealized magazines, mainstream media. If you really want to understand, read books, documents, articles. Scrutinize both sides of the issue. Study hard and really strive to put your ability to reason to work unearthing the truth, the honest-to-goodness truth, the truth that you might not want to hear because it means you'll have to give up some things and "complicate" your life.

If you study real hard, you'll understand that contraception only masquerades as prudence or forethought, but it's actually the start of a series of lies based on the belief that you can do whatever you want without having to respect how nature works, and without worrying about how it will affect (worse, harm) others. You can't have rewards without responsibility--because you have to consider how your rewards affect those around you, society, the world culture, and the environment.

You can take all this as just some ramblings of a girl riding out her chicken pox, or you can go study it well and see for yourself. If you can't seem to pick out the truth from the lies, remember that in most cases the truth is the simplest solution. That's why the people who live in the truth are always happy. 

Yay for Avengers!

It's Ex Libris Scholarship Project season once again, and this year, we're inviting you to a special first-day blocked screening of the most-awaited superhero movie of the year!

Watch THE AVENGERS and help send UP Students to school! Here's the snippet from our official E Libris website:

Ex Libris Philippines invites you to a special blocked screening of “The Avengers” at Rockwell Power Plant Cinema 2, 7:00 p.m., April 25, 2012. Tickets are at Php 500.00 each.

Please help spread the word!

This special blocked screening of “The Avengers” is the fourth fundraising project for the Ex Libris Philippines Scholarship Project. With your help, we will be able to continue sending students to school.

Thank you for your support! :D

Stop it!

Thank God for vigilant people! :-) Look at the photo above (from elsadossantos.wordpress.com) and tell me: how would reading about condoms and Pills affect this child?

UN-Backed Sex-Ed Program in Philippines Put on Hold

By James Tillman

MANILA, Philippines, June 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has decided to put a hold on the implementation of a new UN-backed sex-education program in elementary and high schools. The program had caused an uproar in the country, and was heavily opposed by parents and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

"We decided to hold in abeyance the teaching of the sex education module until a final decision is made on the consultation process," DepEd Secretary Mona Valisno said.

The new program, “Institutionalizing Adolescent Reproductive Health through Lifeskills-Based Education," would have given sex education to children as young as 12. It was set to be introduced in 80 elementary and 79 high schools around the nation.

It would have incorporated sex education into the entire curriculum, not only in classes such as Health, Science, and PE, but also Music, Arts, Mathematics, English, and others. Valisno said that despite the momentary halt, some sex-ed subjects, such as the scientific treatment of the reproductive system, would still be handled.

Read the rest of it here.

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First of all, what is the UN doing meddling with the affairs of Filipino family? If they're so bent on population control, they should just get rid of themselves and be done with it. (Iron man would send them orbiting around the solar system in a Stark spacecraft with toothpaste-like food to last them 50 years.) After all, if someone adamantly believes there's a surplus on people, then that person must also logically (and readily) admit that he is the surplus.

Here's the big problem with sex-ed, as quoted from the article:

Human Life International-Asia executive director Dr. Ligaya Acosta criticized the government's insistence that children need sex education, stating that sex education “is actually a course in systematic behavior modification, designed to change the child’s entire belief system.”

“The glaring truth is that researches around the world substantiate the fact that the more contraceptive programs are aimed at the young, the more pregnancies, abortions, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer of the cervix results,” Acosta said.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Let's keep working towards the implementation of more character-based programs, and helping more parents understand their role as parents to instill in their children good virtues and a good understanding of what love is really all about.

...unless, of course, we want to end up thinking it's best to teach first graders this way.

Wanted: Leaders who will uphold life

I'm so frazzled. I don't want all our future leaders to be OK with the RH Bill. That would be a nightmare. And you thought this issue was dead.

I got asked by a friend once what I wanted in our leaders and I said, "I want someone who is pro-life." And she replied, "Is that all the matters to you?"

(Why, yes, because life comes above all causes. What's education if there are no kids to study? What's environmentalism without people to breathe the newly freshened air? What's commerce without workers? or agriculture without farmers? Think about it: people are the benefactors and the assets. Stop insisting on cutting down on people!)

I want pro-life leaders because I want a Philippines that values life, and with it, family, marriage and a prevailing culture that preserves these institutions. We can't have that if we vote a president who, in his first 100 days in office, will sign into law a bill that forces schools to teach sex education to kids as young as 10. They say "age appropriate" as if all kids mature in mind and heart at the same rate.

In defense of sex education, another friend of mine says, "It's better to learn from school than to learn through the Net...because kids are really gonna find it online." Interesting. Did you know that you can learn how to slice off your fingers and sew them back on through the Net? Maybe we should teach that in school too.

What good will knowledge of contraceptive use do for the youth anyway? Oh, let's add to that the free condom stalls they'll put up in every barangay or district (goodbye, taxpayer's money which could've paid for someone's heart transplant). Imagine growing up hearing your teachers say "This is how to use this...'essential medicine'" and then walking home to calls of "Who wants a condom?"

You know what that makes us? Numb.

Let this happen now and, in the future, you won't get shocked if kiddie fastfood meals come with kiddie condoms. Or schools start holding workshops on "self pleasure." Gross? That's what's happening in other parts of the world.

Consider this: before a famous men's magazine made it big, pornography was something only a sleazebag would possess. Now, they're calling it "art." Now, women are vying for a spot on some top 100 list of Women Who Need Men To Drool Over Them So They Can Have Higher Self-Esteem. The very people who should be offended by this kind of material are outdoing each other to be one of the top 100 most objectified women in the country. Ironic? We're just numb.

I don't want our country to become numb. I don't want casual sex to become a norm, marriage merely a contract, and family just a collection of individuals living in the same house.

I sure hope the majority is with me on this.

Hello, what's this?

Guess what I found in my Watsons plastic bag yesterday? I didn't know they gave such leaflets to people looking for toothpaste and floss now. This just goes to show how much money some people are sinking in to get women to depend on oral contraceptives.

Quote from leaflet: "Oral Contraceptive Pills is the most popular contraceptive method because it is effective and convenient. It is an essential tool to women's reproductive health because it contains hormones to prevent unplanned pregnancy by preventing ovulation, thinning the uterus lining, and thickening the cervical mucus."

[Grammar error concerning S-V agreement is leaflet's.]

Oh the claims! "Essential tool to women's reproductive health"? It prevents ovulation! Why is that healthy? Isn't getting one's period every month healthy? Isn't ovulating healthy? And what's so reproductive about preventing ovulation?

And the last part just states exactly how the bitter pill is an abortifacient. A thinner uterine lining means a hostile environment for a fertilized egg--the new life (which starts at conception, not implantation) will not be able to implant, and so it is aborted.

Here are some links to:
how effective pills are
how healthy they make you

Explore the site too. Actually LifeSiteNews isn't the only source. If you want to read something scary, read the literature printed at the back of every contraceptive drug ad in those foreign women's magazines. Leaflets make things look easy and simple, because that's what leaflets are for!

How to be a kind MRT passenger

Photo from My Manila.

Riding the MRT is an exercise in patience, especially during rush hour, when you don't even need legs to get in the train...you'll get pushed in by the sheer power of--as my friend puts it--football-playing women (and it's a wonder why football never quite took off in this country). I speak from the point of view of somebody who only takes the women's car, a unique place in this world where the words "woman" and "lady" aren't synonymous at all.

Besides patience--a character trait that keeps you from bopping anybody in the head--it's kindness you have to practice (to avoid getting bopped in the head). Here are some tips on how to be a kind MRT passenger.

1. Do not push anyone in. Ok. So you're late. That doesn't entitle you to be a bully. You should have considered the time and the crowd when you left the office or house. It's not the fault of the person in front of you that you're running late; so it's kind to just let her use her own legs to get in the train. You'll have your turn. Relax.

2. Do hold your bag close to your body. Don't take up too much space because many people want to get in the train too. Besides, the more compact you are, the less chances of having to unearth your bag from the sea of human bodies if you're getting off at Shaw or some other "middle" station.

3. As much as possible, do not use your cellphone in the train. Not only is overhearing half a conversation quite annoying to other people, but also, in a crowded train, dipping your hand in your bag to get that gadget out and putting it in your ear (or texting with it) requires a lot of elbow space. You can constrict somebody's breathing with an elbow in the wrong place.

4. If you have a wet umbrella, please please please wrap it in plastic or put it in your bag. No one wants to get their feet dripped on or their pants soaked from somebody else's umbrella. Fellow passengers won't ever tell you that because it sounds whiny, so I'm saying it now.

5. If you are lucky enough to find a seat, do be ready to give it up for pregnant women, women with babies, or disabled people. Have a heart. (If people can't tell when you're feigning sleep, do remember that Someone up there can.)

6. Going out of the train requires excessive use of excuse-me's. When no one is moving out of your way, say it louder but don't push. Chances are, no one is moving yet because the doors are still shut. Don't start worming your way out when the train hasn't fully stopped yet. Maybe you don't, but many people understand the Law of Inertia. Wait a while and you'll see a way out when the crowd gets moving.

7. Like that obvious rule regarding elevators, don't rush in when people are coming out. Is it true that in a top 100 list of character traits of harried train passengers, common sense tallies in at 99? Prove it wrong.

8. If you're a dad accompanying your wife and kid(s) in the women's car, do not take a seat. Your wife can sit, and your kids can sit; but you should be a gentleman and let a woman or an elderly person sit. That's why it's called the female car. Oh, and be thankful no one is giving you the evil-eye.

9. Be a lady. And treat everyone else like a lady too. Even those addressed in number 8.

Fraid of change?

When I discovered GK Chesterton, the biggest question in my mind was "Where have you been all my life?" Funny how he was practically invisible all this time; I have never gotten my hands on a copy of any of his books, and perhaps the only glimpse I had of the man before graduating college (!) was when I stumbled upon a quote of his in a Neil Gaiman book, and even then I didn't notice enough to remember the name.

What is really puzzling is I graduated with degree in BA-Creative Writing, which means I'm a specimen most people call an English major, supposedly an expert on anything and everything written in the English language. And here I am all ignorant of the works of one of the greatest English writers (thinkers) of the 20th century.

But wait! Here's an interesting article my friend Ditas came across. (She is primary person I complained to about the lack of Chesterton in the CW curriculum.) Read, read!

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Author calls for end of 'academic embargo' on GK Chesterton
Paul Nowak

Despite having a profound influence on the 20th century, English author G.K. Chesterton has remained virtually unknown to modern readers. This discrepancy may be due to an unwillingness for universities and colleges to include him in literary and history curriculum.

“The academic embargo against recognition of Chesterton’s stature remains in place, for reasons which remain a matter of speculation,” states William Oddie in the introduction to his biography published earlier this year, Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy: The Making of GKC.

Perhaps it is the effect Chesterton has on college students. In 1909, Mohandas Gandhi read one of Chesterton’s regular columns for the Illustrated London News, and was, according to his biographers, “thunderstruck” by the idea of truly Indian independence. He translated the article, and it became the basis for his book Hind Swaraj.

C.S. Lewis, who read Chesterton while serving in the army, has said that it was Chesterton who first showed him that the Christian world view made sense. J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as other Inklings, were also greatly influenced by Chesterton.

His friends, H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw, though they did not agree with him upheld him as an important literary figure, both in their own time and for future generations. T.H White, author of The Once and Future King, remarked upon G.K.C.’s death that he had been the greatest living master of the English language.

...

Why then has G.K. Chesterton been left out of academia? Perhaps, after seeing what Chesterton’s influence has done to shape the literary and political reality the 20th Century, colleges and universities are wary of that degree of change in the 21st Century.

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Read the whole thing here.

Yay for self-mastered teen vampires

Yes, I admit! I watched Twilight!

(I really wanted to see how they'd make it into a movie, so I forced a friend to watch it with me.)

And what do you know? The movie has its merits. I'm not going to focus on the weird points (dazzling vampires--that's new!), but on the good things the movie tries to say.

So okay, the premise is this: Bella, the protagonist, moves to Forks to give her mom (who just got remarried) some space. She meets a vampire family and falls in love with Edward, who is attracted to her because she is something like "his favorite flavor." Hm.

Anyway, vampires kill people, but these vampires are "vegetarian," meaning they'd rather kill animals than people even if they'd really rather eat people.

Rather dumb, the way I put it--so sorry for that. What I find really nice in this movie is the example of Edward--his efforts at loving Bella while not killing her. And I think this is a crucial trait for a character whom teens would like to model.

My friend says the movie is about abstinence--and yeah, it is, I agree. But abstinence sounds flat to me, and it turns some people off, even. Deeper than just abstaining, this movie is about self-mastery: understanding what it is you truly value, then doing everything you can to keep it alive. You know you're not perfect, but there's an effort given to be close to perfect, the way you should really be. And that, I think, is what makes a character like Edward interesting and worth a teen's while.

I guess you don't have to pick up the book to see this in the movie. (And you don't have to pick up the book to see the movie--they're alike to the letter.) If you can stand sappy lines and funny cartoon hair, go ahead and see it--like I said, it has its merits.

Context, context

I've been pondering on a question a friend asked me (about sex education), so I asked around--asked officemates, friends, even people on a live TV talk show--to find the truth (and most of all, what is effective and helpful to society) regarding the matter. And so far, I've collected some good answers that I'd like to share here.

1. We do need sex education, but it should be in the proper context.
The term they use is "age appropriate," but is it, really? From Grade 5 to high school, the youth should be focusing on honing their talents, finding their path and what they want to do when they grow up. This alone keeps their hands full already.

Sex education that focuses on contraceptive use, no matter how many times you stress that it's age appropriate, is a step in the wrong direction. Because here is sex presented as mere recreation, to be enjoyed "responsibly" (huh?). Worse, it includes a bonus lesson on the contraceptive mentality.

Hence, the question is not about the sex education being age appropriate, but rather whether it integrates sexuality with the whole person. Consider dignity. Consider respect. Consider character. Consider love and true responsibility--which brings me to the next point:

2. Responsibility is not about popping pills.
It's easy to think that married couples are being responsible when they take pains to ensure they don't get pregnant because they're not ready to care for another child at the moment. But is it really being responsible? Why does responsibility entail having to put the woman's health at risk? Is the body made to be subject to the dictation of a contraceptive?

Real responsibility calls us to understand how our body works (the way Mother Nature has programmed it), and live with these natural laws and limitations. Thus it is not responsible to subject one's body to a funny drug just so sex can be done any time--as mentioned earlier, sex is not mere recreation.

3. There are things that parents alone could teach.
Parents and teachers must work hand in hand to raise useful citizens of the country. Take sex education in the context of a classroom. There's one teacher trying to get inside at least thirty active minds and hopefully instill in them proper values and attitudes. Do you think the teacher has time to teach "reproductive health" and be sure all the while that the students get the point?

Hence, sex education that should be placed in the hands of the teacher is not quite sex education, but character education. That is, teaching responsibility, prudence, respect for others, valuing good health, and putting energies into proper and useful outlets.

Parents, who know their children personally, and can figure out the best way of approaching the subject, can focus on a more family-centered take on the said topic. Now, it is a fact that not all parents take the trouble to talk about sex with their kids--it's not an easy topic to discuss after all. But teaching kids about sex is still a part of parenting--and this responsibility must not be taken away from the parents.

There are seminars being offered for parents on how to instill the proper notion of sexuality in their children, and parents can attend these if they feel they need a little help on the matter. But the best way to teach it is to live it--show the kids how mom and dad treat each other, respect each other. Very early in life, kids will see the difference between femininity and masculinity, and how these differences are nonetheless harmonious. They'll see the love between their parents, and from there how this love grows into family.

Sex education is not about contraceptives at all, if you think about it, so why keep pushing the matter as if our youth would be lost without contraceptive knowledge?

I don't see what's so dangerous about teaching the youth a more person-centered version of sex education. Contraceptives are not part of the natural scheme of things anyway, why promote them further by lauding their extraordinary use in classrooms? They already have enough marketing from the pharmaceutical companies. Let them pay for their own advertising; taxpayer's money should be put to better use.

Book fair! O yeh...

September is the month for the 29th Manila International Book Fair! Woot! Time for folks to get back to reading (if you put those books down anyway).

Here's the link to the official book fair page. (Just a warning, the page is BRIGHT RED.)

Fast facts:

29th Manila International Book Fair
September 12-16 2008
10:00am to 8:00pm
Halls 1-4 SMX Convention Center
Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City

See you there!

The Remedy

Today marks the last day of documentary photographer Cristina Luisa Sevilla's photo exhibit, "Batang Ina," in the Legislative building of the Quezon City Hall. I read about it in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.

The exhibit is a photo-documentary on--you guessed it--young moms, or women (rather, girls) who've borne kids in their teens. Sevilla says of her work: "As a documentary photographer, I am drawn to the complex lives that these young mothers lead. These children wake up one day to find that they are no longer children. Their childhood, the time of their lives when they should play and enjoy their youth, is suddenly altered by pregnancy. They are catapulted to adulthood with tremendous force, and they must endure it to lead bearable lives.”

Such exhibits should serve as a call for many of us to take action. However, the photographer proposes one that isn't exactly what I had in mind: "While doing this documentary, what I learned is that reality is even more astounding. You can walk into any poor community and find an overabundance of child mothers. Most of these girls have never seen a condom or know what it is for. Most girls are unaware of protecting themselves. Once pregnant, most will give up their studies, work and worse—any hope that they will ever get out of poverty. Most will bear another child and another and another.”

Contraceptives, again? It seems to be the easy answer to everything. But if it were, there wouldn't be this. The people who sell contraceptives always do a word dance, because that's how they sell.

Here's a fact: Contraceptives don't work 100%.
Here's a fact that follows: Sex education centered on "how to protect yourself" is a waste of time.

The fault in this sex education system is not its purpose to educate the youth--which is actually a good cause--but the approach. Do teach the kids about modesty, abstinence and chastity...you can even do a spillover lesson on marriage and family while you're at it. But don't teach them how to use condoms, pills and Baby Killing 101. It's not so much that the youth should remain ignorant of these things; it's the underlying message you give them when you provide them with these options. It's like saying it's okay to do it as long as you don't "suffer the consequences."

More than sex ed, we need "love ed"--formation of the youth through the loving guidance of parents, relatives and mentors on matters of the body and matters of the heart.