Former Chief Justice Urges Parents, Educators to Fight for Christian Values in Education
“They’re taking away our children!”
Thus warned former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as she discussed the Comprehensive Sexuality Education Plan (CSE) to school board members, school leaders, teachers, and parents at the MGC New Life Christian Academy auditorium last December 3.
This event was organized to discuss the effects of the legislation on Christian education, family rights, children's moral development, and the vital role Christian leaders in education play in safeguarding the Christian values of the school and church. The CSE is a section under Senate Bill (SB) No. 1979 or the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill.
The event kicked off with opening remarks by School Board Chair James Tioco, followed by the talk of Sereno, the first female and 24th Chief Justice of the Philippines, who served from 2012 to 2018. She stressed the importance of defending parents’ right to guide and protect their children in these challenging times against harmful educational policies that will expose their children to inappropriate content.
SB 1979 seeks to address the importance of understanding one’s reproductive health rights, informed consensual sexual activity, and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases through the promotion of the normalization of sexual discussions in a classroom setting. According to the former Chief Justice, this may possibly encourage children to begin engaging in sexual activity at an early age due to the implied endorsement of sexual experimentation rather than aligning with traditional values and beliefs of abstinence until marriage and the spiritual dimension of sexual relations.
“This is not only a fight for the schools, churches, or leaders, but also for the senior high school and junior high school students to save the younger generation. This is their fight. Otherwise, [the younger generations] will not have normal lives. They won’t have healthy families if this is the kind of teaching that will permeate through society,” said Sereno, as she urged students to advocate for the withdrawal of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill.
The former Chief Justice answered several questions on various subjects, such as the importance of family, Christian teachings in education, and the role and responsibility of the Congress in this pressing matter.
The event concluded with an activity focused on developing alternative action plans combating the suggested curriculum in the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill. Participants were encouraged to submit these suggestions to the Senate in collaboration with the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution, an organization that opposes this bill, advocating for its reevaluation or suspension.
“Once [this curriculum] sets foot in the system, it will be very difficult already for the parents, and even the schools to do something that is against the constitution and the law. As [a] parent of teenagers and adult kids as well, I would rather have our educational system be secured, safe, and biblical, rather than [going] with the flow of what the government is doing,” said Pastor Francis Ang, a teacher-parent in the school.
