SEC. 16.

Mandatory Age-Appropriate Reproductive

Health and Sexuality Education

Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be taught by
adequately trained teachers in formal and non-formal educational system starting from
Grade Five up to Fourth Year High School using life skills and other approaches. The
Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall commence at the start of the school
year immediately following one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act to allow the
training of concerned teachers. The Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission
on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), the DSWD, and the DOH shall formulate the Reproductive Health and
Sexuality Education curriculum. Such curriculum shall be common to both public and
private schools, out of school youth, and enrollees in the Alternative Learning System
(ALS) based on, but not limited to, the psychosocial and the physical wellbeing, the
demography and reproductive health, and the legal aspects of reproductive health.
Age-appropriate Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education shall be integrated in all
relevant subjects and shall include, but not limited to, the following topics:
(a) Values formation;
(b) Knowledge and skills in self protection against discrimination, sexual violence
and abuse, and teen pregnancy;
(c) Physical, social and emotional changes in adolescents;
(d) Childrens and womens rights;
(e) Fertility awareness;
(f) STI, HIV and AIDS;
(g) Population and development;
(h) Responsible relationship;
(i) Family planning methods;
(j) Proscription and hazards of abortion;
(k) Gender and development; and
(l) Responsible parenthood.
The DepEd, CHED, DSWD, TESDA and DOH shall provide concerned parents with
adequate and relevant scientific materials on the age-appropriate topics and manner of
teaching Reproductive Health and Sexuality Education to their children.

Summary of major provisions
The bill mandates the government to promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods of
family planning that are medically safe and legal.
[2]

Although abortion is recognized as illegal and punishable by law, the bill states that the government shall
ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall be treated and counseled in a
humane, non-judgmental and compassionate manner.
The bill calls for a multi-dimensional approach integrates a component of family planning and
responsible parenthood into all government anti-poverty programs
Under the bill, age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education is required from grade five to
fourth year high school using life-skills and other approaches.
[2]

The bill also mandates the Department of Labor and Employment to guarantee the reproductive health
rights of its female employees. Companies with less than 200 workers are required to enter into
partnership with health care providers in their area for the delivery of reproductive health services.
[2]

Employers are obliged to monitor pregnant working employees among their workforce and ensure they
are provided paid half-day prenatal medical leaves for each month of the pregnancy period that they are
employed.
[2]

The national government and local governments will ensure the availability of reproductive health care
services, including family planning and prenatal care.
[2]

Any person or public official who prohibits or restricts the delivery of legal and medically safe reproductive
health care services will be meted penalty by imprisonment or a fine.
[2]













RH BILL (HB4244) SPONSORSHIP SPEECH
Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, AKBAYAN Partylist
Session Hall, House of Representatives
March 8, 2011

The debate is not about whos pro-life or pro-choice. As members of the House of
Representatives, as the voice of the people, the debate is about whos willing to listen to the
people and who wish to turn their back to this truth: there is a consistent and overwhelming
demand for reproductive health programs and services. Pano pa at naging kinatawan tayo ng
mga mamamayan kung hindi natin sila gustong pakinggan?
At the core of the bill that we hope would be passed soon is a fundamental human right the
right to choose. Gusto lang natin siguruhin na kinikilala natin at binibigyan ng kapangyarihan
ang mga karapatan na kalagay sa ating Konstitusyon. The bill seeks to ensure informed choice
through free and full access to adequate, relevant and correct information. In this case, a full
range of family planning methods and devices. Hindi natin idinidikta kung anong serbisyo o
method, kung artificial lang o natural. Instead, the bill provides for a wide range of services that
are allowed by our laws. It only seeks to empower Filipino couples, so that they are aware of all
the methods and they have the capacity to decide what is best for them.

HB 4244 will provide RH information and services to all who need it, and an important element
of this is providing appropriate and medically correct information on sex and sexuality to young
Filipinos. Binibigyan natin ng armas ang mga kabataan laban sa mga sexually transmitted
infections at laban sa mga pangaabuso. It seeks to counter myths that reinforce fears and
flawed beliefs about the functions of our bodies. It seeks to counter ignorance and
misinformation. Sa isang pag-aaral, nakita na 80% ng mga batang babae ay walang kaalaman
kahit tungkol sa kanilang menstrual cycle, at ano ang relasyon nito sa pagbubuntis. They dont
even have the basic knowledge about the safe and unsafe time to have sex.
Adolescence is a period where forging ones identity means exploring all matters related to
ones life, especially sex and relationships. Education is especially important given the risks the
youth face today because a growing number of them are engaging in risky behaviors without
understanding its consequences. They are at risk and they are vulnerable because they lack
access to information about their reproductive health.
It has been said repeatedly and wrongly that the bill would only promote premarital sex. Heres
the news unmarried young Filipinos are already engaging in sexual activities. It is not because
of sex that they are at risk. They are at risk because there are no programs that can help them
eliminate these risks, educate them about healthy sexual behavior, and arm them with tools to
prevent sexual abuse. Filipino women, most of them young, resort to abortion 800,000 a year,
according to the WorldHealth Organization not because they are promiscuous or immoral
but because they have no knowledge on how to plan their pregnancies.
Studies have shown that the right sexuality education for children and young people do not
hasten sexual initiation but instead promotes safer sexual behaviors, and reinforces the sense
of responsibility on our young people in terms of their sexual behavior. The RH bill will teach the
youth to be responsible, and not the other way around.
HB 4244 will not undermine the roles of parents and families in educating their children. It will
instead support parents in ensuring that their fears of what their children are learning about sex
and relationships do not come from irresponsible and misguided sources but from trained
teachers who can provide correct information and responsible guidance. At the same time, this
will also encourage our children our youth to be more open with their parents, to discuss such
important matters with them, and communicate their problems. HB 4244 requires the DepEd,
CHED, DSWD, TESDA, and DOH to provide concerned parents with adequate and relevant
scientific materials on the age-appropriate topics and manner of teaching reproductive health
education to their children.
Ginoong Speaker, as we celebrate today the International Womens Day, I wish to remind this
august chameber of the primary goal of this bill the recognition of the dignity of our women,
especially poor women. Ang gusto lamang ng bill na ito ay bigyan ng patas na karapatan ang
mga mahihirap na babae at pamilya na mamuhay ng marangal.
Regardless of our religious or ideological persuasions, we must at least unite that families must
be given a choice to plan their families according to methods that suit their faith and condition.
We must at least agree to stick to the truth, scrutinize the text of the bill, without
embellishments. In our disagreement on this bill we must not lose our integrity and our sense of
truth. As legislators, we must not lose our commitment to uphold and defend the text and
substance of ourConstitution. At bilang mga kagalang galang na kinatawan, sana ay di natin
makalimutan na tayo ay nandito para pakinggan ang boses ng bayan.
Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat, at mabuhay ang mga kababaihan!



One of the main concerns of the bill, according to the Explanatory Note, is that the population of the
Philippines makes it the 10th most populous nation in the world today, that the Filipino womens fertility
rate is at the upper bracket of 606 countries. It states that studies and surveys show that the Filipinos
are responsive to having smaller-sized families through free choice of family planning methods. It also
refers to studies which show that rapid population growth exacerbates poverty while poverty spawns
rapid population growth. And so it aims for improved quality of life through a consistent and coherent
national population policy.