RH Bill: From the eyes of Teenagers

Cristine Cereso, Elona Yllone and Jomar Sonlarin from Colegio De San Juan De Letran College are all fifteen year old Christian students. With their Religion subject in school, they discussed the Reproductive Health Bill every Monday and Thursday. As teenagers, these are their thoughts and information about this hottest issue.

• Legalized contraception
• Pag bata pinapayagan gumamit ng contraceptive pati high school students
• Tinuturo kung ano lang yung facts “daw” about RH bill
• Noynoy into using contraceptives but the Catholic church is against
• Free condoms
• Pigilan ang teenage pregnancy
• Philippines is overpopulated because of poverty, illegal settlers and people begging for alms
• Okay to pass the Reproductive Health bill
• Condom is not a sin because it prevents AIDS/HIV and unwanted pregnancy
• Natural to masturbate, it’s not a sin because almost everyone is doing it.

Work Background of the parents of these three teenagers;
Mother Father
Housewife Engineer
Government Employee Government Employee
Employee Engineer

Tuition fees in Letran more or less varies from 20,000.00 pesos to 30,000.00 pesos and without parents who are working, do you think they can afford to pay that amount?. The quality of education will be different or more so, these three students might never go to school. They are the fortunate ones. In their vacant time from school they are into networking sites such as Facebook, Life Journal. Com, Twitter, Tumbler, Flurk, Friendster, Multiply and Formspring. The technology gives people an edge and first hand information about what is happening in the community and around the globe. After graduation in High school they like to take Psychology, Architecture and Engineering.

For their children in the future, maximum of three is the ideal size of the family from them. Asked about the popular question “When does life begin” and these are their response;

1. It starts with a heartbeat
2. Fertilization though namamatay pa rin
3. Pag fetus na which is more or less four months

These students are smart but because they are still not into current events and proper information about Reproductive Health bill. Information about the bill might help the majority of the population to a much better life in the future. Without awareness programs, seminars or forums, they will still be uninformed. Asked about how many brothers or sisters their parents have, answers varied from eight to thirteen. Though life before is different than today, we can compare the status of living and quality of life.

From Reproductive Health Advocates Network, Eleven mothers are dying everyday. This could be due to lack of information, lack of medical support, poverty, induced abortion or wrong choice. Lots of RH advocates are actively participating, fighting for the truth and spreading the news about the benefits or advantages of RH bill. Poverty is all around us. Illegal Settlers, National Housing Authority, Unemployment, Increasing population, limited investors, Economy and Corruption. The future of these three teenagers are in the hands of the people who are actively supporting the Reproductive Health Bill. To some, if this is not the answer, for 69% of the population, it might be the answer.

Taking the risk is what Filipinos are usually good at. In this current situation, where everyone thinks that living is survival of the fittest, taking the risk is one that is not a hard thing to do.