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Letter to PDI Editor Re: Ms. Rina Jimenez-David (“Once more with condoms” )
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28 January 2008
Mr. Jorge V. Aruta
Opinion Editor
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
Chino RocesAve corner Yague and Mascardo Sts.,
Makati City
Dear Sir,
As much as I want to understand Ms. Rina Jimenez-David (“Once more with condoms” - 1/26/2008 ), I don’t find DKT’s condom ads to be a blessing. I share her desire to help women from the sex trade. I agree that the reasons cited by those who are against condom ads are old. It must be as old as 2,000 years. But I also find it as current as the early edition of Inquirer. I have three reasons why DKT’s condom ads should be regulated.
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First reason is based on DKT’s website. The firm distributed 277 Million (M) condoms within 15 years of operation in the Philippines . The quantities of condoms sold surge by an average annual rate of 29% which far exceeds the economy’s average growth. This excludes the 67M pills pushed and over 1M injectables pumped. These sales would be enough to build a war chest for pricy ads. But the firm may have made a mistake by posting that in 2006 they spread out 184,000 lubes and inserted 500 intra-uterine devices or IUDs. IUDs is an abortifacient or a substance that induces abortion. Medical textbooks and scientific references consistently agree that human life begins at conception. Aren’t those firms pushing for IUDs breaking the law since it is explicitly stated in the constitution that the state shall protect the life of the unborn from conception?
Second reason is that condoms fail to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Take the case of our country and Thailand. In 1987, we had 135 cases of AIDS. Thailand had 112 cases. In the early 90s both took different directions against the spread of the HIV virus. In 1991 the Thai Health Minister enacted a “100% Condom Use program”. We did not. Instead our government signed into the effort of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to set-up the group AIDS-Free Philippines as the official program to fight AIDS nationwide. By 2003, the difference was glaring. There are 570,000 Thais infected by HIV. This is more than half a million higher than the Filipino HIV infection of 9,000. There were 58,000 Thais that died of AIDS in 2003. This is 116 times more than the 500 Filipinos that died in the same year. A USAID report in 2001 cited two reasons why we have a low incidence of HIV/AIDS. The first is a relatively high rate of abstinence among the youth. The second is that married people largely remain faithful to their spouses. The report admitted that “The Catholic Church must be credited with influencing sexual behavior.”
Last reason is my desire to be a responsible father. As such I would not want anybody to just throw garbage inside my home. Yuck. I feel far from blessed when I see or hear condom ads. This prompts me into writing in behalf of those who feel the same.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jose Leo Lemuel G. Caparas Jr.
11 Luis Sianghio Street,
1103 Kamuning. Quezon City
Phone: (02) 926-0533
e-mail:
Sources:
Data lifted from: on 19 July 2007
Article II, Section 12, Declaration of Principles and State Policies, 1987 Philippine Constitution
Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “United States of America: Epidemiological Fact Sheet on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” 2004 Update.
C. Hermann, E.C. Green, J. Chin, M. Taguiwalo, and C. Cortez. “Evaluation of the Philippines AIDS Surveillance and Education Project.” USAID/Philippines, May 8, 2001.
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