Officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) face a class suit filed by individuals regarding their move to integrate sex education in the country’s primary and secondary education curricula.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) legal officer Atty. Jo Aurea Imbong along with other 27 individuals composed of Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP) officials and members of other pro-life groups as complainants filed the class suit on Monday at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against Education Secretary Mona Valisno and Undersecretary Ramon Bacani to stop the pilot testing of the sex education program in 159 public schools nationwide.

In a 28-page petition for temporary restraining order, Imbong asked the court to stop the mandatory teaching of sex education, stating that “it is a violation of parents' rights to nurture their children's moral character.”

Imbong, also a member of the faith-based AKP and a defeated senatorial candidate in the May 2010 elections, claimed that teaching sex education in schools is unconstitutional.

According to her, the restriction is provided by Section 12, Article II of the Charter, which states that, "The natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the government."

In a statement, AKP president Eric Manalang said that the suit seeks to declare DepEd Memorandum No. 261, s. 2005, which implements the sex education program, “as unconstitutional for being anti-family and anti-life.”

Manalang said that the memorandum issued by Bacani in 2005 is “unreasonable and arbitrary, violating substantive due process which proscribes arbitrary and unreasonable policies and actions of public officers.”

The petitioners, mostly were parents, claim that the memorandum also violates their primary right to the development of the moral character of their children and violates the rights of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation of policies affecting them.

“The program has been violating provisions of the 1987 Constitution that has upheld the right of spouses to found a family according to their religious beliefs, the sanctity of family life, the inviolability of marriage, and the protection of the family as a basic autonomous social institution and foundation of the nation,” Manalang stated.

Valisno, on the other hand, said that they have yet to receive the copy of the class suit filed before making any statement. She also reiterated that DepEd respects the inputs of the CBCP and “we value them as partners.”

Despite the case filed against her and the Department, Valisno defended the inclusion of sex education in schools' curricula, claiming that even there is an international concern for young girls and boys regarding reproductive health.

"This [sex education program] aims to help them make right decisions and to be responsible citizens," Valisno said. She also added that under the Philippine main education highway, all children should be able to attain a high quality of education that will make them good persons.

DepEd also expressed hope that the critics may see that the benefits of the program far outweigh the perceived disadvantages because adequate guidance to the youth would always prevent teenage pregnancies or diseases.

“Enlightening a teenager is the best preventive policy to tackle the growing health problems in this age group. They need to understand early about the repercussions of wrong decisions on their health and future, and we ensure that sex education program would integrate the moral component of sex,” she said.

Last week, a dialogue regarding sex education took place between DepEd officials, CBCP officers, other religious leaders, and parents upon Valisno’s request that aimed to consult with other stakeholders and seal agreements with the Catholic Church on how to safeguard the physical and moral well-being of the country’s youth.

During the dialogue, the religious leaders called for the revision of the modules to be used by the teachers, saying that instead of covering topics that are already being tackled in existing subjects such as reproduction (Science/Biology) and correct values and the norms of interpersonal relations (Values Education), these should focus more on hygiene and wellness.

Two weeks before the classes for the school year opened, DepEd announced the integration of sex education or “Adult Reproductive Health” program in the primary and secondary education curricula to “enhance the over-all wellness of Filipino adolescents and further contribute to better learning results such as reduced drop-out rate, increased completion rate, and improved quality of learning among adolescents.”

The department continues to push for the inclusion of sex education based on the reports published by the United Nation’s Children Fund, United Nation Population Fund, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association that support the effectiveness of sex education programs in the US.