An official of the Commission on Population (Popcom), an agency of the government, Thursday came out in support of the Department of Health (DoH) policy to encourage the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Popcom executive director Tomas Osias said there is nothing wrong with condom use in “the proper context” in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Osias said he supports Health Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral and the DoH on the condom controversy.

“I think she’s right because it (condom) is really needed by Filipinos who don’t want to get infected,” he said.

Osias reiterated that the government mandates the policy of informed choice on reproductive health and responsible parenthood, allowing couples to choose the family planning method that they think would work for them.

Although the government is heavily promoting the use of the Natural Family Planning method, he said, the state has the obligation to give the Filipino people all information concerning birth spacing and responsible parenthood.

“Under the principle of informed choice, the population program has to promote all medically safe and legally acceptable methods for planning the family. In this context, we are supporting the advocacy of the Honorable Secretary Cabral on family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention as important public health concerns,” Osias said.

Osias said the government’s policy on population management is contained in the Statement of Support of Philippine government to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which says: “Couples and individuals may choose the methods that they will use to exercise Responsible Parenthood in accordance with their religious and ethical values and cultural background, subject to conformity with universally recognized international human rights.”

The Popcom official reminded local government officials to educate married couples on all the methods of family planning and responsible parenthood and to let the couples exercise their judgment on which method to practice.

“Local government units have the responsibility of providing couples and individuals with information and services to enable them to exercise responsible parenthood. Ultimately, it is the couple who will decide the method they want to use in planning their family or even not to use any method at all.”

Previously, Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan of the University of the Philippines College of medicine and research faculty at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cited the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) saying that the rate of usage of the natural family planning method among Filipino couples is only 0.5 percent.