The AIDS-Free Philippines and some church-based groups are campaigning against the airing of advertisements promoting the use of condoms and contraceptives.

Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, Human Life International–Pilipinas country director, yesterday said these advertisements are sending the wrong message to young people, especially young women. What they are advertising is contrary to what is true, he added.

As a doctor, Bullecer said, he knows these contraceptives cause cancer of the breast and cervix, hypertension and heart disease. He also clarified that the Church is not against family planning.

AIDS-Free Philippines, together with the Couples for Christ Bacolod, and Family and Life Apostolate of the Diocese of Bacolod are asking the ADBOARD, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas to immediately stop the airing both on television and radio of all “condoms and contraceptive” advertisement.

The group submitted a complaint to the ADBOARD early this year for the continuing violation of the Code of Ethics for Advertising by DKT Inc., through the proliferation of ads promoting condom use and over-the-counter patronage of contraceptive pills to all audiences.

It said the Philippines has one of the lowest cases HIV/AIDS in the whole of Asia today despite the bad prognosis of foreign-based anti-AIDS institutions. As of Feb. 29, 2008, a total of 3,119 HIV and AIDS cases were reported, it said.

In the absence of a vaccine or cure, “abstinence and chastity” still are the best proven and most effective weapons against the world’s dreaded disease – AIDS, the group said.

Bullecer said it is also a fact that condoms have never been proven to prevent HIV. Statistics have shown that in countries where condoms are freely advertised  and made available to the public particularly among teenagers, the number of cases of both the sexually transmitted infections and HIV have sky-rocketed to very alarming rates, he said.

Meanwhile, Bullecer said the Philippines is not over-populated since its growth rate is only 1.4 percent and not 2.3 percent as claimed by the government.

He cited that anti-family bills like the Reproductive Health Code and Population Policy have already been passed by Congress which aims to promote an all-out population control program. He said it is targeted that these bills will be adopted by all the cities in the country by 2009.

Bullecer said the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women claims to liberate or empower women but they have documents to prove that its target is that on or before 2015, there will be an all-out legalization of abortion, divorce and prostitution.*CGS

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