In the Philippines, safe, satisfying sex is much harder to get...and I'm not talking about the Filipino's prowess in bed. The RH Law has been dragged through the legislative process for nearly 15 years, and the Filipino people, especially those who belong in the lower economic class, have had to deal with the alarming increase in teen pregnancy, the staggering statistics of new cases of HIV/AIDS, maternal deaths, and everyday headlines of violence against women and children. SSS (safe and satisfying sex) - or as we in the the Philippine Society of Sexual and Reproductive Health Nurses like to call it, sexual and reproductive health and rights - should already be at hand. After all, the law has been passed. But after several petitions in the Supreme Court by the anti-RH camp, it was placed in Status Quo Ante. This is like dangling a particularly scrumptious piece of bread in front of a starving child. Sadly, this metaphor is surprisingly adequate given that government-supported reproductive and sexual health services would not only make our men, women, and children healthier, it would also contribute to the economic stability of families and individuals.
We all know the arguments of the Pro-RH - no need to re-state them here. The problem is this: we have an RH Law that is NOT being implemented, and everyday that it is being delayed, more and more women die giving birth, more and more people are at risk for early, unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.
In response to this, the Forum for Family Planning and Development rounded up one of the most powerful groups to drumbeat the issue - media. I was lucky enough that, as member of the Philippine Health Bloggers Society and the Philippine Society of Sexual and Reproductive Health Nurses, I was tapped as one of the attendees of the 2-day media training and planning.
The plan is simple: Get the media to demand for Reproductive Health.
This was why the Forum organized Demand RH: Media Training and Planning, a two-day event held at the Manila Pavillion from September 28-29.
Joining forces for RH
When I was younger, I wanted to be a literary writer and a journalist (which explains my admiration for Sir Karl de Mesa, but that, my friends, is another story), so you can imagine my happiness at meeting some of the veterans in print and broadcast media. The participants came from all over the Philippines, each with years of experience in telling news and influencing people. We even have people coming from Zamboanga. T These attendees had years of experience in the craft of telling real stories of real people. I felt quite privileged to be learning with and from them.
There were also some pretty influential people coming from new media, which is being used as platform to advocate for Reproductive Health. My group, the Philippine Health Bloggers Society, was also part of the event. In attendance were Andrei Dela Cruz, Erick Bernardo, Grace Bondad-Nicolas, Neil Aguas, and Tess Termulo.
The power of the media - traditional or otherwise - has proven itself, time and again, in agenda-setting and catalyzing action. This gathering was Step 1 of what would be an all-encompassing campaign for demanding reproductive health.
What Went Down
Day 1 started off with the Forum's Ms. Chi Vallido's review of the journey of the RH law, including her personal report of what went on in the Supreme Court during the oral arguments. I was simultaneously infuriated and entertained by some of the comments and questions made by the anti-RH camp petitioners and justices. Honestly, the idiocy behind the words would have all been very funny, if we didn't have mothers dying left and right because of the delay in implementing the law.
We then had Atty. Clare Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights, talk to u about her experience in defending the RH Law. Her manner of arguing for the law and points of contention against the petitions to have the law declared unconstitutional were brilliant and I very helpful for those of us who are rather vocal in our support for the law. The classic secular vs religious ideologies was brought up again, but the lawyer also highlighted constitution expert Father Joaquin Bernas's argument that the life of the unborn should not take first priority over the life of a person. This is also a premise to back therapeutic abortions.
Our the afternoon session was a surprise - we actually had a legit Catholic priest with us to talk about the RH Law. When he started his talk by saying "There is no Prince Charming", my doubts began to dissipate. To protect his identity, we shall call him Father Enlightened. He was rather a pleasant surprise. He was not as sassy as my favorite lady journalist Ana Santos, but Father Enlightened had talked of the dangers of gender bias with pretty much the same the broad perspective. Two very striking ideologies hit me quite hard:
We all know the arguments of the Pro-RH - no need to re-state them here. The problem is this: we have an RH Law that is NOT being implemented, and everyday that it is being delayed, more and more women die giving birth, more and more people are at risk for early, unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.
In response to this, the Forum for Family Planning and Development rounded up one of the most powerful groups to drumbeat the issue - media. I was lucky enough that, as member of the Philippine Health Bloggers Society and the Philippine Society of Sexual and Reproductive Health Nurses, I was tapped as one of the attendees of the 2-day media training and planning.
The plan is simple: Get the media to demand for Reproductive Health.
This was why the Forum organized Demand RH: Media Training and Planning, a two-day event held at the Manila Pavillion from September 28-29.
Joining forces for RH
When I was younger, I wanted to be a literary writer and a journalist (which explains my admiration for Sir Karl de Mesa, but that, my friends, is another story), so you can imagine my happiness at meeting some of the veterans in print and broadcast media. The participants came from all over the Philippines, each with years of experience in telling news and influencing people. We even have people coming from Zamboanga. T These attendees had years of experience in the craft of telling real stories of real people. I felt quite privileged to be learning with and from them.
There were also some pretty influential people coming from new media, which is being used as platform to advocate for Reproductive Health. My group, the Philippine Health Bloggers Society, was also part of the event. In attendance were Andrei Dela Cruz, Erick Bernardo, Grace Bondad-Nicolas, Neil Aguas, and Tess Termulo.
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| PHBS convening for a #DemandRH media event proposal. I must say Doc Tess look ready for battle. Photocredit to Likes Manglal-lan. |
The power of the media - traditional or otherwise - has proven itself, time and again, in agenda-setting and catalyzing action. This gathering was Step 1 of what would be an all-encompassing campaign for demanding reproductive health.
What Went Down
Day 1 started off with the Forum's Ms. Chi Vallido's review of the journey of the RH law, including her personal report of what went on in the Supreme Court during the oral arguments. I was simultaneously infuriated and entertained by some of the comments and questions made by the anti-RH camp petitioners and justices. Honestly, the idiocy behind the words would have all been very funny, if we didn't have mothers dying left and right because of the delay in implementing the law.
We then had Atty. Clare Padilla, Executive Director of EnGendeRights, talk to u about her experience in defending the RH Law. Her manner of arguing for the law and points of contention against the petitions to have the law declared unconstitutional were brilliant and I very helpful for those of us who are rather vocal in our support for the law. The classic secular vs religious ideologies was brought up again, but the lawyer also highlighted constitution expert Father Joaquin Bernas's argument that the life of the unborn should not take first priority over the life of a person. This is also a premise to back therapeutic abortions.
Our the afternoon session was a surprise - we actually had a legit Catholic priest with us to talk about the RH Law. When he started his talk by saying "There is no Prince Charming", my doubts began to dissipate. To protect his identity, we shall call him Father Enlightened. He was rather a pleasant surprise. He was not as sassy as my favorite lady journalist Ana Santos, but Father Enlightened had talked of the dangers of gender bias with pretty much the same the broad perspective. Two very striking ideologies hit me quite hard:
"You do disservice to the RH Law if you just focus on FP."
"The personal is political: Women are facing daily experiences of gender inequality constructed not by nature but PATRIARCHY and SEXISM."
Okay, so I already know this. But it's a pleasant, if not surreal, experience hear a priest talk like this. There were even things that Father Enlightened say that were quite romantic enough to bring back my hope for my own happy ending.:
"Gender equality demands that we treat one another as an end and not just a means."
Among these wonderful bits of wisdom, Father Enlightened also shared how he defends the RH Law from religiously-rabid anti-RH. The key, he told us, was to fight fire with fire - to use religious doctrines to counter religious doctrines. The Dignitanis Humanae is an encyclical that is a good start. There are several other Church documents that the Pro-RH people can look into, such as the Life of the World (Pope Benedict XVI) and Pope John Paul's Letter to Women in 1995. The irony was sweet.
I have to say that Father Enlightened's talk was one of my favorite's.
The last talk of the day was about combining gender sensitivity and media practice. Dianna Mendoza from the Rappler walked us through through creating pieces that consider the plight of women and that would highlight gender equality. This is of particular importance to me, because the Catholic Church, the main religion rallying against the Reproductive Health Law, has quite a network when it comes to media and thus agenda setting using both traditional and new media is easy to them.
Day 1 ended with Chinese dinner and beer, and Likes Manglal-lan, fellow Emerging Youth Leader for SRHR, hanging out with me and Ms. Grace in our room.
Day 2 of the Demand RH training was quite exciting for me. We had two speakers in the morning, the first one being Rochit Tañedo. Ms. Rochit gave us several feature stories on SRHR scenarios, one of which is about a teen-age girl called Princess who got pregnant as a result of corrective rape. The girl was a tomboy. After reading the material, we performed an impromptu interview. I played the Princess, and another of our fellow trainee played a radio host who threw me interview questions. The exercise unearthed some pretty disturbing realities, primarily how calloused media personnel could be in the face of getting the news. It was a good analysis, especially since we also shared the good practices when dealing with sensitive cases like that of a rape victim. In addition, having read Ms. Rochit's pieces made me realize that a compelling story is a story with a face, and the human element is imperative to drumbeat the need for RH.
One of my girl crushes, Ana Santos, was the last speaker of the training. CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) of the fab website Sex and Sensibilities, Ms. Ana has always been my idol when it comes to writing about sex. She does it in a way that is neither too sterile nor too pokpok-like. Ms Ana brings the casual tone to sex talk, which is always a breath of fresh air, since we live in a country in which anything related to sex is spoken in faint voices or as jest. Being the awesome, sassy word-weaver that she is, Ms. Ana had several quotable quotes. My favorites, though, are these:
Learning from the speakers and from each other has given me a different perspective in blogging, and has made me realize that integration of traditional media ethics and skills shall benefit me as a social influencer and an advocate for safe, satisfying sex.
The last talk of the day was about combining gender sensitivity and media practice. Dianna Mendoza from the Rappler walked us through through creating pieces that consider the plight of women and that would highlight gender equality. This is of particular importance to me, because the Catholic Church, the main religion rallying against the Reproductive Health Law, has quite a network when it comes to media and thus agenda setting using both traditional and new media is easy to them.
Day 1 ended with Chinese dinner and beer, and Likes Manglal-lan, fellow Emerging Youth Leader for SRHR, hanging out with me and Ms. Grace in our room.
Day 2 of the Demand RH training was quite exciting for me. We had two speakers in the morning, the first one being Rochit Tañedo. Ms. Rochit gave us several feature stories on SRHR scenarios, one of which is about a teen-age girl called Princess who got pregnant as a result of corrective rape. The girl was a tomboy. After reading the material, we performed an impromptu interview. I played the Princess, and another of our fellow trainee played a radio host who threw me interview questions. The exercise unearthed some pretty disturbing realities, primarily how calloused media personnel could be in the face of getting the news. It was a good analysis, especially since we also shared the good practices when dealing with sensitive cases like that of a rape victim. In addition, having read Ms. Rochit's pieces made me realize that a compelling story is a story with a face, and the human element is imperative to drumbeat the need for RH.
One of my girl crushes, Ana Santos, was the last speaker of the training. CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) of the fab website Sex and Sensibilities, Ms. Ana has always been my idol when it comes to writing about sex. She does it in a way that is neither too sterile nor too pokpok-like. Ms Ana brings the casual tone to sex talk, which is always a breath of fresh air, since we live in a country in which anything related to sex is spoken in faint voices or as jest. Being the awesome, sassy word-weaver that she is, Ms. Ana had several quotable quotes. My favorites, though, are these:
"Sex is not a dirty word. But IGNORANCE is."
" If we want to change the way we view sex, we have to change the way we talk about it."
Day 2 of the media training ended with the mini-meeting of people from different media groups with colleagues using the same medium to come up with plans for drum beating RH. I can't wait for when PHBS finally start.Learning from the speakers and from each other has given me a different perspective in blogging, and has made me realize that integration of traditional media ethics and skills shall benefit me as a social influencer and an advocate for safe, satisfying sex.
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| Demand RH classmates from different media - broadcast, print, and new media. Photocredit to Jonathan Monis. |
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