Free condoms were distributed today, Valentine’s Day, at the NEPA Q Mart along EDSA in Quezon City. The free condoms comes with a message “Have a Heart for RH Bill” written on a heart-shaped carton.
Party-list group Akbayan gave away the free condoms this morning in support for their campaign to pass the reproductive health (RH) bill.
While some willingly gets the free condoms, others quickly shied away.
Department of Health (DOH) did not distribute free condoms this Valentine’s Day after the Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Commission on Family and Life said in an article posted on the CBCP site that giving condoms “would further increase the AIDS cases in the country and would only send wrong information especially among the youth that it is alright to engage in pre-marital sex as long as it is safe and protected.”
Last year, the Church lambasted then Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral for giving away condoms during Valentine’s Day. Officials defended their campaign, saying it was done to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and not to promote contraception.
