Catholic Church Frowns on Anti-AIDS Ads in Philippines

At first glance, the three 30-second public spots running on Philippine TV seem as wholesome and innocuous as a stroll in the park. But, oh, what a stir they’ve caused!

The ads show an attractive 20ish woman in a peach polo shirt telling viewers that women should not be considered sex objects or baby factories. Responsible sex, she says, is important, and husbands should accompany their wives to health centers to discuss “reproductive health.”

Not much to quarrel with so far. Except that the woman delivering the message is sexpot-actress Rosanna Roces, and many viewers in this Roman Catholic, conservative country see the ads as an endorsement of condoms and family planning--although neither is explicitly mentioned in the spots.

The Catholic Church jumped into the fray even before its bishops had seen the ads, reiterating that condoms are “immoral” and saying that the ads--which it termed part of a “so-called anti-AIDS campaign”--would arouse “the sexual passion in people rather than trying [to teach them] to live a life of purity.”

“Of course, we’re concerned about AIDS, but the campaign is the wrong solution to the problem,” said Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, assistant secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. “The solution is that husbands should remain faithful to their wives, and then there is no AIDS.”

The ads were produced by McCann-Erickson under the sponsorship of ReachOut, a private anti-AIDS agency, and the U.N. Population Fund. The fund’s local representative, Satish Mehra, said in a letter to the Philippine secretary of health that she regretted the Catholic Church had “erroneously associated [the ads] with condoms, promiscuity and contraception.”

Many observers believe that the real target of the church’s ire is Roces, who is widely regarded as the nation’s most glamorous and popular actress and who did the ads gratis. Roces, 26, is commonly referred to in the media as a “bold actress,” meaning sexy, but has been married to attorney Tito Molina for five years and is considered a model mom.

Still, her background has raised some eyebrows. She worked for years as a “guest relations officer”--a local euphemism for bar girl--and gave birth out of wedlock to two children by different men, becoming pregnant for the first time at 16. In the early years of her marriage, she told Mirror magazine, she and Molina made love five times a day. Now that her career is keeping her so busy, they’ve cut back to once a day, she said.

In the December interview, she shared with women some of her secrets for a loving relationship. Among her tips: Be cheerful, don’t allow yourself to be abused by men and vary your sexual repertoire: for example, making love “inside the car when traffic is snarled.”

Largely because of Catholic opposition, the nation has one of Southeast Asia’s least aggressive campaigns against AIDS. Yet the country’s HIV-infection rate is the region’s third lowest, after Laos and Singapore. As of September, 1,130 Filipinos were known to be HIV positive, of whom 352 had AIDS.

The Philippines also has been less active than most of the region’s countries in promoting family planning. (In Communist Vietnam, for instance, government workers can lose their jobs for having more than two children.) The average Philippine woman gives birth to three or four children.

“At that rate, our population--already 70 million--will double in 30 years,” said Tomas Osias, executive director of the government’s Commission on Population. “Given the poverty we already have, can you imagine the impact socially, economically and environmentally of having 140 million Filipinos?”

More than 55% of families in the Philippines, the world’s 13th most populous country, already live below the poverty line. Forty percent of these people are younger than 16, and half the youths polled in a recent survey said having sex before marriage is socially acceptable.

Since the Roces ads started airing in November, the Department of Health has come to the ads’ defense, and even President Joseph Estrada has added his voice to the flap.

Estrada, who fathered several children out of wedlock, said the other day that he favors “responsible parenthood” but not “artificial contraceptives.”

Lamb, The Times’ Hanoi Bureau chief, was recently on assignment in Manila.