Yesterday, July 10, the Pinoy interwebs was almost broken by a scandal. Not a political one, but a sex video scandal. Making matters worse, [unverified] online reports suggest that the person who was in the video was a 12 year-old.
This morning, a local radio commentator here in our province discussed the potential connection of social media and the sudden death of teen artist Julie Buencamino. The commentary started with a premise which seems to be off from the showbiz rumor mill, so much so that it did not make sense to me. The commentator then went on to how social media is affecting the lives of young people. She goes on to say [non-verbatim, translated from Iluko]:
In fact, I am starting to loathe and condemn Facebook because it seems to glorify same sex relationships. I am against same sex marriage. Tell whatever you want, but the Philippines is still a conservative nation.
The comment jolted me. No, it’s not about her opposition to same sex marriage. It was her argument that our country is still a conservative nation.
The question now is: Is it, still?
Let us go back at what happened yesterday. When the minor’s alleged sex tape went around the Internet, everyone went crazy. Some were eager to watch the video. Some came to the girl’s defense. In fact, statuses like this circulated yesterday:
There are three types of people:
[1] Respect the girl.
[2] Pengeng link. (Send me a link.)
[3] Respect the girl, pero pengeng link.
The bottomline: We talked about it on the Internet.
If the Philippines is indeed a conservative nation, we would know that topics like these are taboo; we can’t talk about it easily. Yet, there we were, discussing how a girl who has her whole life ahead of her was “sayang.”
This is not the first time that this happened over the Philippine Internet parlance. Remember what happened to Paolo Bediones? Heck, even the mainstream media covered the story.
Remember what happened to another guy whose name also trended on Twitter months ago because he also had a scandal with his girlfriend/wife? [Several online reports said she’s his wife.]
Remember the two high school students from a province up north (my home province, in fact) who were caught on camera by a security guard?
We feasted on these stuff. We were like dogs hungry for flesh. A lot were quick to judge. Others were quick to say “Hey, respect, man!” Others were more than willing to share the scandals, thus, trumpeting these more.
Now, you might tell me “Hey, those are insinuations!” Well, then, let me give you some numbers.
The 2013 Young Adult and Fertility Survey (YAFS) conducted by the UP Population Institute and the Demographic Research and Development Foundation revealed that one in three Filipinos aged 15-24 had already engaged in premarital sex – sex before marriage. UP’s Maria Paz Marquez said in an InterAksyon.com report that “This translates to about 6.2 million youth who have engaged in sexual intercourse before marriage.”
The same study also showed that “78 percent of those who engaged in premarital sex for the first time were unprotected.”
It was also revealed that 1.4 million mothers are aged 15-19. Percentage figures on this were up from 4.4% in 2002 to 11%.
A separate study, the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey, reported that one in 10 Filipinas aged 15-19 already had a child. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported “The survey also reveals that one in five (19 percent) young adult Filipino women age 18 to 24 years had initiated their sexual activity before age 18. Some of them would have had their first intimate sexual act before marriage.”
The same PSA report also revealed “Initiation of sexual activity before age 18 is more common among young adult women with less education and those in poorer households.”
How about pornography consumption? The 2013 YAFS report also revealed that “56.5 percent have been exposed to videos and movies, 35.6 percent have been exposed to reading materials, and 15.5 percent have been exposed to websites.”
Pornography website PornHub, in its 2014 Year in Review, said that the Philippines is the 19th top viewer of, well, you already know what, based on the website’s web traffic. The Filipino’s average time spent per visit to the site? 12 minutes and 40 seconds, the greatest among the countries included in the year in review. There were no numbers on the age demographic in the study.
In terms of underage drinking, estimates suggested that 60% of Filipinos aged 13 and above have already taken alcoholic drinks.
How about Church attendance? A 2013 Social Weather Stations survey showed that 37% of Filipino Catholics go to church, as opposed to 64% in July 1991. Plus, 9.2% of them are thinking of leaving the church.
Even Fr. Joel Tabora, president of Ateneo de Davao University, recognized the declining attendance in church, saying:
There ought to be great concern. People have been leaving the Catholic Church. People are about to leave the Church…What I am picking up is exasperation. People are tired of lousy homilies that ramble in inanities that begin and never end, and never end because they should never have begun. People are tired of being preached at, of being treated as if they were younger than adolescents, of being lectured, of being scolded, of being dictated upon. People are tired of obstinate claims to absolute truth, when the thinking world continues to seek truth.
Now, let us ask the question, again. Is the Philippines still a conservative nation? Some would still say YES, because we are still very much values-oriented. Others would say NO, because an awful lot of evidence and actual stories and experiences suggested that we are not anymore.
If you were to ask me, I’d say, we’re not. In fact, we are a nation of hypocrites, not a nation of conservatives. We loathe sex, but we talk about it. Heck, it is even subliminally mixed in mainstream media sometimes. We say we value religion, yet we are quick to judge people. We exempt ourselves in judgment.