The lawyer representing parents opposed to the government’s school sex education plans refused to accept defeat today after a court rejected their petition to halt the program.

Judge Rosanna Fe Romero-Maglaya of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 88 threw out a petition lodged by Jo Aurea Imbong on behalf of 30 parents for a temporary restraining order on teaching sex education in public schools.

The court ruled that Imbong and the other petitioners did not prove that their rights were violated because they failed to show their children were studying in the schools where the sex education module would be tested.

Imbong who lost her senatorial bid in the May 10 elections also serves as a legal counsel for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

The battle is not over, she told Church-run Radio Veritas 846 on July 5. The decision only covers the petition for a restraining order and not the lawsuit which contests that the Education Department’s sex education plans are unconstitutional.

Imbong said she will now concentrate on preparing for hearings on the injunction parents filed last month seeking that the court declare the Education Department’s Memorandum No. 26 implementing sex education in schools illegal.

The memorandum is “anti-family” and “anti-life,” Imbong’s group allege.

She said she expects more parents will add their names to the suit.

Related reports
Bishops’ lawyer in court bid to halt sex education
Prelate says parents key to sex education
Bishops call in lawyers over sex education plan
Church ‘main snag’ to school sex education

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