REGIONAL officials of the Commission on Population and the Department of Education (DepEd) in Iloilo City strongly denied the alleged production
of an IEC (information, education, communication) material entitled “How to Avoid HIV-Aids?”
Popcom-Western Visayas Regional Director Harold Marshall said his office has never and will never produce such material with wrong and misleading information.
All IEC materials produced by Popcom-Western Visayas are well researched and are properly reviewed and approved, Marshall said.
A lone poster found last Friday, August 5, and pasted at an electric post infront of the barangay hall of Barangay Fajardo at the corner of Fajardo and Cuartero streets in Jaro district was posted online and have become viral.
Marshall said Popcom Western Visayas is a firm advocate of LGBT rights and is working hard to end the stigma against LGBT and HIV.
“In addition, our partner agencies in the region know how supportive we are in all the endeavors they take with regard to the promotion of LGBT rights and HIV prevention. We condemn the misuse of the official Popcom logo in this IEC material without our explicit approval."
"Popcom VI (Western Visayas) would like to call the attention and support of our partners, media, netizens and all parties concerned to help us put an end to this,” Marshall said.
On the other hand, the regional office of the DepEd issued an official statement online regarding that erroneous and discriminating HIV and Aids awareness material that was circulating online.
“The Department of Education Regional Office VI (Western Visayas) strongly denies having developed and fielded any IEC material entitled “How to Avoid HIV-Aids?," the statement reads.
It also underscored its strong advocacy for a "culture-sensitive, gender-fair and quality assured teaching and learning resources."
"Hence, it has never and will never develop, produce and distribute materials with erroneous and misleading information. All teaching and learning resources developed by this office go through a well-established quality assurance process prior to the approval for reproduction," DepEd said.
The government office also said it has 'high regard and full respect for the rights of the LGBT community."
"As much, we condemned the unauthorized use of the DepEd RO VI logo in this IEC material. We would like to appeal to all our media partners, netizens, and all concerned parties to support us in putting an end to the stigma associated with LGBT and HIV,” it further said.