MANILA — The Commission on Higher Education said Thursday it has no problems with including discussions on birth control in the higher education curriculum as long as it will only be integrated into existing subjects.

"If the addition is just to integrate it, that will be an easier thing to do," CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera said in a Palace briefing.

De Vera said it would be difficult to create a new subject to cater to the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) under Senate Bill 1334 or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2020.

"Mas mahirap iyan [that's more difficult] if you have a separate subject because the number of units and the curriculum in general education has already been decided and is already being implemented," he said.

Under the bill, endorsed for plenary approval by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, CSE shall be a compulsory part of education "with the end goal of normalizing discussions about adolescent sexuality and reproductive health and to remove stigma from all levels."

The CSE shall include such topics as human sexuality, effective contraceptive use, disease prevention, gender equality and equity, and sexual violence, among others.

The bill seeks to prevent teenage pregnancy and institutionalize social protection for adolescent parents.

• Hontiveros pushes bill to curb teen pregnancies