Spurred by inquisitive questions from his six-year-old Alon, I-Witness documentarist Howie Severino goes on a quest to answer the age-old question that kids ask adults: “Where did I come from?”

Howie’s search takes him to a bishop, a teacher, a youth advocate, a lawyer, a health worker, and other young kids. A simple question uncovers the state of sexuality education in the Philippines. He and Alon discover a progressive school where gender issues are openly discussed with small children, and to a kids workshop in Malabon on gender and sexuality where even pre-teens are introduced to ways of protecting themselves against sexually transmitted disease.

It is the same place in Malabon where Howie returns to learn about widespread youth problems that advocates say are borne out of inadequate information about sexuality: irresponsible sexual practices, the alarming spread of gonorrhea, teen pregnancies. Howie meets earnest youth advocate Kiko who overcomes taboos to talk to teens about knowing their bodies, the proper use of condoms, and
identifying disgusting diseases contracted through sex.

Debate is raging now in Congress over the future of sex education. But the real battleground may be in places like Malabon where the stakes are life and death, and the future of its young residents.

“Papa, Papa, Paano Ako Ginawa” airs tonight after Saksi . Pinoys on the West Coast can catch it on Wednesday, October 1, 9:55 p.m., and on the East Coast on Thursday, October 2, 12:55 a.m., with replays on 3:35 p.m.

Videographer: Egay Navarro
Director: JJ Villamarin