A position paper on the Legalization of Alcoholic Drinks to Minors

By: Vanessa Tejada

Introduction

Reducing underage drinking will require community-based efforts to monitor the

activities of youth and decrease youth access to alcohol. In the Philippines, alcohol is widely
consumed. One reason for this may be that the Spanish colonizers not only brought with them
the Roman Catholic religion but also their drinking culture. There is a generally positive view of
alcohol among most Filipinos, but there are growing concerns about the impact drinking is
having on society. As the islands become more urbanized there appears to be a growing reliance
on alcohol to help people deal with stress.

Young people themselves have organized efforts to discourage, drinking among their
peers. But most of the time, some are not, instead most of them get alcohol from home with or
without their parents’ permission. They know how to obtain alcohol. They are able to get it from
friends or they can discreetly buy for themselves.

Selling of liquors to minors is prohibited under section 3 and 4 of Presidential Decree

(PD) 1619, which penalizes the use or possession or unauthorized sale to minors, Filipinos
adopted Spain’s drinking culture which most of the people make it an alternative habit in dealing
with stress, however, due to limitations, drinking moderately is required.

Counter Argument

Particularly in the Philippines, Filipino men women are mostly fond on alcoholic drinks
such as wines, beers, or any beverages that contains alcohol which sometimes affects health
status when too much drinking of any of it. Some people say an alcoholic drink relieves stress,
and it is a yes for those who drink in a moderate way or manner.

People tend to drink alcoholic beverages in a formal and informal manner. In a party or in
a celebration, and sometimes more on just having fun. There are times minors are being
influences by adults in drinking alcoholic beverages due to the oh so called “respeto”, and
sometimes beyond their curiosity they would try or like to try it again, not just once.

Drinking alcoholic beverages increases body temperature, it contributes some

requirements needed in our immune system. It contains acids for our body esteem, that helps in
our daily nutritional needs, because our body also needs alcohol.

Media campaigns design to discourage underage drinking directly, to affect the behavior
of adults, and to build a broader public awareness of the nature and the magnitude of the
problems. Alcohol use by children, adolescence, and young adults under the legal drinking age
of 21 produces human tragedies with alarming regularity. Motor vehicle crashes, homicides,
suicides and the unintentional injuries are the 4 leading causes of dearth of 15-20 years old, and
alcohol is a factor of this deaths. Indeed, so many underage drinkers die in a car crashes that this
problem, by itself, is a major national concern. (National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration)

Argument

Teenagers now were mostly fond or even addicted to those alcoholic drinks. That
sometimes affect not just their health but also their behavior especially their studies to those
minors who are studying.

Underage boys are far more likely to drink than underage girls, but the female seem to be
closing the gap. The fact that so many young people drink alcohol is a real worry because those
young people who drink are in particular danger of problems related to mental and physical
health. This is because alcohol interferes with normal development that occurs during
adolescents.

According to the World Health Organization, the burden of disease from alcohol exceeds
because harmful consequences lead to death and disability in the younger years of their life.

Those people who drink at a young age are far more likely to experiment with harder
drugs.Alcohol abuse among the young can lead promiscuous sexual behavior. This could mean
unplanned pregnancies or sexually transmitted disease.

Conclusion

Liquors should be ban to minors, it affect not just their younger health but also its
behavior in socializing especially to students. Minors who drink liquors may develop alcoholism
later in his/her life. That could also affects their sexual behavior that may cause unplanned
pregnancies to young woman or sexually transmitted disease to men.

Selling of liquors to minors is prohibited under section 3 and 4 Presidential Decree (PD)
1619, which penalizes the use or possession or unauthorized sale to minors or volatile substances
for the purpose of inducing intoxication or in any manner changing, distorting or disturbing the
auditory visual on mental process.

Thus, even if the store or establishment has not violated any ordinance or law regulating
in the distance to be observed between the store in the school, the establishment to store may still
be made liable under PD 1619 for selling liquors to minors.