Commision on Population and Development | FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) on Tuesday called for vigilance despite teenage pregnancies declining to 6.8%, or 386,000 of Filipino girls, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Citing a study from the University of the Philippines Population Institute published in October, Popcom noted “that the proportion of young women 15 to 19 years old who have begun childbearing sharply declined from 13.7% in 2013 to 6.8% in 2021.”
Popcom Officer in Charge-Executive Director (OIC-ED) Lolito R. Tacardon surmised that the pandemic lockdowns had ensured limited physical contact among youth.
Despite the decline, Tacardon said that vigilance is still needed, especially with COVID-19 health protocols relaxing.
“The latest data by the Civil Registry and Vital Statistics, or CRVS, registered a high number of live births among minors, most specifically among 10 to 14 years old. Their condition still requires collective attention from concerned authorities, especially national agencies and local government units, which can influence and reverse the alarming statistics,” said the OIC-ED.
Tacardon also said that institutions should put in an effort to advance former president Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 141, series of 2021, which ordered all government agencies to identify interventions of teenage pregnancy.
“As they gradually return to their normal activities, we should not let our guards down. It should give us more resolve to strengthen and sustain our efforts in providing age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education and information, as well as access to reproductive health services among adolescents, which we deem will sustain, or further accelerate, the decline in adolescent pregnancy percentages,” Tacardon said.
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