INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS/JEROME CRISTOBAL
MANILA, Philippines — A 13-year old was registered as the youngest mother in Bontoc, Mountain Province, according to its local government unit (LGU).
Prior to her, a 16-year old girl was the youngest pregnancy recorded.
“The youngest mother at the age of 13 years old has been registered in 2022,” wrote the Bontoc LGU on a Facebook post on Friday.
INQUIRER.net has reached out to the Bontoc LGU to determine if the child’s pregnancy was a result of sexual abuse. The LGU has yet to respond.
According to the Municipal Civil Registry Office of Bontoc, teenage mothers in their areas have increased in 2022 after recording 39 teen pregnancies out of 767 live births.
This is a 39.38 percent increase compared to the municipality’s recorded teenage pregnancies in 2021, which was at 28.
“Out of the 39 registered teenage mothers in 2022, 17 are natives of Bontoc and the remaining 22 are from other neighboring municipalities/provinces who gave birth and registered in the municipality,” said the Bontoc LGU.
Bontoc Mayor Jerome Tudlong, Jr. called upon the public to help lessen the number of teenage pregnancies.
On Wednesday, Philippine senators were presented data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) which showed that 2,299 girls aged 10 to 14 gave birth in 2021, an increase from the 2,113 teenage live births in 2021.
The PSA also said that six to seven percent of babies born from adolescents were from men 10 years or more older than them.