‘Pregnant at 10, 11, 12 years old? A likely case of abuse there’

TEEN pregnancies, particularly among girls below 15 years old, could be linked to child abuse, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom).

In a recent interview, Popcom Undersecretary Juan Antonio A. Perez III told theBusinessMirror more attention should be given to the increasing trend in pregnancies, especially among 10- to 14-year- olds nationwide.

Perez said in 2017, there were 2,000 girls aged 10 to 14 years old who gave birth. This was an increase of 11 percent from the 1,800 of girls in this age group.

“Many of them are probably cases of abuse. Most likely,” Perez said. “Once you see someone 10, 11, 12 years old giving birth, there’s abuse there. That’s statutory rape. So, we should be doing more. Even the hospitals should be reporting. It should be a signal. People are just not conscious about it.”

In some cases, Perez said, however, that the increase in pregnancies among this age group could be linked to practices of child brides that are still observed in some parts of the Philippines.

Perez said some Indigenous Peoples and even among the Muslim community practice child marriage, where young girls are allowed to marry as soon as they start having their menstrual periods.

Addressing teen pregnancies, especially in communities that practice child marriage, will require greater effort on the part of the government, particularly in the conduct of family development 
sessions, Perez said.

These family development sessions are being extended to those enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program of the government.

However, Perez said the government is not the only stakeholder that must act on behalf of the 10- to 14- year-olds who are getting pregnant.

“We also need the voice of religious leaders, faith-based organizations, DepEd [Department of Education] through comprehensive sexuality education. That will be happening in one or two years, I think. My concern is the long term. We have to catch up in terms of setting a long-term direction in addressing this problem,” Perez said.

Program abandoned

Earlier, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the population boom emanated from the abandonment of the government’s population program in 1969. If the population program were only sustained, the country would have reached upper middle-income country (Umic) status as early as 2011.

He said that in 1969, the Philippines had the same population as Thailand at around 68 million to 70 million. However, the country abandoned its population program and this has caused the population to reach 108 million today and on track to reaching 110 by year-end.

If the Philippines had maintained its popu-lation policy, Pernia said poverty would only be at 10 percent and the country would have fewer out-of-school youths and teen pregnancies. And, its maternal mortality rate would be lower. The government, Pernia said, would also be able to have more financial head room to finance human capital development projects.