PopCom allots P2 M for teenage pregnancy study

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Population (PopCom) is looking for a private institution that will conduct a study on teenage pregnancy in the Philippines.

Dexter Padilla, chairman of PopCom Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), said P2 million has been allocated for the research under the 2013 General Appropriations Act.

Interested institutions can submit eligibility documents if they want to participate in the bidding for the conduct of research on teenage pregnancy in the Philippines, Padilla said.

They can submit the necessary documents on or before Aug. 5 at PopCom Building, Welfareville Compound in Mandaluyong City.

The committee will choose the participating consultants with at least five years’ experience in conducting research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, good track record in handling large scale data processing analysis, with competent and properly trained manpower, and at least three years’ experience working with government agencies. 

The National Statistics Office (NSO) had earlier reported that the number of Filipino teenage girls getting pregnant rose in a span of 10 years, while the number of underage marriages went down.

NSO administrator Carmelita Ericta said that from 2000 to 2010, the number of babies born to teenage mothers increased from seven percent to 11 percent. 

The NSO had recorded 616 girls below 15 years old who had given birth to their first baby in 2000 and another 102,724 from the age group 15 to 19. 

Ten years later, the figures have bloated to 1,260 and 174,085, respectively.

Ericta said that underage marriage during this period went down from 12,790 to 8,473.