Teen pregnancies spawn endless poverty — PopCom

MANILA, Philippines — Teenage pregnancy creates an “unending” cycle of poverty in the country, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said as it called anew on President Duterte to issue an executive order declaring it a national and social emergency.

Lydio Español Jr., PopCom director for National Capital Region, told The STAR in an interview in Pasig City yesterday that early pregnancies might shackle families to poverty. 

“Teenage pregnancy has become an intergenerational poverty issue because our adolescents are supposed to be the future of our country but because of the problem, about 10 percent are getting pregnant,” he said, pointing out that this creates a scenario where Filipinos are not able to rise from poverty.

He revealed that about 200,000 adolescents are getting pregnant every year – a number too big to ignore. “It’s a huge part of our population and we could not do away with poverty unless we address this problem.”

Citing a study made by the University of the Philippines, Español said P34 billion is lost from the Philippine economy every year due to teen pregnancies.

He again asked Duterte to declare teenage pregnancy a national and social emergency, believing that this would help the government address the issue better.

PopCom, he added, is trying to reduce the number to half by the end of Duterte’s term.