Trisha (not her real name), 23, attended an afternoon workshop with 10 teenagers on topics, roundtable talks and discussions that most "casual" Filipino ideology or Roman Catholic culture in the country would consider as taboo.
All 11 of them in the discussion, including Trisha, shared one common trait among each other: they became victims of coerced sexual intercourse, which led to adolescent teenage pregnancies for all 11 young women who gave birth at an average age of 16.8 years old.
While the entire group admitted that they wanted to feel pleasure at an early age through sex, not in the slightest chance would they think that they would unwillfully have sexual intercourse at such a young age.
Absent-minded to the ideas of sexual contraceptives, birth controls (abstinence, pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, injectables), that was their main motive in engaging in that roundtable discussion organized by a local barangay in Marikina: to give awareness to younger adolescent women like them that all of these are vital factors to not fall prey into teenage pregnancy.
A survey conducted by the DKT Philippines Foundation in 2021 showed that only 13% of around 500 women in the Philippines have knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills (more known as the Yuzpe method) which holds an 88% efficiency rate if taken within 72 hours after contraception.
While these types of contraceptives, along with the heightened urgency of the Department of Education and the national government to find better methods to curb the issue of adolescent pregnancy, numbers continue to rise.
“What is alarming about the current rate of adolescent pregnancies in the Philippines is the fact that increasing talaga yung for age 10 to 14, yung tawag kasi namin sa age 10 to 14 kasi is very young adolescents. Doon lang talaga sobrang nakakaalarm kasi sobrang increasing in rates. Pero when it comes to absolute numbers, nagiincrease rin kasi yung ages 15 to 19 when it comes to absolute numbers. Makikita natin yan sa data na from more than 136,000 to more than 150,000,” Mylin Quiray, acting division chief of the CPD’s Knowledge Management and Communication Division, said.
Between 2021 and 2022, the Commission on Population and Development revealed that the hike in total live births among girls under 15 years old went up by 35.13% - from 2,320 in 2021 to 3,135 in 2022.
Last year, the Philippines was the second-highest country in Southeast Asia among adolescent birth rates, while in March 2024, Save the Children noted a 35% increase in pregnancies among children aged 10 to 14 years old.
“It is through the Philippine Statistics Authority and Civil Registry and Vital Statistics. ‘Yon yung nakikita nating alarming talaga for adolescent pregnancy. Ang tawag na nga ng DOH diyan ay child pregnancy or childhood pregnancy kasi we consider it also as child pregnancy. Pero in terms of international nomenclature, it’s really adolescent pregnancy from ages 10 to 19,” she continued.
Lack of sex education
DepEd order No. 031 s. 2018, also known as the Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), is a policy that aims to improve the health and wellness of Filipino adolescents, with a focus to curb pregnancies beginning at a very young age.
Some countries have a similar guideline and curriculum on teaching CSE in elementary and junior high schools. However, Tricia, who was 16 years old when she got pregnant in 2019, revealed that despite the DepEd order, little to none lectures on CSE were tackled by her private school located in Taytay, Rizal.
CSE advocates from Likhaan Center for Women’s Health bared that the lack of lessons for many youths is one of the reasons one out of 10 births in the Philippines is by a mother younger than the age of 19 years old and below.
“Hindi naman siya natuturo sa amin. Naalala ko dati kasi assignment namin ito sa Araling Panlipunan, may ganyang order, pero hindi naman siya naturo kasi closeted mga utak ng administration sa school namin nung time of implementation,” Tricia explained.
Recently enough, the DepEd assured its commitment to its stakeholders to revisit and intensify its curriculum in its hope to address the rampant issue of high adolescent teenage pregnancy cases among basic education learners.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Committee on Basic Education, believed that no curriculum on CSE would suffice as in most cases, most girls who get pregnant at an early age stop school, missing out on the chance to learn basic CSE.
This was the case for Tricia.
“Nung nabuntis na ako, syempre nakakahiya naman pumasok. Doon na lang nila tinuro raw yung CSE, may mga naging rumor pa na dahil daw nabuntis ako kaya lang nila naimplement yung CSE para hindi na raw maulit yung kaso ko,” she said.
While Quiray acknowledged the DepEd’s efforts and the national government’s plans to properly implement CSE, she believed that the true problem does not lie within these actions.
Rather, it all boils down to the educators who fail to properly implement and teach the CSE curriculum, which paved the way for such adolescent pregnancy cases to happen.
Quiray added that such a lack of proper education happens due to the rare and sensitive connotation of sex education, which continues to remain taboo in the Philippines.
“For the Department of Education, since 2018 meron na silang department order on comprehensive sexuality education. Talagang meron na talagang moves sa ating Education department to integrate sexuality sa curriculum. Ang tanong lang talaga is when it comes to actual implementation, how many percent of the teachers are really integrating sexuality into the curriculum? Yes it’s available, ang tanong lang in practice, do our educators really integrate it?” Quiray explained.
However, Quiray believed that educators are not the only ones at fault, but rather, she urged parents to properly teach their children the proper terms of body parts and proper ideologies and terms in sexual education.
“We cannot fault the teachers alone ‘eh kasi kailangan hindi lang teachers ang nageeducate abouot sexuality, parents dapat [and] family. Yung access ba nila sa media kamusta ba? Alam naman natin na if they have access, of course kapag hindi proper yung sites, iba yung natuturo na values on that. Baka wala pang information about protection. Kaya nakakalungkot lang din,” she added.
Value of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill
As early as 2021, former president Rodrigo Duterte declared the heightened problem of teenage pregnancies as a matter of national priority.
Under Executive Order 141 issued on June 25, 2021, Duterte emphasized that despite the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, there must be implemented measures that will address the root causes of adolescent pregnancies.
On the part of CPD, a comprehensive action plan has been drafted to combat the said issue, which revolved around five key areas - CSE, access to information and health services, socioeconomic wellbeing, sexual abuse and domestic violence, and the participation of young people.
“Una, comprehensive sexuality education talaga. Pangalawa, kailangan nating ma-address ‘yong health, access to information and health services. Pangatlo, kailangan din nating ma-address ‘yong socioeconomic wellbeing ng mga Filipino people, our young people, the parents and the communities where they are. Pang-apat ‘yong violence kasi is also a factor eh kapag sexually abused or may domestic violence within the home, meron ding factor on early pregnancy. Pang-lima, kailangan talaga ng participation ng mga young people. ‘Yon talaga ‘yong ina-address ng gobyerno – national government – to combat adolescent pregnancy,” Quiray explained.
However, because of the Senate’s lack of initiative to immediately act on an anti-teen pregnancy measure that would address the issue at hand, all of these combined efforts will go down the drain, Quiray explained.
In September 2023, the House approved on the third and final reading House Bill 8910, which aims to prevent teenage pregnancies and institutionalize social protection for adolescent parents and their children.
However, a counter measure at the Senate, specifically Senate Bill 1979 or more known as the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill, remains wide open and pending for approval.
Enough had been enough for the CPD, who alongside the United Nations Population Fund and the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development, made their appeal on World Population Day 2024 last July 11, highlighting how the new law would strengthen social fairness and offer all-encompassing solutions to the nation’s adolescent pregnancy problem.
“Meron din ‘yong mga programs, specific programs, na ibinababa sa LGUs. Sa legislation naman, advocacy to pass the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill na nasa Senado – malakas ‘yong adbokasiya na panawagan. Nag-pass na siya sa House of Representatives, ngayon nasa Senate na siya for interpellation na ‘di pa napa-pass until now,” Quiray shared.
“While we appreciate yung government efforts, ang nangyayari kasi mabbalewala na lang din yung mga nagiging initiative ng lahat if ang batas dapat na pinakakokontra sa ganitong issue ay masstall at matatagalan lang sa Senado ng mahigit isang taon na ang nakalipas,” she added.
Ernest Martin Tuazon, an MA in Journalism student, wrote this story as part of his requirements in an International Reporting class at the University of Santo Tomas.