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Some pregnancies in minors aged 10-14 involves men aged 21 up: POPCOM

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Kevin Alabaso, ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2447526" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>The Population Commission (POPCOM) on Friday said it has recorded cases of pregnancy in minors aged 10-14 with men who are &quot;more than 21 years old&quot; based on their preliminary analysis.Lolito Tacardon, POPCOM&#x27;s deputy executive director, said that while he agrees that instances like this are already cases of statutory rape, they do not have solid evidence yet regarding the matter.&quot;&#x27;Yung solid evidence natin ay kasalukuyang ginagawa pa pero &#x27;yung preliminary analysis na nakikita natin... more than 21 years old ang mga tatay na partners... so it indicates that there&#x27;s some form of abuse,&quot; Tacardon said on TeleRadyo&#x27;s On The Spot.&quot;At hindi lang 21, mayroon pang mga 30 or 40 years old na nakikita sa datos na &#x27;yun. So in such a kind of relationship, I think mayroong possibility of sexual abuse but ayon nga kailangan natin talagang masusing pag-aralan para masigurado tayo sa ating intervention,&quot; he continued.This, after lawmakers expressed concern on the rising cases of pregnancies among teenagers.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/02/02/23/government-urged-consider-birth-control-access-for-minors">Government urged: Consider birth control access for minors as teen pregnancies increase</a></li></ul>Tacardon added that POPCOM has also seen a significant number of minors aged 10-14 that are &quot;already sexually active at their age.&quot;&quot;May datos tayo [sa minors aged 10-14] na 32 percent of males have reported sexual engagement already and 27 percent naman sa kababaihan.&quot;However, Tacardon clarified that the minors who reported having sexual engagement in their age doesn&#x27;t necessarily mean that it was consensual.&quot;Ang generic definition lang kasi natin ng sexually active ay those who had sexual experience and some of them might [have been] forced or hindi nila ginusto,&quot; he said.&quot;That&#x27;s the reality na nakikita natin sa young adult and fertility survey. Many of them reported that &#x27;yung kanilang sexual engagement ay unwanted,&quot; he added.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/09/21/10-year-old-mothers-recorded-in-luzon-as-govt-sounds-alarm-on-girl-pregnancies">10-year-old mothers recorded in Luzon, as gov’t sounds alarm on girl pregnancies</a></li></ul><div>MORE THAN A HOUSEHOLD PROBLEM</div>The POPCOM official said population itself should not be limited to the household level since &quot;it&#x27;s an issue of governance&quot; and a societal issue in need of addressing.&quot;It&#x27;s really a comprehensive issue na hindi lang demographic factor ang tinitingnan. It&#x27;s a well-being issue and a development [issue] lalo na sa mga kabataan.&quot;In a geographic standpoint, Tacardon said that the Davao region, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Region VIII are the areas showing a &quot;beyond the national average&quot; instance of adolescent pregnancy.He also noted that while the government has recently been urged to provide birth control access to minors, the country has yet to implement a policy limiting the size of a household.&quot;Never tayo nagkaroon ng polisiya na irequire o magset ng dapat lamang na bilang ng anak sa bawat pamilya. Laging naka-anchor ang ating polisiya on the informed choice and volunteerism—even sa paggamit ng family planning, once the couples decide na limitahan o &#x27;di kaya&#x27;y ipagpaliban muna ang kanilang panganganak... respeto pa rin at informed choice ang ating anchor,&quot; he said.<div> THE BEST SOLUTION IS PREVENTION</div>For POPCOM, the &quot;most effective solution&quot; that they see in cases of teenage pregnancy is preventing the incidents itself from even happening.&quot;Turuan natin, i-educate natin ang mga kabataan. Bigyan natin sila ng kakayahan makapagdecide ng tama para sa kanilang sarili at para sa kanilang pamilya, at kinabukasan.&quot;Based on the Republic Act No. 10354 or more commonly known as the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, parental consent is still needed for a child under 18 years of age to access contraceptives.Tacardon said that these kinds of prevention would or might pave the way in combating the realities that the country is experiencing such as continuous sexual abuse, unreported sexual violence, and unwanted pregnancies, among others.&quot;Another reality na nakikita rin natin ay &#x27;yung repeat pregnancy na maaaring mangyari doon sa mga nanganak na at kung wala silang kakayahan to protect themselves from another pregnancy then it complicates the situation. Lalo silang madidiin doon sa vicious cycle of poverty lalo na doon sa mga nasa indigent households,&quot; Tacardon said.When asked on whether the aforementioned realities can still be changed, Tacardon said that it is up to the government to challenge the trend that the country is currently facing.He added that the government has a &quot;very critical role to implement interventions&quot; and that the only way the country would change the culture surrounding teenage pregnancy is for the government to &quot;institute policies na importante para mabago ang behaviors ng kabataan.&quot;<div>WHAT TEENAGE MOMS HAVE TO BEAR</div>Other than carrying a child for nine months, the women, or in this case the girls, go through significantly a lot more hardship in terms of teenage pregnancy.Tacardon said that they have recorded a high drop-out rate from girls and that data from the Department of Education would show that one of the main reasons for dropping out would be teenage pregnancy.&quot;As compared to males, hindi &#x27;yun nangyayari sa kanila because pwede pa silang mag-aral. Napag-alaman din namin na kahit gusto nang bumalik ng mga batang ina sa pag-aaral, nahihirapan sila dahil doon sa evolving parental role nila,&quot; said Tacardon.&quot;Kahit &#x27;yung alternative learning system na pino-promote natin nahihirapan sila e. So that&#x27;s a very significant effect sa kababaihan at sunod-sunod na yan,&quot; he continued.Tacardon added that in many cases, the boys involved in teenage pregnancy often leave the girl so they still get a chance to continue their studies, whereas the girl would have to deal with carrying a child for nine months.With this, the POPCOM official warned that dire consequences both for the country and for families are in the pipeline if the country doesn&#x27;t manage the existing trend of teenage pregnancy.&quot;It will really affect the quality of our human resource kasi alam natin yung vicious cycle ng mga consequences of adolescent pregnancy... kung &#x27;di nakapag-aral, walang trabaho [then] mababagsak sila sa poverty so if you aggregate that into consequences, that has an impact sa kanyang economic situation at hindi lang sa pamilya kundi sa community na rin niya.&quot;&quot;May pag-aaral na nga rin tayo na malaki ang cost ng teenage pregnancy. That&#x27;s why it&#x27;s also a compelling interest of our state na tugunan ito dahil hindi lang ito problema ng pamilya na involved,&quot; he added.The Philippines has &quot;one of the highest adolescent birth rates&quot; among Southeast Asian nations, according to a United Nations Population Fund policy brief in 2020. In 2020, adolescent birth rates were at 31 per 1,000 girls, lower than 47 per 1,000 in the 2017 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/29/22/un-agency-philippines-commit-to-tackle-teen-pregnancies">UN agency, Philippines commit to tackle teen pregnancies, child marriages</a></li></ul>POPCOM in 2021 said the COVID-19 crisis &quot;worsened&quot; the difficulty of availing family planning services, which are &quot;very crucial in mitigating cases of early pregnancies.&quot; <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/08/21/pregnancies-among-10-14-minors-rising-social-support-needed-popcom">Pregnancies among 10-14 minors rising, social support needed: POPCOM</a></li></ul>

POPCOM said it has recorded cases of pregnancy in minors aged 10-14 with men who are 'more than 21 years old' based on their preliminary analysis.

Some pregnancies in minors aged 10-14 involves men aged 21 up: POPCOM

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Some pregnancies in minors aged 10-14 involves men aged 21 up: POPCOM

Kevin Alabaso,

ABS-CBN News

Published February 03, 2023 06:31 PM PHT

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Population Commission

POPCOM

Lolito Tacardon

teenage pregnancy

birth control

contraceptives

reproductive health

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