CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) — Parental guidance is very important when addressing teenage pregnancy, Commission on Population and Development (CPD)-10 Population Program Officer Jeremias L. Cabasan shared in a special episode of Talakayan sa PIA, a media forum in celebration of Population and Development Week 2024.
“Kung dili ka makig-istorya sa ila (If you don’t talk to them), they will go to other sources that might not be a good source of information,” he explained as teenagers and young kids tap social media for sexual education and exposure.
Among the current population challenges that our local government units must address is the persistent issue of teenage pregnancy.
“Before, if we talked about teenage pregnancy, the usual age to get pregnant was 17 or 18, 19, but it is way different now because teenage pregnancy already includes 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 years old,” Cabasan said.
Based on CPD’s analytics, there is a multi-factorial reason for the persistent issue of teenage pregnancy. It’s not only broken families, nor poverty, nor peer influence, but the children themselves.
Executive Order 141, according to Cabasan, adopted as a national priority the implementation of measures to address the root causes of the rising number of teenage pregnancies and mobilized government agencies for this purpose, introducing a whole-of-nation approach to address this issue.
“It cannot be done by CPD alone; it cannot be done by the Department of Health (DOH) alone; it should be a whole-of-nation approach,” he said.
CPD is enhancing programs for parents by providing modules, enabling them to initiate sexuality education with their children. One is identifying “teachable moments” where parents can find opportunities to teach their kids about sexuality.
For instance, when a child expresses feelings for someone or a “crush,” a parent could reassure them that these feelings are normal and will eventually fade.
“Parents must play the primary role in educating their children to address teenage pregnancy,” he emphasized.
Executive Order 76 established Population and Development Week to raise awareness about population and development, population issues, and strategies to address the persistent population issues in the Philippines. (JMOR/PIA-10)
