THE government stressed the need for heightened vigilance against adolescent pregnancies as it closely monitors the movement in numbers among young girls between 2021 and 2022.

Commission on Population and Development executive director Lisa Grace Bersales said based on data, there is an increase in total live births among girls under 15 years old as it went up by 35.13 percent from 2,320 in 2021 to 3,135 in 2022.

“Although live births from adolescent girls, 14 years old and below, is just 0.22 percent of total live births recorded, CPD is still deeply concerned about the increase in adolescent pregnancy, especially among our very young girls,” Bersales said.

The government official reiterated the agency’s call for the legislative branch to prioritize the passage of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill.

“We cannot overemphasize the significance of having the bill enacted. It is my strong belief, and that of the agency’s, that its enactment will be essential in addressing the lingering concern of early child-bearing and motherhood among a great number of our juvenile Filipino girls,” she said.

Last year, the House of Representatives approved on second reading House Bill No. 8910 or the proposed Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Act, which provides for a national policy to arrest the growing number of cases of childbearing and child births among adolescents.

Bersales reinforced the House’s stand on the situation’s adverse effects not only on the affected persons, but on Philippine society in general.

Under the action plan’s eight key strategies is the further advancement of Filipino teens’ health and development, where the phenomenon of early parenthood is specifically addressed.