SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian vowed to pursue a Senate inquiry to help strengthen the Department of Education’s implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education after the Commission on Population and Development disclosed the rising trend of pregnancies among minors aged 10 to 14.

“Sa gitna ng nakakaalarmang bilang ng mga batang 10 hanggang 14 taong gulang na nagiging ina, napapanahong suriin natin nang mabuti kung epektibo nga ba ang polisiya ng ating mga paaralan sa pagpapatupad ng comprehensive sexuality education,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education said.

“Napagkakaitan ng oportunidad na makapag-aral at magkaroon ng magandang kinabukasan ang mga batang nagiging ina,” he added.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, POPCOM director Lisa Grace Bersales said there were 2,113 births recorded from the 10 to 14 age group in 2020.

Data from the Field Health Service Information System of the Department of Health revealed that 2,354 girls in the age group gave birth in 2020, while 2,299 gave birth in 2021.

Gatchalian earlier filed Proposed Senate Resolution 13 seeking an inquiry on the number of adolescent pregnancies and the rise of Human Immunodeficiency Virus infections among the youth.

The inquiry will review the CSE policy to assess the comprehensiveness of its scope and the effectiveness of its implementation.

The implementation of CSE is guided by DepEd Order No. 31 s. 2018, which was issued in compliance with the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.

The law provides that age and development-appropriate reproductive health education shall be taught in basic education institutions. It also directs the DepEd to formulate a curriculum for the use of public schools.

The United Nations and Population Fund said there had been a long delay in the integration and implementation of the CSE in the K to 12 curriculum.

A March 2021 state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies said the lack of sufficient materials and facilities, inadequate training on sexuality curriculum integration were among the challenges hounding the implementation of the CSE.