CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Population and Development in Central Visayas (POPCOM-7) is anticipating a “baby boom” or an increase of newborn babies starting January next year.
Lawyer Bruce Ragas, regional director of Popcom-7, told CDN Digital that these were products of quarantine or lockdown measures that were implemented in the country in the early part of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Actually, ang Commission on Population and Development Central Office has officially declared ang iyang anticipation nga starting mga January next year, we would have this so called baby boom. Mo-start na ang mga nangatawo nga mga bata who had been products of quarantine nato nga taas kaayo,” Ragas said.
(Actually, the Commission on Population and Development Central Office has officially declared the anticipation that starting next year, we would have this so-called ‘baby boom.’ It is the time that the babies, who had been products of our very long quarantine, will start to be born.)
The increase of pregnancies of women is also attributed by Ragas to the decline of access of couples to family planning products during the pandemic.
“And then at the same time naa ra sila sa balay. Dili lang kaayo nato ipalayo ang atong imagination kung unsay himoon sa managtiayon kung naa ra sa balay, so we are anticipating that starting January next year, magsugod na unya ug pangatawo. So naa gyuy increase sa population during that time,” he added.
(And then at the same time, they are inside the house. We will just not let our imagination run wild but what will couples do inside the house. So we are anticipating that starting January next year, they (babies) will start to be born. We can experience an increase in population at that time.)
Read: Metro Manila, 6 other areas to retain quarantine status until Nov. 30
Ragas, however, cannot tell yet the exact figure of how many percent will the increase be, but he said that they would be expecting a dramatic number of births that would be occurring early next year.
Due to this, Ragas said that the agency would be intensifying its family planning programs next year, especially in controlling the fertility of couples to avoid the incidence of unwanted pregnancies.
The agency is also urging the public to stop the misconceptions about the use of family planning contraceptives.
“That has been the constant advocacy of the Commission on Population and Development to distill these myths and wrong perceptions. Kay mao ni ang rason kanunay ngano nga molikay ang mga babaye ug managtiayon sa paggamit sa methods (Because that is the common reason that the woman or couples would use these methods),” he said.
He said that as of the moment, the contraceptive prevalence rate is still at 40 percent to 45 percent here in Central Visayas, wherein the agency is targeting up to 65 percent contraceptive prevalence rate./dbs