Teen centers in Cebu City pushed amid rising teen pregnancy cases

TEENAGE MOTHERS: Twenty babies are born every hour to adolescent Filipino mothers. To deal with the crisis, which fuels intergenerational poverty, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia urges Congress to pass a teenage pregnancy prevention bill. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

CEBU CITY, Philippines — In response to the alarming rise in teenage pregnancy cases across Cebu, a local legislator penned a resolution urging the establishment of local adolescents and teen centers in Cebu.

City Councilor Rey Gealon stipulated in the resolution the importance of providing essential support and education to empower young individuals in making informed decisions about reproductive health.

With teenage pregnancy standing as one of the “most prevailing” issues that society is facing up to this date, an intervention through the establishment of local adolescents and teen centers has been requested by the councilor.

The resolution was passed during the council’s regular session on March 20.

READ: Teenage pregnancy, a case study: ‘At 18, I found out I was pregnant’

Maria Lourdes Garillos, Commission on Population and Development (CPD) program officer, declared that the rising trend in teenage pregnancy emphasized the immediate necessity for proactive measures that should empower and educate adolescents on reproductive health and family planning.

The resolution suggested that recent data showed a concerning rise in the number of teenage pregnancy cases with 11,686 cases in Central Visayas alone in 2022.

This marked a 7.4 percent rise from the previous year’s recorded cases, hence, intervention would be viewed as necessary.

As stipulated in the resolution, the proposed establishment of local adolescent and teen centers aims to address these gaps by providing awareness regarding human sexuality as a significant contributing factor to the issue.

These centers would serve as hubs for “comprehensive sexuality education, counseling services, and reproductive health information spaces.”

READ: Help desk for teenage mothers in Cebu City eyed

Gealon sees the establishment of local adolescents and teen centers as an essential step in addressing the rise in teenage pregnancy by providing young people with the knowledge and resources they need to make informed decisions.

Meanwhile, data released by the CPD in 2022 shows that Central Visayas was the “fourth-ranking” region in the Philippines in terms of teenage pregnancy cases among individuals under 19 years of age.

Garillos told CDN Digital last February 13, 2024 that one significant contributor to teenage pregnancy was “the lack of awareness” among young adolescents regarding human sexuality.

As of 2022, the reported cases in the region are as follows: Cebu with 5,016 cases, Cebu City with 1,504 cases, Mandaue City with 475 cases, Lapu-Lapu City with 586 cases, Negros Oriental with 2,364 cases, Bohol with 1,625 cases, and Siquijor with 116 cases. /with reports from Pia Piquero