Benedict Maravilla

Amid a rising number of teenage pregnancies, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) will intensify its “I Choose” campaign to help curb the cases and promote safe reproductive choices among youth.


In a television interview on July 9, CPD Knowledge Management and Communications Division Chief Mylin Mirasol Quiray said that the site will provide safe spaces where young people can ask questions about sexuality and reproductive health.

“We want our young people to know their rights and exercise their reproductive agency. They deserve to make choices about their bodies and future without fear,” Quiray said.

The Malaya Akong Maging Facebook page and malayaako.ph website run the “I Choose” campaign of the CPD.

Quiray added that young people should choose the right path where they can enjoy their adolescence by being free to dream of a ‘bright’ future.

“Sa ngayon ang nais talaga natin, adolescent health and development. Dapat yung mga young people natin, they choose the right path, malaya akong maging. The core message is I choose, choose the right path, dream dreams,” she said.

The official also expressed regret for the youngest person to give birth in the Philippines at the age of nine.

“So ibig sabihin, that's a live birth. So eight years old siya na-pregnant. So nakakalungkot,” she said.

Quiray stressed that the country should focus on improving the development of the population as it brings out not only the quality of life, but of the whole nation as well.

“Iyong population and development dapat nasa heart yan ng isang bansa kasi ang quality ng tao ay magiging quality ng bansa. From employment to protection lahat yan may kinalaman ang tao so ang tao ang puso ng pag-unlad talaga, so lahat ng polisiya dapat ay population ang nasa gitna,” Quiray said.

According to the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, 2023 data showed that at most 4,000 births have been recorded from the ages of 10 to 14.