Julia was only nine when her mother died from hypokalemia, a severe potassium deficiency that left the family devastated. Left in the sole care of her father, she was repeatedly abused inside their home, and by 12, she had become a mother herself after being impregnated by him in an incestuous crime for which he was never jailed at her own request.

Now 14, Julia juggles senior high school while caring for her child, who has special needs — an outcome doctors say can be associated with the heightened risks of incestuous pregnancies.

Her story mirrors a wider crisis: The Commission on Population and Development has sounded the alarm over rising pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14, based on Philippine Statistics Authority (pSA) data, even as Health Secretary Ted Herbosa notes that 51 percent of pregnancies nationwide are unplanned and about 30 percent involve adolescents.

“We have seen that the continuous increase is really in the 10 to 14 age bracket. As of now, we have a total of 138,697 pregnancies of girls aged 10 to 19 according to the PSA’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics office, so we can see the alarming increase in those aged 10 to 14,” said Mylin Mirasol Quiray, chief of the Information, Management and Communications Division of the CPD during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon program on Tuesday.

“So what the DoH is saying is truly alarming for the very young. This is your age, 10 to 14, which is 3,560 cases, up from 3,343 in 2023, according to the PSA,” she added.

She maintained that 10 to 14-year-olds are unfit for pregnancy.

“We are also alarmed because these girls might be victims of abuse, because anecdotal data reveals that the age of sexual consent in our country now is 16. So we can say there are many factors why these youth are suffering from these pregnancies,” she said.

She said the rising number of teenage pregnancies can also be attributed to the use of social media.

On the other hand, Quiray said, the number of 15 to 19-year-olds getting pregnant has plummeted.

“We recognize that teen pregnancies is an urgent national priority so our government issued Executive Order 141 in 2021. There is an inter-agency technical working group on this because we recognize that this is alarming,” she said

The CPD official urged a stronger focus on reproductive health for Filipino youth.

“Services and information against abuse — it is very important that our youth know how to protect themselves, and at the same time, we really need social protection for those who are already pregnant, because that is another thing we are focusing on, the repeat pregnancy. Before the age of 20, there is data from the PSA that there are 17-year-olds who have given birth to five or more children,” she said.

“It is very important to stay away from early sexual engagement and risky sexual behavior that can result in early pregnancy, and also HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections,” she said.