Angel* had it all planned out. She was set to finish senior high school, march on a stage with a black toga, go on dates, live out the rest of her girlhood with her friends, and study to become a flight attendant.
Angel wanted to travel the world. But when she had her baby at 19, everything else suddenly came second.
Now 21, Pasig resident Angel is a full-time mom to a baby almost two years old. Her partner Benjamin*, four years older than her, is a housekeeping worker who earns minimum wage.
Angel and Benjamin are in a stable relationship, and are happy with their son. But they only wish they had more time with just each other, to keep being kids before starting to have their own.
On Wednesday, February 5, various advocacy groups took to the streets in a last-ditch effort to convince the Philippine government to pass the anti-adolescent pregnancies bill ahead of Congress’ last adjournment before the May elections.
The House had already unanimously passed the bill in September 2023, but it was pulled into instability at the Senate after an initiative of a religious coalition, Project Dalisay, sounded the alarm against comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). They interpreted CSE as teaching young children about sex at a young age.
Project Dalisay’s social media campaign quickly gained traction, and within two weeks, derailed advocates’ progress for the bill that aims to protect young people like Angel and Benjamin from starting a family before they intended it.
The 19th Congress went on recess on Saturday, February 8, and will resume session on June 2.
Not informed, not ready
When Angel dates, she dates seriously — having her first relationship at 14 with a boy her age. Though they were together for over a year, Angel was never keen on doing anything more than kissing.
“Mama told me before that even if someone merely touched your private parts, you could get pregnant. That’s why I never let anyone touch me before. I was afraid of men, and most of my friends were girls,” she said.
When they broke up, Angel thought that her assertion of boundaries led to the relationship’s downfall. “I felt then that maybe my first boyfriend left me because I didn’t give him what he wanted. Perhaps I should give it up for my next boyfriend,” she said.
At 18, Angel met Benjamin, who did not initially catch her eye, at a friend’s party. But he pursued her persistently enough to convince her parents that his intentions were genuine. It took a few months before they became intimate, with Angel saying she was only okay with it when she felt that she was safe with him.
Angel learned about condoms for the first time in Grade 7, when “guests” came to school to teach the class about the risks and problems that arise from teenage pregnancies. She and Benjamin were prepared with a condom the first time they decided to have sex. But even after the deed, Angel’s fears were still there. Maybe now that they experienced this, he would leave her now, Angel told him.
“No, we both wanted this. I love you, and you love me,” Angel recalled Benjamin as saying.
Angel was under the impression that condoms and withdrawal were the only contraceptives to exist. This is why the young couple stopped using condoms after their first time, feeling safe with withdrawal. Eventually, Angel stopped getting her period, which she did not worry too much about, since her period was irregular anyway.
It was her mother who started noticing that Angel was gaining weight, and her breasts had become fuller. Upon getting a check up at their barangay health center, Angel learned she was five months pregnant.
She was totally blindsided, having no other common signs of pregnancy, such as a larger tummy or morning sickness.
“When it was confirmed, I stared into space. Everything changes now. My whole world is different now. I have to take care of someone now. I have to feed someone now. Can I do this?” she asked herself.
Benjamin was shocked at the news as well. They cried together as they absorbed that they would be parents at 19 and 23, just as they were discovering themselves, and just old enough to start taking care of their parents and siblings.
“I told him, ‘I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want this yet. You know how much I want to finish my education. I also need to help Mama. We have so many problems at home. Sometimes my younger brothers can’t go to school because we can’t give them an allowance. Papa sometimes has work, and sometimes he doesn’t,’” said Angel.
Where the trend is down
Countering Project Dalisay’s main argument that CSE corrupts children, advocates have repeatedly noted in their campaigns that CSE is age-appropriate, context-appropriate, and culturally relevant. This is also outlined in the United Nations International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education — the same document the coalition claims to require inappropriate topics in school.
Locally, CSE finds its basis in Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 31, series of 2018. This is where the Philippines makes its context known: “The current situation of increasing early pregnancies, violence, and increasing incidents of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) among young Filipinos has brought more attention to the need to equip them with the correct information and appropriate life skills that would enable them to make responsible decision-making and respectful behavior that will protect their health, well-being, and dignity.”
In a Senate committee hearing on January 28, where the education and youth panels investigated the rising cases of adolescent pregnancies and HIV cases, Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, principal author of the contested bill, brought up how Puerto Princesa was the only city in the Mimaropa region that bucked the trend of rising adolescent pregnancies.
Health Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said in the hearing that if Puerto Princesa was implementing CSE, then “it is reasonable to argue now it is compliant with the [reproductive health] law and they were able to lower childhood pregnancies.”
Roots of Health (ROH), a nongovernment organization based in Palawan, is a partner of the local government in teaching CSE to the communities and augmenting the government’s family planning supplies. It has been doing reproductive health work in the province for over 15 years.
“This is what we really wanted to focus on: Empowering women and children to make informed decisions, especially when it comes to childbearing,” said Jan Servando, ROH’s education program director.
ROH’s CSE focuses its “teaching sessions” with older children from Grades 7 to 12. Copies of modules ROH supplied to Rappler show how lessons start with puberty and sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE) in Grades 7 and 8, then onto sex and consent, sexually-transmitted infections, contraceptives, and pregnancy in Grades 9 to 10, and HIV in Grades 11 and 12.
Project Dalisay claims that CSE hypersexualizes children. But a look at a slideshow ROH uses in discussing contraceptives shows the very first way to prevent a pregnancy is abstinence. Only after then are natural and modern contraceptives discussed, as well as myths about preventing conception, such as jumping up and down after intercourse.
ROH acknowledges that it might not be solely its work, nor just CSE, that brought the trend down — but governments and local partners that have the same vision for bringing down adolescent pregnancies.
“It takes a village to raise a child. So in our case, I think it’s because of the partners we have from the local government, and other government agencies which have interventions and programs related to CSE. We all helped each other,” said Servando.
Turn back time
Many girls who get pregnant tend to drop out of school without interventions that encourage them to keep studying. Angel’s school was considerate of her situation when she was pregnant, sending modules to her house when she couldn’t go to school. While she completed senior high school, she was never able to march in a graduation ceremony, nor was she able to continue her plans to go to college.
Some girls are able to come back after stopping school. One is Jenny, a 21-year-old Palawan resident who asked her last name to be withheld. She got pregnant at 15, similar to Angel and Benjamin in being unaware about contraceptives. There was a lesson or two about how babies were made, but regular conversations about sex occurred among classmates without their teacher.
Jenny and her friends, some of whom also got pregnant early, didn’t get to experience teenhood as she imagined it. A specific image in her head about how she wanted to bond with her friends is through jamming sessions, without a care in the world.
Jenny has begun senior high school after at least two years of stopping, with her parents looking after her five-year-old. She is still on track to becoming the nurse she wants to be, but not without the years lost to becoming a parent too early.
“If we could only turn back time knowing about contraceptives, we could have used them,” she said.
Angel, meanwhile, only learned about birth control pills from a young woman she once worked with in a government employment program.
“I really regret learning about pills too late. If I had only known that I had that option, maybe I would not have gotten pregnant early,” said Angel.
Though neither wanted to become mothers as young as they did, Angel and Jenny still had the agency to engage in sex in a non-abusive setting. Many advocates note how thousands of young girls get pregnant by predatory older men who take advantage of them.
Angel still dreams of returning to school. She considered online classes, but knew she wouldn’t be able to focus while taking care of a baby. Benjamin has assured her of his support should she decide to go back to school.
Jenny believes she can stop the cycle.
“I will tell my daughter to always take care of herself. There is no problem in having a boyfriend, as long as you know your limits. I will also tell her about contraceptives when she becomes a teenager,” said Jenny.
“I don’t mind if we never become rich, as long as we are comfortable. I want my daughter to be successful, and finish school.” – Rappler.com
* Names have been changed at Angel’s request for privacy.
Quotes have been translated into English for brevity.