Solons push for measures protecting women, girls

As the country marked National Women’s Month yesterday, two lawmakers have pushed for the passage of legislative measures that will further protect the rights of women and girls.

At the House of Representatives, Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera urged her colleagues to hasten the passage of a measure prohibiting child marriage.

“Child, early, and forced marriages pose risks and have serious impacts on the health and development of women and girls. Child marriage is a grave form of violence against women and girls, and we must put an end to this vile practice,” she said.

“Married girls will most likely drop out of school and lose their chance of getting educated, gaining a decent job, and earning for herself and her family. Child brides are also the most common victims of domestic abuse and violence,” she added.

Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund showed that as of 2017, at least 15 percent of Filipino women between 20 to 24 were first married or entered a union before they turned 18 years old.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, many of adolescent brides experienced early and repeated pregnancies and childbirth before they could become physically mature and psychologically ready for responsible motherhood.

The Family Code of the Philippines sets the legal age of marriage at 18 and above, and requires that consent must be freely given by both parties. Muslim minors, however, are an exception.

Presidential Decree No. 1083 or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws sets a lower age for marriage—15 for a male and 12 years for a female, for as long as she has reached puberty.

“Despite international and local legal frameworks, child, early and forced marriages are still a growing trend in the Philippines, especially in indigenous communities. To stop this form of abuse and exploitation, we should strengthen the implementation of the Family Code and repeal contradictory laws,” Herrera said.

At the Upper House, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian underscored the need to curb teenage pregnancy for the country to sustain and accelerate gender equality. 

He cited the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Annual Poverty Indicators Survey for 2017 which showed that “marriage or family matters” were the top reasons why female out-of-school children and youth aged 6 to 24 are not attending school.

While teenage pregnancies among women aged 15 to 19 decreased from 182,906 in 2017 to 181,717 in 2018, the Commission on Population and Development sounded the alarm on the spike of pregnancies in the 10 to 14 age group.

Between 2011 and 2018, live births delivered by girls in this age group increased from 1,381 to 2,250 annually, a spike of 63 percent.

In 2017 alone, the number of pregnancies in the 10 to 14 age group reached 1,985.