Investing in girls

The Philippines’ large population of young persons holds the key to accelerating the country’s economic growth, but the government and private sectors need to equip them with quality education, skills and health services as they enter the labor market – and realize what is called the “demographic dividend.”

The role of adolescent girls (10-19 years old) who make up 10 percent of the Philippines’ 100 million population in transforming the future of the Philippines was emphasized by Klaus Beck, country representative of  UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) before the media last week.

The presscon was held four days before World Population Day (July 11) whose theme this year, “Investing in Teenage Girls,” underscores the importance of young girls’ rights to quality education, youth-friendly health care, and decent employment.

Beck warned that based on a study spearheaded by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), inaction on the well-being and empowerment of girls would mean the high probability of the country’s missing out on the realization of the “Demographic Sweet Spot and Dividend in the Philippines: The Window of Opportunity.”

“Demographic dividend, ” according to Dr. Dennis Mapa, dean and professor at the UP School of Statistics whose study was cited by Beck, occurs “when a country’s working age population is larger than the population that is dependent and younger.” To maximize the dividend, Mapa noted, countries “must ensure their young working-age populations are equipped to seize opportunities for jobs and other income-earning possibilities.”

As it is, the Philippines has a greater number of young dependents over the working population. It has a high fertility rate, or the average number of children by women, especially the poorest, and high unemployment rate among the young population, Beck said.

Added to this is the high rate of teen pregnancies. Among 15- to 19-year old Filipino girls, about one in 10 teenagers has already given birth. A new study by UNFPA also shows that in the Asia-Pacific region adolescent fertility rates have gone down in all countries except in the Philippines. Other data reveals that one of three Filipino youth has engaged in early sex and 78 percent of first sexual engagement was unprotected against the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

“The Philippines is the only country in the Asia Pacific Region where teenage pregnancy has been on the rise for the last two decades,” according to Beck.

Like its East Asia neighbors, mortality rates broadly declined in the Philippines. However, the fertility rates dropped slowly in the Philippines, resulting in relatively high population growth rate for the country, compared to its neighbors in Asia. Thus the “demographic window of opportunity is closing fast for the country,” wrote Mapa.

Dr. Ernie Pernia, the second presscon speaker,  said we must dispel the projection of some businessmen that we have reached the demographic sweet spot by 2020. It is to his and peers’ credit that President Rodrigo Duterte has added three items in his administration’s eight-point agenda – Responsible Parenthood and  Reproductive Health, technical and creative arts in school curricula, and ensuring quality education and health care for the youth.

The new NEDA director general touched on the necessity for the implementation of the RH law, reduction of teenage pregnancies, providing sexuality education to the youth, and the impact of low fertility on poverty reduction.

Pernia said the past administration has focused on jobs, not particularly on the benefits of women having fewer children.

As to why investments should be made on teenage girls, Beck and Pernia said that girls who are given quality education, health care and the ability to decide their family size and spacing and participate actively in economic activities, the fertility rates would drop, enabling the Philippines to reach the demographic dividend.

He talked of the time having come when no one can be afraid of church interventions in the implementation of the reproductive health law. “Majority in the Catholic church hierarchy are level-headed. They will not allow any impediment (to the law’s implementation).”

One hurdle that still remains is the  Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order that disallows the distribution of implants as a contraceptive device. He could not understand why “the judiciary is taking its sweet time to lift TROs like this, they know that so many women die of pregnancy-related (conditions for lack of access to information and non-availability of family planning devices).”

Pernia, like all the new Cabinet members, carries the nation’s hope of changes taking place in this country. He may be right in his suggesting that the new president can exert “moral suasion” on the judiciary to remove such impediments as the TRO. He suggested that the judiciary could sit down “in friendly conversation” with the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), the consultative and advisory body to the President, on programs and policies essential to the realization of the goals of the national economy.

Pernia said he will ask President Duterte to issue an executive order to local governments to implement nationwide the reproductive health law in full, “not in bits and pieces.”

Beck said, “With the right policies and investments in human capital, countries can empower young people to drive economic and social development and boost per-capita incomes.

“Critical youth investments needed to reap a demographic dividend are those that protect rights, including reproductive rights, improve health, including  sexual and reproductive health, and provide skills and knowledge to build young people’s capabilities. These investments can also accelerate fertility declines, which can in turn accelerate the demographic transition.”

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On another front, Jun Alejar wrote:

“I read your article about some of the University of the Philippines’ most outstanding alumni.

“One of the awardees you did not mention was Col. Thomas Sedano. His award was for poverty alleviation and human development when he was a battalion commander of a tank unit in Quezon province. He advocated helping poor school children by launching ‘Project Shoe box’. Essentially he encouraged people to donate school supplies and placing them in old shoe boxes. The process was meant to instill in the minds of more fortunate people to give what they don’t need or have in excess like shoe boxes, and placing in them pencils, erasers, paper, etc.

“Colonel Sedano is the son of an army sergeant; he went to UP Rural High School and the University of the Philippines-Los Banos where he finished forest products engineering. He joined the Philippine Army in 1989 finishing first in his Officer Candidate School class. He lives a modest life with his wife and only daughter.

“Sadly the Philippine Army has never recognized his effort. It has brought esteem and pride to the Army and AFP and yet gone unnoticed! Don’t they see that this award represents a very distinct re-connection of a university which has always been adverse against the military? What Colonel Sedano did presents of picture of Army leaders who care for our nation’s poor, and are not just a bunch of warmongers perceived by some as a tool to oppress people.”

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