TEEN pregnancies almost doubled in Benguet province in 2017 and most of the cases were traced to boarding houses.
Board Member Jim Botiwey, chair of the committee on health and social services, said there were 949 deliveries in 2017 attributed to teenage mothers.
The figure is almost double the 499 deliveries in 2016.
Botiwey said the Cordillera region recorded a teenage fertility rate of 18.4 percent, higher than the national average of 13.6 percent.
"According to data, the teenage (pregnancy) cases in the province of Benguet, karamihan nangyayari talaga diyan sa schools pero sa boarding houses (most happened in boarding houses). Unfortunately, Benguet is now an educational center not only in the province but even other provinces they go to Benguet to get their education.”
Provincial Social Welfare Development Officer Juana Banawe said teenage pregnancy cases occur among misguided children and may be blamed on peer pressure and the parents' lack of time for their kids.
To counter the rise of teenage pregnancy, the board member said one municipality is attempting to enact an ordinance that seeks to regulate boarding houses.
The Philippine Statistics Authority-Cordillera’s latest report of the type of Institutional Living Quarters [ILQ] here, dormitories comprised the largest for the region in 2000, 2010, and 2015.
The type of ILQ accounted for 41.1 percent of the total number of ILQ's in the region which also had the largest number of residents.
Staff member, employee, lodgers/boarders in hotel, lodging houses and dormitories comprised 40 percent of the total population in 2015.
For every three persons living in ILQs, two were lodgers or boarders. The lodger or boarder comprised 38.5 percent of the total institutional population.