By Analou de Vera The Commission on Population (POPCOM) on Wednesday sounded the alarm on teenage pregnancy as it may cause "intergenerational poverty," wherein families may remain in a poor state for a long period of time because of early pregnancy. (Credits: unfpa.org| Manila Bulletin file photo) POPCOM Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said that teenage parents may experience difficulty in improving their life or to escape poverty. "For minors, who had a family at such a young age, or if you have two or even more children, that is a bigger emergency. And that is most likely going to lead to a situation that we call intergenerational poverty," said Perez during the launch of the "No More Children Having Children" campaign in Quezon City. "For those who belong to the marginalized section, this will severely impact their chances of escaping poverty... It is very difficult to break the cycle of poverty if you have early pregnancy," he added. Perez noted that early pregnancy also has an impact on the income of women who gave birth at such a young age. "Napakababa ng expected income ng mga batang ina kaysa sa kabataan na nakatapos ng pag-aaral ng hindi buntis, hindi nagkapamilya agad," said Perez. "Teen mothers earning around P40 to P50 versus P200 a day for those who completed their education. So nakita yung comparison na yan dating 2012 ," he added. Perez said that early pregnancy also puts an additional financial burden to teens and their parents. "It reduces their savings by one-third... you eat up one-third of your savings every time a new baby comes in and when you talk about adolescents, they have no savings.. so it is the family that ultimately pays the price," said Perez. Perez urged Malacanang to issue an executive order to declare teenage pregnancy as a "national emergency." "We commit to advocate for the president to issue an executive order that acknowledges teen pregnancy as a national emergency," he said. "We raised a red-flag for this because if left unattended, the Philippines might meet an impending population crisis and will not meet our aim for demographic dividend," he said. Perez said that teenage pregnancy has been a "rising phenomenon" since 2010. Perez said that more than 500 adolescents are found to be giving birth every day; while one in every six teenage mothers is "repeat" pregnancies. Adolescent pregnancy has serious consequences for young women, their children, as well as in the community, said Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCP) Executive Director  Rom Dongeto. "Several studies have already proven that too-early childbearing has several negative impacts for young women and their offspring," said Dongeto. "Teenage mothers are most likely to have premature and underweight babies. They are also more likely to experience poverty, lower educational attainment, and a host of other health and development issues," he added. Perez, meanwhile, called on the youth to always "make the right decision." "I call on our youth to make the right decision all the time even if no one is looking, we encourage you to think about our country...," he said.