Presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo emphasized the importance of the national government's partnership with the local communities and the church in addressing teenage pregnancy.
During the CBCP Presidential Forum aired Friday night, March 25, Robredo admitted that the government will have a hard time preventing adolescent pregnancies in the country alone.
"Hindi talaga kaya ng gobyerno na s'ya lang (The government can't do it alone). The partnership with the community is very important, and in this case yung partnership with the church, dahil malaking bagay yung faith sa pagsugpo ng ganitong mga problema (because faith has a big role to suppress these problems)," Robredo said.
Robredo also noted the need to institutionalize programs for teenagers that would broaden their knowledge, as well as provide activities to keep them productive and occupied.
The Vice President likewise added that government programs should be accessible to help pregnant teenagers or adolescent mothers.
"Halimbawa nabuntis na yung bata kailangan alam n'ya na mayroon sa kanyang sasalo dahil kung wala sa kanyang sasalo, baka pumasok yung pagkitil ng buhay at ayaw natin yun (If the teen is already pregnant, she needs to know that she can rely on the government to prevent the thought of taking a life and we don't want that)," she added.
According to Robredo, the Office of the Vice President currently has a program aiming to help address teenage pregnancies in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund.
"Bahagi ito ng program dahil sa awareness na malaking problema na talaga sya na kinakaharap natin bilang isang bansa (This is part of the program because we are aware that this is really a big problem that we are facing as a nation)," she added.