The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) has commended President Duterte for signing into law of a landmark measure that seeks to ban child marriage in the Philippines.

POPCOM, which has long advocated for the strong protection of Filipino children being one of the most vulnerable sectors of our society, called the move a “positive development” for their future and wellbeing.

The Republic Act 11596 or "An Act Prohibiting the Practice of Child Marriage," which was signed by Duterte last Dec. 10, criminalizes the union of an adult with a minor.

“With the enactment of Republic Act 11596, POPCOM is confident our Filipino children are better protected from abuse and exploitation, hence, enabling them to achieve their aspirations and potentials as the future leaders of our nation, and where hopes of our country's brighter tomorrow rests upon,” POPCOM Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said.

In a meeting on the State of the World Population last year, POPCOM said that Filipino girls in particular are currently subjected to another kind of “pandemic,” or the unplanned and unintended pregnancies due to abuse, early marriage and cohabitation of adult males that are now may be deterred by this new law.

In 2019 former Socioeconomic Planning secretary Ernesto Pernia, chair of POPCOM's board of commissioners, declared teenage pregnancy as a "national social emergency," the severity of which has reached the halls of legislators, and up to the executive branch of the government.

“We have likewise noted that marriages and unions involving minor children diminish the bodily autonomy of girls, and are incompatible with basic human rights as enshrined in Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the Philippines signed in 1948,” Perez said.

The POPCOM chief added that marriages involving minors will also expose them to further unintended pregnancies, lead them to produce families and unions that are ill-prepared to face the challenges of rearing children, and lock them into the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty.

According to Perez, the newly-signed law is a strategic policy measure supportive of the Social Protection Program for Adolescent Mothers and their Children (SPPAMC) which POPCOM and the Department of Social Welfare and Development are mandated to develop and implement under the 2021 and 2022 General Appropriations Act.

The SPPAMC is now being implemented on a pilot basis to protect adolescent mothers from the risks and vulnerabilities of early pregnancies.