= ‘Pagkalinga’ for teen moms set in Pangasinan town

YOUTH SUPPORT. The Commission on Population and Development-Ilocos Region launches its Pagkalinga (Pagkalinga sa mga Kabataang Magulang at Kanilang mga Anak) program in Malasiqui, Pangasinan on Friday (Oct. 13, 2023). Mayor Noel Anthony Geslani thanks the agency for choosing their town as the pilot area for the program that aims to support and guide teenage parents. (PNA photo by Hilda Austria)

By Hilda Austria 

MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – Fifty-one teenage parents here have been included in the pilot-testing of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) - Ilocos Region’s Pagkalinga (Pagkalinga sa mga Kabataang Magulang at Kanilang mga Anak) program.
    CPD-Ilocos regional director Erma Yapit, in an interview at the sidelines of the program’s launch at the Association of Barangay Council building in Barangay Poblacion on said the beneficiaries are aged 14 to 19 years old. 
    The program aims to support the young parents not only on navigating their new roles but also on helping them finish school.
    “Ito ay panimulang tulong sa kanila para sa ganun ay hindi masundan muli ang mga naunang anak at magabayan sila para matapos nila ang kanilang pag-aaral at maabot ang kanilang mga pangarap (This is an initial support to them so that they would not bear more children and they will be guided to finish their studies and achieve their goals in life),” she said.
    The three-month program has strategies that focus on social assistance and welfare services, social insurance, labor market interventions, social safety nets and child protection.

It aims to ensure that after graduating from the program, the teen parents have been protected from potential or ongoing gender-based violence, demonstrate effective life skills that can protect the mother from the risk of early motherhood, and achieve most of the young parents’ life plans. 

Yapit said each beneficiary will receive PHP500 per month once they attend the learning sessions on responsible parenthood and family-planning, gender-sensitive discussions, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health, among others.

The beneficiaries will be closely monitored by the local government unit to ensure effectiveness of the program.

Mayor Noel Anthony Geslani thanked the CPD for choosing the town as a pilot area for the program.

“Do not give up on your dreams,” he told the beneficiaries.

Ella Mae, a 17-year-old teenage mom and one of the beneficiaries, said she is excited about the program.

She said it is her first time to attend a seminar that tackles teenage pregnancy and related topics.

“Nagpapasalamat po kasi may ganito na programa at makakatulong sa akin bilang first time na nanay (I am grateful that there is this king of program that would help me as a first-time Mom),” she said.

CPD is conducting the same program in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. (PNA)