PEPITO, ARJAY F.

REFLECTION PAPER

UNTOLD STORIES OF CHILDHOOD TO PARENTHOOD: THE REALITIES OF TEENAGE

PREGNANCY AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN (VAWC)

In this Webinar I learned about the untold stories of child to parenthood: the realities of teenage
pregnancy and violence against women and children. And also, I learned about different laws that protects
women’s welfare, these include the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act (Republic Act
(RA) 9262), the Anti-Rape Law (RA 8353), the Rape-Victim Assistance and Protection Act (RA 8505),
the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law (RA 7877), the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act 2003 (RA 9208) and
many more.

Specifically, the VAWC act {RA} 9262, the Violence Against Women (VAW) Desk is a barangay-level
facility which serves as a frontline service provider to victim-survivors who experience physical, sexual,
psychological, economic, and other forms of abuse. I used to be ignorant about this fact. Another thing is
that, upon hearing the horror stories from the victims of violence against women and children, it
encourages me to research more. Unfortunately, I was a fool to believe that women nowadays are safe
from danger, but I was proven wrong.

Moreover, The Philippines has recorded a total of 180,916 live births among adolescents aged 10 to 19 in
2019, according to the data from the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System of the Philippine
Statistics Authority. I was not surprise upon hearing the statistic of the realities of teenage pregnancy in
the Philippines. I know for a fact that a lot of adolescents are not well educated due to poverty. Hence,
majority of teenage girls are susceptible to premarital sex because of the lack of education and guidance
from the family itself and the government in general.

Ultimately, it all start from sharing awareness, it might take even a lifetime but with the right help from
the right people and the government, we could ideally eliminate or at least reduce the victims of teenage
pregnancy and violence against women and children.