MANILA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government is targeting to allocate 3 billion Philippine Pesos (63.67 million U.S. dollars) next year for the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 to help address unexpected pregnancies, especially among the teens, government chief economist said Thursday.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia told the foreign press that of about 10 million Filipino girls with ages between 15 to 19, about a million of them became pregnant.
He said the future mostly of those who got pregnant "is shut" because they discontinued schooling.
He said the government has to "speedily and fully implement" the reproductive health law.
The proposed budget for the law in 2017 will be higher from the current budget of about 2 billion pesos, Pernia said.
Part of the plan is to have a massive information campaign about sexuality, especially among the youth, and the distribution of contraceptives, he said.
President Rodrido Duterte announced in his State of the Nation Address last Monday that his administration will fully implement the Reproductive Health Law despite continued opposition from the Catholic Church.
