DSWD seeks Congress’ help to increase P10 million aid for teen moms

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is seeking Congress’ support to augment the P10 million it allocated to assistance for adolescent mothers in its proposed P207-billion budget for 2024.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian called for the support after House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list and House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas of Gabriela party-list said that the amount will not be enough, given that 2,299 girls aged 10 to 14 gave birth in 2021 alone.

“We have P10 million of psychosocial support for adolescent mothers and their families. Maliit po talaga [It really is small], and we seek the help of Congress in augmenting this,” Gatchalian said during the deliberations on DSWD’s proposed P207 billion for 2024.

“This [budget for adolescent mothers] is not a recurring item in our budget, and so we ask the help of Congress because this is really a big problem,” he added.

Gatchalian, however, said that the DSWD does not stand alone in providing interventions to address the problem of increasing numbers of very young mothers.

“Then again, we employ a multi-agency approach to this.  It does not just rest on one department, there is DOH [Department of Health] and other agencies also looking into this. It may sound small, but if you look at it entirely, I would assume there is significant investment made into this,” Gatchalian said.

In response, Castro said, “Rest assured that this representation will support an additional budget for this.” — BM, GMA Integrated News