Around 52.9 percent of married women aged 15-49 in the Caraga Region are currently using modern family planning methods, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) reported.
In a press conference here on Thursday (Aug. 13), CPD-13 Regional Director Alexander Makinano said the percentage is based on 2025 data, which is higher compared with the 47.8 percent recorded in 2022 and the 46.8 percent in 2017.
He also noted that among all women aged 15-49, 39.5 percent are using any family planning method while 32.2 percent are using a modern method.
A total of 15.0 percent of women are using pills as a modern method, 5.0 percent with implants, and 3.6 percent are utilizing female sterilization.
“Family planning is about choice, health, and development,” Makinano said during the press conference held in time with the celebration of the 2026 National Family Planning Month.
He was joined during the press conference by mothers who shared their choices and experiences using modern family planning methods.
Based on the 2024 census, the Caraga Region has a population of 2,865,000, higher compared with the 2.80 million in 2020 and the 2.6 million in 2015.
“Caraga recorded a 0.51 percent annual population growth from 2020 to 2024,” Makinano said, adding that the region also recorded a 2.2 percent fertility rate in 2025, which is lower compared with the 4.9 percent logged in 1993.
He also noted that the fertility rate in the region is also higher compared with the 1.7 percent rate at the national level last year.
The rate of teenage women who had begun childbearing in the region also went down from 8.2 percent in 2017 to 6.9 percent in 2022 and 5.6 percent in 2025.
Roxan Micabalo, 35, a resident of Buenavista, Agusan del Norte, during the same press conference, emphasized the importance of family planning, especially in ensuring a good future for children.
“I was raised in a huge family with 10 children. I experienced a very difficult life given that my father was only a ‘trisikad’ (a bicycle with a sidecar) driver,” Micabalo said.
Of the 10 children, only two managed to complete college studies because the other siblings had to find jobs to survive, he added.
“My husband and I really made sure that we planned our future and decided to use a family planning method. At first, after our first child, I used pills but eventually, we decided that I use an implant. We still have one child but we agree to have another when we are ready,” Micabalo said.
Another mother, Jean Rose Marikit, 24, testified that she had no problem with the implant as a family planning method.
“Until now we have one child. With the difficult situation we are facing, family planning is a must for couples,” Marikit said.
Makinano said their office continues to work with the local government units in the region to provide extensive information drives on family planning. (PNA)
