We use cookies to ensure you get the best browsing experience. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. For further information, click FIND OUT MORE.
Andrea (not her real name) totally missed out on her teenage years. At a time in one’s life when many girls would swoon over classroom crushes, the boys next door, or K-pop stars, she was only 12 when she was told to quit school. Instead, she was told to marry a 14-year-old boy from their hometown in Maguindanao.
Her parents were poor and they thought the teenage groom would do better in taking care of her.
“My parents thought that he was nice and hard-working. So they got us married. My parents thought that he could provide for me but he couldn’t,” Andrea said.
She was only 14 when she had her first child; 17 when she had her second. Now 20 years old, Andrea has experienced hardships that women in their 30s have not even experienced.
Her husband beat her up and cheated on her. Because he was not able to provide enough, there’d also be days when Andrea and her children would have nothing to eat.
To support the family, she worked as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, where she earned 1,200 Saudi riyals a month. She had two employers, who both paid her poorly for heavy tasks like cleaning a huge house all by herself. All these, on top of looking after children who were not her own.
When she came home, Andrea found that she had been toiling for nothing.
“He wasted all my money that I have been sending them. I also bought cows, carabaos for our farm. I also bought a motorcycle but he sold all of these things. So when I got home, all my work was wasted,” Andrea said.
She decided to break up with her husband in 2019 after arriving back at their province. He left her with their two children and went off to marry another woman.
Andrea now does laundry for money. She could not work abroad because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.
Her parents, who had asked her to quit school and marry, now help her and her children with their own meager means. Andrea’s father is a farmer while her mother is an online seller.
What they earn together is barely enough to tide over Andrea’s young family.
Data: Girls Not Brides
Democratic Republic of Congo
Andrea is one of 808,000 women aged 20 to 24 years old in the Philippines who said they got married or were in a domestic union before they turned 18.
This is according to Girls Not Brides, a global partnership of more than 1500 civil society organizations from over 100 countries committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential.
Andrea’s case of being married due to poverty is common to most child marriages in the Philippines.
Data from Girls Not Brides showed that the Philippines ranked 10th among countries with the highest number of cases of children in early and forced marriages globally
The data also showed that 15% Filipino women are married before they reach legal age and 2% are married before 15. It also indicated that 3% of boys in the nation are getting married before 18 years old.
Women in SOCCSKSARGEN, Eastern Visayas, Mimaropa also marry earlier than those in other regions, the data showed.
Early and forced marriages happen because children and their families want to escape poverty, said Romeo Dongeto, convenor of Child Rights Network (CRN).
Andrea lives and got married in Maguindanao, which had a poverty incidence of 55.1% in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. In the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), of which Maguindanao is part, about 68.2 percent of the children or individuals below 18 years old in belong to poor families, according to 2018 data by the PSA.
“Boys and girls are at risk in marriage because they don’t want to stay in poverty. But there are many studies already showing that if they do not finish school, they will only have limited opportunities for work,” Dongeto said in Filipino.
Most child brides usually get married to older men, who are expected to give them financial security.
Government data indicated that marriage was one of the common reasons for out-of-school youth, which refers to those who are not attending formal school, unemployed and have yet to finish college or post-secondary courses.
In 2017 figures from Philippine Statistics Authority, 9% or 3.6 million of over 39.2 million Filipino in the age group of six to 24 were out-of-school children and youth.
Of the 3.6 million children who stopped school, 83.1% were aged 16 to 24 years old, 11.2% were 12 to 15 years old and 5.7% were 6 to 11 years old.
The number of out of school children was also higher among females with 63.3%, compared to males with 36.7%.
Among the common reasons for children not attending school were marriage or family matters (37%), lack of personal interest (24.7%) and high cost of education or financial concern (17.9%).
Rumors of a relationship with a 32-year-old forced Maryam (not her real name), 15, to tie the knot with the man more than twice her age.
Maryam’s mother Zalika said premarital sex was taboo in their community in Maguindanao.
When village leaders learned of the allegations against Maryam, they ordered Zalika and her daughter to pay a fine of P60,000 unless the teenager married the man.
Maryam’s father, the family’s breadwinner, died of tuberculosis when she was only seven. Zalika didn’t earn much as a storekeeper and had no money to pay the penalty.
“Those were just stories. For me, if that is what they want, then I decided to have them get married instead. I thought the man was kind,” Zalika said in Maguindanaon.
At a young age, Maryam took the responsibility of being a housewife. She also got pregnant but had a miscarriage on the third month.
Maryam, now 17 years old, is looking to divorce her husband. Her mother, however, refused to disclose information about the process.
Zalika still stays with her daughter Maryam, trying to generate income by cooking local food and selling fish balls.
“I would cook pastil (a local delicacy) and wake up as early as 3 a.m. This serves as our breakfast and what we sell in our store so it’s very difficult,” 55-year-old Zalikasaid.
Full of regrets, Zalika hoped she could help continue to fund Maryam’s education and give her a better life.
“I would like for her to study and for us to find a job and work together,” the mother said in Maguindanaon.
Maryam’s case indicated that laws and culture in their community approved of early marriage.
One of the laws allowing early marriage is Presidential Decree No. 1083 or the Code of Personal Muslim Laws, signed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1977.
Article 16 of the law provides that any Muslim male aged 15 and any Muslim female at the onset of puberty may contract marriage. This means a girl who started to get her period is already allowed to marry.
Girls Not Brides noted that some girls start to menstruate as early as 10 or 11 years old.
The Family Code of the Philippines set the eligible age for marriage at 18, and tags it as valid if marriage is consensual.
The Code of Personal Muslim Laws was also based on Shariah or “Islamic way” that states a female who reached puberty is already a woman, which means they are eligible for marriage.
“She is not a child anymore in the point of view of Islamic law,” Dr. June Alonto Datu-Ramos, director of the Bureau of External Relations of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), explained in Filipino.
He also claimed that not all women are being “forced or coerced” into marriage.
“Nobody is being forced or coerced into marriage because consent of the bride and the groom is an important requirement checked by the solemnizing officer. If parties are not allowed to get married, the parents cannot force their children to get married,” Datu-Ramos said.
Article 15 of the Code of Personal Muslim Laws also provides that a marriage can be perfected as long as mutual consent of the parties are “freely given.”
Datu-Ramos said this does not happen only among Muslims. “The practice of early marriage is associated, not exclusively in the Muslim Filipino community. There are some indigenous people who also practice early marriage as part of their tribal culture,” Datu-Ramos said.
Jeanette Dulawan, gender justice program manager of Oxfam Pilipinas, said that the culture among such communities, specifically in the BARMM, affirmed that children get married early.
Dulawan cited a 2020 Oxfam Pilipinas study wherein their respondents in BARMM were forced to get married early because they were caught engaging in premarital sex before marriage, which is considered immoral in their families and communities.
The study said 253 of 1,058 respondents from Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi were married under the age of 18. Of the 253, 245 are females and eight are males.
Of the 245 child brides, 60% were married at 16 to 17 years, and 6% were married at 13 years.
“They believed that they shouldn’t engage in sexual activities during marriage. Those who do are seen as dishonoring their families and deemed immoral… To solve this, girls are forced to get married,” Dulawan said.
These are “harmful gender norms,” according to Dulawan, especially for women. “In some areas, some are forced to get married as soon as parents discover that they are in a relationship,” she said.
Child marriage should not be accepted just because it has been part of the community’s culture, Dongeto said.
“Accepting this in your culture is like accepting that a child can be allowed to be sold, that a child is like a toy that you can just sacrifice because you think it would be for their own good,” he said.
Child rights organizations believed that early and forced marriage must be stopped because of the “lifelong” effects on human rights and welfare of the minors.
Girls are immediately affected in child marriage because it increases early unplanned pregnancy. Children may also be at risk of maternal deaths.
Aside from this, young brides suffer from risks of stunting and being underweight after pregnancy because as children, they are not physically and psychologically ready for responsible motherhood and childbirth.
In its August 2020 mid-year report, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said maternal deaths in the country soared by 22% from 2,600 in 2019 to 3,170 in 2020.
Child marriage also decreases children’s chance to continue education, which is essential for their financial security and employment, Dulawan said.
“Girls who experience child or early marriage are vulnerable to violence as they have limited knowledge of their sexual reproductive health and rights and less power and control than their husbands.”
—
Jeanette Dulawan, gender justice program manager of Oxfam Pilipinas
Aside from this, Dulawan said girls who get married early are in even more danger in the domestic setting.
“Girls who experience child or early marriage are vulnerable to violence as they have limited knowledge of their sexual reproductive health and rights and less power and control than their husbands,” said Dulawan. Some child brides are even forced to sleep with their husbands immediately after the wedding, without knowing each other’s names.
While there are fewer young men getting into forced and early marriage, Dongeto pointed out that child grooms are also victims because they are unprepared in becoming a father and a husband.
Likewise, boys getting married early takes away their chance to finish school and look for better opportunities. “He is still a teenager. In fact, it is his right to hang around with friends, talk to them because they are still teenagers. So you stole that from the child’s life… You also took away his right to graduate,” Dongeto said.
Boys getting married at a young age are also forced to face gender expectations and stereotypes, since men are expected to become providers. “It is not expected that they will continue with their studies, it is expected for them to work and stop schooling, pressured by becoming an income earner of the family,” Dulawan said.
Regardless of gender, Dongeto stressed that child marriage is a violation of human rights.
“They should have the right to choose who and when they will get married. That is a basic human right. It is very basic but it spells a difference on what a child will become,” he said.
Child marriage, however, is not the only problem. Dongeto said minors in other communities areas are forced to engage in cohabitation.
“Even outside of Muslim communities, some are being forced to get married. But they are very strict about this. Since it is illegal to get married at 17 or 16, some parents would force children to be in union because the teenage girl may have gotten pregnant,” Dongeto said.
Human rights violations in child marriages are also evident in “cohabitation,” UNICEF said.
“When a couple cohabitates, the assumption is often that they are adults, even if one or both has not yet reached the age of 18,” read UNICEF’s April 2020 statement.
“Additional concerns due to the informality of the relationship – in terms of inheritance, citizenship and social recognition, for example – may make children in informal unions vulnerable in different ways than those who are formally married,” it added.
Human rights of children in cohabitation would also be violated as they are forced to follow parents’ decisions even if it is difficult for them, Dongeto said.
“It is the same [as child marriage], parents are the ones deciding for their kids,” he said.
Risks to mental health are also among lifetime consequences for children forced into marriage.
Psychiatrist Dr. Constantine Yu Chua explained that teenage girls giving up their dreams during marriage could lead to loss of identity. “There is a chance that they could live with regrets,” she said in Filipino.
Children forced into being wives or husbands also tend to be isolated or ashamed of themselves. This could also lead to depression or anxiety disorders “because of the extreme stress, sadness, of how their lives are turning out, being overwhelmed with responsibilities,” Chua said.
Self-blaming may also be prominent among children getting into early and forced marriage. They might also receive judgment from people who could not understand their culture or religion.
“They are made to believe that this is their own decision, that they must continue it because they are ashamed. Of course, people outside their culture may also judge them for getting married early,” Chua said.
To help these children heal from mental health concerns, Chua suggested child brides and grooms spend time with other people their age.
For Andrea, who married at 12, this has been helpful. She has opened up her experience of early marriage to other child brides in their area. “We talk about and we suddenly cry when we think about our sufferings,” she said.
In November 2020, Senate Bill No. 1373 or Girls Not Brides Act which criminalizes child marriage was passed into third and final reading.
Under the measure, it specifically defines child marriage as any marriage entered into — whether solemnized in civil or church proceedings, or any in recognized tradition, cultural or customary manner — by one or two parties who are below the age of 18.
The proposed law also imposed prision mayor in its maximum period or 10 to 12 years and a fine of at least P50,000 if the perpetrator of child marriage is an ascendant, stepparent or guardian of the child.
Officiators of child marriage will face a fine of not less than P40,000 and a medium period of prision mayor or eight to 10 years detention.
Meanwhile, the House substitute bill on penalizing child marriage has already been approved by the House panel on women and gender equality.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, one of the authors in the Senate, said if their House counterpart bill is passed on third and final reading, they will reconcile the versions in the bicameral conference committee. After this, the measure will be sent for the President’s signature.
If the bill is signed into law, the Girls Not Brides Act will amend the provisions under the Muslim Code of Personal Law that allows child marriage.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are provisions in Shariah that are far more progressive such as allowing dissolution of marriage or divorce. But in the talks about child marriage, we appreciate that during our Senate hearings and plenary sessions there is active participation of Philippine Commission on Muslim Filipinos,” said Hontiveros.
“They put on record their concern that because of their communities, there are traditions on child marriage practice here in our country. But I appreciate how they said they will try to meet the other stakeholders halfway. And they will actively participate in this process,” she added.
Further, Hontiveros said the bill aims to amplify the provisions of Family Code of the Philippines which sets eligible marriage at 18 years of age.
“The Family Code of the Philippines did not mention the possibility of consensual child marriage and the protection for children who will be forced to enter child marriage so in that sense, this Girls Not Brides Bill will detail and uphold provisions of the Family Code,” the senator said.
Likewise, child rights experts welcomed the passage of a bill that would not only ban child marriage, but will also use the power and resources of the state to bring policy change and financial support for programs that will halt the practice.
“If the state will not intervene and make this illegal, this practice will continue. We are now ranked 10th in the world in terms of absolute number of child marriage. Soon, we might be on top of that list,” Dongeto said.
Dongeto’s organization, CRN, is among the child rights groups that created an online petition this year to advocate for the end of child marriage. Aside from CRN, PLCPD, Plan International Philippines, and nationwide multi-sectoral coalition #GirlDefenders Alliance also joined in the call to stop child marriage. The petition, which gained more than 3,000 signatures, aimed at inviting the public to engage in their call to stop early and forced marriage among minors.
UNICEF warned that 10 million more children may get married globally before the end of the decade amid the threat of the coronavirus disease.
Even before the pandemic, 100 million girls were already at risk of child marriage in the next decade, the global child rights group said.
Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, amended its marriage law to raise the marrying age from 16 to 19 years old in 2019, according to a Reuters report. It ranked 7th globally, with 1,781,000 women saying they got married under the age of 18, according to the Girls Not Brides data.
For her part, Andrea is in favor of the passage of the bill into law: “I think we need that law to avoid marriages among children so that they would not experience these hardships.”
“If the state will not intervene and make this illegal, this practice will continue. We are now ranked 10th in the world in terms of absolute number of child marriage. Soon, we might be on top of that list.”
—
Romeo Dongeto, convenor of Child Rights Network
Amid the push to criminalize and prevent child marriage, some parties have reservations.
Instead of criminalizing the practice, Dr. June Alonto Datu-Ramos, director of NCMF’ Bureau of External Relations, said child marriage should just be monitored to make sure that it is consensual.
Early marriage, which is already part of Islamic culture, cannot be stopped, the NCMF spokesperson said. “Most of Muslim women are not outspoken or could not speak up to their families, especially if they don’t want to get married. So Senator Hontiveros may want to take that into consideration. No woman shall be forced into marriage regardless of her age,” Datu-Ramos said in Filipino.
Datu-Ramos also appealed to lawmakers that the measure should not be used to single out Muslim communities on early marriage, which is part of Muslim culture. “For us in NCMF, we need to make sure that this law will not be used for discrimination in our communities,” he said.
For his part, Abuhuraira Udasan, the Mufti of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said they are not against the bill declaring child marriage as illegal. But he pointed out that the BARMM still has to comply with the Islamic way.
“We are not encouraging young people to get married unless they have sound intelligence, sound judgment to build a happy family. However, we could not say it is illegal which has not been determined by Islamic Shariah as illegal. If the Islamic shariah says that it is not illegal, we cannot say that it is illegal,” he said.
Udasan is the leader of the Bangsamoro Darul Ifta, the office that leads moral governance consistent with divine grace and prophetic teachings for the residents of the BARMM. As the Mufti, Udasan is responsible for advising chief ministers in the region about religious practices.
With this, Bangsamoro Darul Ifta is proposing a premarital counseling office be established which will ensure that child brides and grooms are well-educated in building a family before solemnizing marriage.
“Our proposal here at the BARMM government is to establish a premarital office by which these young marriages will not be concluded unless they have graduated or finished the requirements of this counseling office. They have been issued with certificates that they are already aware and well-educated of the establishment of family,” Udasan said.
This proposal of the Bangsamoro Darul Ifta is still pending for approval from the Bangsamoro parliament, said Udasan.
“I think we need that law to avoid marriages among children so that they would not experience these hardships.”
—
Andrea, former child bride
There are also issues on child marriages in Muslim communities as most of them are unregistered in communities, Datu-Ramos said.
The NCMF official also pointed out that documentations for matters such as marriage, death certificates, and land titles are not being practiced in many Muslim communities.
Because of this, child rights experts believe early and forced marriages among children in far-flung areas go unregistered.
“There is underreporting of child marriage in the country. The challenge there is we need to get these marriages registered so we may know the exact number of child marriages,” Dongeto said in Filipino, adding that some non-government groups document child marriages but only record an estimated number of child brides.
Apart from this, norms and culture in their community also played a big role in failing to report child marriages. “Some are seeing child marriage as a norm, thus, the tendency to hesitate or even question such norms,” Dulawan said.
There also needs to be more protection for children who will report a forced marriage. “There is personal fear for children because how will they report their family member who perpetuates child marriage? And who will receive their reports?” Dulawan said, partly in Filipino.
“We are looking at reporting and protective mechanisms and provisions of policy. We look at establishment of clear laws and guidelines, especially reporting mechanisms and providing support mechanisms for children reporting child early and forced marriages,” she added.
For children from disadvantaged families, it will be financially difficult to seek help from a lawyer or to even file a complaint, Dulawan said.
Even if a law were passed, its passage would not be enough to end the practice.
Citing that punishment against child marriage facilitators is “punitive,” Dulawan underscored the need for programs to address economic concerns in communities where child marriage is being practiced.
“We need to have social protection programs and poverty alleviation strategies. This is the central reason why child marriage is happening because of economic financial insecurities and because of poverty, which is why child marriage is being used as a coping mechanism,” she said.
For Hontiveros, the bill does not only criminalize child marriage but also includes a “wide range of social protections” for child brides and grooms.
The social protection which includes education, psychosocial services and livelihood for children lured into marriage.
“If they reach the age where they can start a business, and they need to provide for their children, that would go hand in hand with any penalties that can be imposed against their parents for facilitating the marriage,” said Hontiveros, in Filipino.
Chua, who has been doing online mental health services, said therapy should also be made available to children who suffered from consequences of early and forced marriage.
The therapist must also be “spiritually and culturally” attuned. This means the counselor or mental health professional should come from the same cultural or religious background.
“By default, all mental health professionals should be sensitive to the culture, religions and spirituality of their patients and clients. But maybe in this case, it is more important because child marriage has very cultural and religious underpinnings so the child or teenager might trust more their therapist who is coming from the same background,” Chua pointed out, partly in Filipino.
“It is better that a member of their community will offer them mental health services and not an outsider,” he added.
For normal citizens, Chua also urged that there people not to be judgmental to those involved in early and forced marriage.
“It is important to be emphatic, to recognize their vulnerability as children
Now that she is older, Andrea said finding another husband is the least of her priorities.
“It doesn’t cross my mind,” she replied when asked if she wants to get married again.
After everything that has happened to her, Andrea advised children that while they can, pursue their education to have a better future.
“To children, let’s not get married early. Study well so that we can give a better life to ourselves and to our parents,” she said.
In the course of the interview, Andrea did not shed a tear. She said she stayed strong despite the consequences of getting married early.
“I would always tell myself that I should be strong and just endure it for my kids. I need to be strong for myself also, to face all these challenges,” Andrea said, with a straight face.
If things went differently, Andrea could’ve finished her education and she could’ve worked abroad. Moving forward, Andrea also hoped that she would start her own business someday.
“It had a big effect on me. My husband could not provide for us. So when I got married, I regretted it. I wish I didn’t get married early,” she said, adding that her parents also regretted having her married at an early age.
