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Philippines faces baby boom amid pandemic

Manila, Sep 3 (EFE/EPA).- Jocelyn Pascua, a 30-year-old from the Philippines, has had to wait four months to go to one of the Likhaan family planning clinics in Manila and change her contraceptive implant that expired in April, a waiting marked by the worry of fathering another child. (Camera: FRANCIS MALASIG/ROLEX DELA PENA/MARK CRISTINO).FOOTAGE SHOWS PREGNANT WOMEN AND BABIES AT CLINICS IN MANILA, PHILIPPINES. SOUND BITES: PATIENTS AT HEALTH CENTER IN MANILA AILEEN JOKTOWN AND JOCELYN PASCUA (IN TAGALOG) AND MARK CALSONA, SOCIAL WORKER AT THE LIKHAAN CENTER FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH (IN ENGLISH). TRANSLATIONS:1.AILEEN JOKTOWN, PATIENT AT HEALTH CENTER IN MANILA. The hospitals we go to for medical check-ups are sometimes closed. Sometimes they don't accept pregnant women, that's our complaint. And when we give birth, the hospitals don't accept us because they are full of patients. They send you to other hospitals, but the next hospital won't accept you either, leading to miscarriages and the death of babies. (00.44-01.22).2. JOCELYN PASCUA, PATIENT AT HEALTH CENTER IN MANILA. The confinement is very strict. I wanted to come here but it was very hard. My husband is a worker. He does not make a lot of money. I prefer to buy food for my family rather than use the money to come here. (01.30-01:57).