MANILA - One in ten Filipinos get pregnant in their teens and are left taking care of young families instead of joining the workforce, setting back the fight against poverty, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Thursday.

Citing a study from the University of the Philippines Population Institute, Pernia said 10 percent of 10 million Filipinas between 15 to 19 years old get pregnant.

"One million (teenagers) get pregnant during those years. It's not going to help poverty reduction," Pernia told foreign correspondents.

"The girls are really disadvantaged. Once they get pregnant, they are already shut... Majority will just be condemned to a life of non-fulfillment or a life of poverty," he said.

"They will not be able to improve over the lives of their parents," he added.

Pernia said President Rodrigo Duterte will implement a law granting the poor free contraceptives and population control education "speedily and fully."

He said sex education in schools, as provided by the Reproductive Health Law, will help curb teen pregnancies.

"It's more being unaware or plain lack of familiarity or knowledge about sexuality and that is why one important provision in the RH law is sexuality education," he said.