MANILA BULLETIN

Aspiring Parañaque City 2nd district congressman Brian Raymund Yamsuan has commended the Marcos administration's move of allotting P1 billion for the creation of additional child development centers (CDCs) in low-income communities in the Philippines.

“We laud the President and Secretary Amenah Pangandaman [of the Department of Budget and Management] for approving the release  of P1 billion for the establishment of CDCs in low-income local government units (LGUs)," Yamsuan said.

"We cannot discount the importance of early childhood care and education in aiding the learning success and shaping the emotional and social development of our children,” added the incumbent Bicol Party-list representative.

President Marcos had announced that  the P1-billion fund will be used to set up CDCs in 328 low-income barangays. 

“Government funding to set up new child development centers, especially in marginalized communities,  should be accompanied by corresponding investments to strengthen the capabilities of  daycare workers through additional benefits and training,” Yamsuan said. 

Yamsuan, a former Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) assistant secretary, said consultations that he carried out with daycare workers in his home city of Parañaque revealed that among their immediate concerns was their ever-increasing out-of-pocket expenses for learning materials and teaching supplies. 

“Our  hardworking daycare workers should not be made to spend the small honoraria they receive to buy teaching materials and other supplies. Ensuring support for them  would lead to better learning outcomes for the kids under their care,” he said. 

“Grabe ang mga sakripisyo ng mga nagtatrabaho sa mga child development centers na karamihan ay mga volunteers  pero tila napabayaan na  ang kanilang kalagayan,” added Yamsuan. 

(Workers in child development centers, who are mostly volunteers, undergo great sacrifices, but their plight seems to have been neglected.). 

Yamsuan said  LGUs, especially those classified as 1st to 3rd class in terms of income,  can use their National Tax Allotment (NTA) and Special Education Fund to provide for the teaching supplies allowance of daycare workers. 

Local chief executives  can also coordinate with the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in providing free upskilling programs  for daycare workers, he said.  

As former chief-of-staff of the late Senator Tessie Aquino Oreta, Yamsuan worked with the lawmaker to help her shepherd the passage of her landmark ECCD Act of 2000.  

Yamsuan said his proposed measures to “care for daycare workers” are outlined under House Bill (HB) No.10224, which he hopes to re-file in the upcoming 20th Congress. 

HB No.10224 also mandates the ECCD Council, in partnership with LGUs, to establish and maintain a unified and regularly updated database of all government-sponsored CDCs and their respective workers. 

Under Republic Act (RA) No.6972, the monthly allowance that shall be given to workers in accredited barangay daycare centers is a meager P500 a month, which Yamsuan is “obviously not even enough for their daily needs".

Meanwhile, many LGUs provide a monthly honorarium of only P1,000  for some 14,725 daycare workers and/or teachers, Yamsuan said. 

DSWD data also show that nearly 9 out of 10 daycare workers hold non-permanent and even voluntary positions.