THE Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) is calling on the ECCD Council to expedite the release of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 12199, the ECCD System Act, more than a year after the law was signed and well past its statutory deadline.
RA 12199 was signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on May 8, 2025, repealing the Early Years Act of 2013 (RA 10410) and overhauling the country’s Early Childhood Care and Development System for children from birth to age eight. The law required the ECCD Council, in consultation with relevant government agencies and non-government organizations, to formulate the IRR within ninety (90) days of the law’s effectivity — a deadline that fell in early August 2025.
“Noong ipinasa natin ang batas para patatagin ang mga programa at serbisyo para sa early childhood care and development, malinaw ang layunin natin: mabigyan ng matatag na pundasyon ang ating mga kabataan. Tungkulin nating tiyaking maipapatupad natin ito nang maayos dahil isa ito sa mga mahahalagang susi upang masugpo natin ang krisis sa edukasyon ng bansa,” Former EDCOM 2 Co-Chairperson and current Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said.
“Para mabigyan natin ang mga bata ng mas malaking pagkakataong matuto, lumago, at maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal, kailangan nating ibigay ang kinakailangan at agarang suporta sa mga unang taon ng kanilang buhay. Dapat itong gawin bago pa sila tumuntong sa paaralan. Kaya nanawagan tayo na mabuo ang IRR ng ECCD System Act upang matiyak ang tuluy-tuloy at magkakaugnay na sistema ng suporta sa nutrisyon para sa ating mga bata,” said EDCOM 2 Co-Chairperson Sen. Bam Aquino
Without the IRR, local government units cannot fully carry out the responsibilities the law assigns them, including establishing ECCD Offices in every province, city, and municipality, creating plantilla positions for Child Development Teachers (CDTs) and Child Development Workers (CDWs), and accessing funding mechanisms tied to the law’s implementation. The professionalization track for CDTs and CDWs — covering qualifications, training, assessment, certification, and improved salary grades — likewise remains without operational guidelines.
EDCOM 2’s own findings, cited during the law’s passage, showed that 89 percent of CDTs and CDWs nationwide remain in non-permanent positions, earning an average of only around Php 5,000 a month. The Commission’s research also found that only 36 percent of villages nationwide have at least one Child Development Center, despite a 1990 law mandating their nationwide establishment.
“The proper implementation of the ECCD Act would address the health and well-being of every child below 5 years old. All evidence has shown that the health and well-being of a child are most crucial at these ages in terms of the proper development of the child’s physical and cognitive abilities. Let us not delay the proper implementation by the absence of the IRR,” said EDCOM 2 Commissioner Rep. Roman Romulo
More recently, the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) also released the latest Updating Survey Results, revealing that the stunting rate among under-five children, especially those aged 0 to 59 months, has reached 25.3%, equivalent to roughly one in four children. This represents a 1.7% increase from 2023 – the first jump in the country’s stunting rate since 2015.
“Every month without the IRR is a month LGUs cannot move on plantilla positions, funding allocations, and the professional standards which our child development workers have waited years for,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee. “We urge the ECCD Council to complete and issue the IRR without further delay, so that the reforms in this law can actually reach the children and workers it was written for.”
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