Manila: Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is pressing the need to bridge persisting gaps in early childhood care and development (ECCD) to address the country's education crisis.

According to Philippines News Agency, participation rates among three- to four-year-olds stand at 21 percent, with more than 4,600 barangays lacking a child development center. It also noted that the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Supplemental Feeding Program has yet to reach over 200,000 children.

To address these findings, Gatchalian called for the full and effective implementation of the Early Childhood Care and Development System Act (Republic Act No. 12199), which mandates local government units to deliver ECCD programs and services. 'The 2026 national budget puts a strong focus on early childhood care and development. We've set aside PHP2.46 billion under the Local Government Support Fund to upgrade daycare centers in fourth- and fifth-class municipalities into child development centers, and to hire more child development workers,' Gatchalian said in a news release on Monday.

The chair of the Senate Finance Committee said the DSWD's Supplementary Feeding Program, which covers three to five-year-old children enrolled in Child Development Centers (CDCs) and Supervised Neighborhood Play (SNP), received PHP9.6 billion in the 2026 budget. He said the increased budget allocation would enable the DSWD to support wider geographic coverage, reach more children nationwide, and expand the feeding period this year. The allocation will also increase the number of feeding days from 120 to 180.