ALYANSA Para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial candidate and Makati Mayor Abby Binay has renewed her call for stronger implementation of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Act.

Binay stressed that learning should begin in daycare through a proper curriculum handled by qualified child development workers.

Her statement comes in response to the latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority showing over 18 million Filipino junior and senior high school graduates to be functionally illiterate in 2024.

These students failed to meet the updated standards of functional literacy, which now include higher-level comprehension and the ability to apply information in real-life situations—not just basic reading, writing, and numeracy.

Binay cited the ECCD Act as a key policy that, if fully implemented, could help address learning gaps early and improve literacy outcomes across the country.