SENATORS Sherwin Gatchalian and Pia Cayetano batted for a higher budget for the Early Childhood Care and Development Council as they acknowledged the crucial role of the agency in the education system.

Gatchalian said that the ECCD missed some targets in 2020 particularly the establishment of National Child Development Center and conversion of daycare centers but he attributed it to the pandemic.

“I support the call to reinstate the ECCD budget because these are very important projects to improve the system all the way to basic education,” he said.

“Our goal really is to be very strategic… to consider the future of education for our children, and to help them cope obviously during this pandemic, keeping in mind that most likely Covid is something that we need to live with,” she said.

The council’s Executive Director Teresita Inciong said the agency proposed a budget of P345.9 million but the Department of Budget and Management only provided P71.9 million.

In the agency’s presentation, the budget of the Department of Education for next year increased by 6 percent –  from P595 billion to P630.7 billion.

However, the allocation is much lower than the proposed budget of P1.37 trillion.