THE SECOND Congressional Commission on Education or EDCOM 2 urged the Department of Education to reallocate funds to support the Early Childhood Care Development Council’s nutrition and feeding programs for children ages 0-5.

Senator Pia Cayetano, EDCOM 2 commissioner and senior vice chairperson of the Senate Finance Committee, said P5.597 billion is needed to cover the nutrition and feeding programs of young children. She cited the commission’s findings in its consultations with the ECCD Council, the Department of Health, the National Nutrition Council, DepEd, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“The need now for the early feeding programs is at P5.597 billion to increase an already existing program that captures 209 municipalities and almost 1.4 children under 5 years old, 171,000 children [aged] 0-6, 6-23 months. And all of this we will practically double with P5.5 billion,” Cayetano said.

“If we can come up with the additional P5 billion for the earlier interventions, then it’s the best step forward. But if we cannot, may I ask you to start thinking if there’s a way that the DepEd can share the funding with ECCD Council?” she added.

With the additional investment of P5.597 billion, resources targeting children in the early years will expand from 235 to 444 municipalities.

This will cover 2.388 million children below the age of 5, including 875,430 children from 0 to 24 months, and 81,276 nutritionally-at-risk mothers.

DepEd implements the School-based Feeding Program, consistent with RA 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act of 2018. It also chairs the ECCD Council, in line with RA 10410 or Early Years Act of 2013.

The ECCD Council’s mandate is to achieve improved infant and child survival rates by ensuring that adequate health and nutrition programs are accessible to young children and their parents, from the prenatal period throughout the early childhood years.

Senator Francis Escudero said that if the government can address the problem early on, child stunting will be prevented.