Bill seeks P5,000 allowance for government day care workers

MANILA, Philippines — An administration lawmaker has filed a bill in the House of Representatives that aims to provide each day care worker in government-sponsored centers a teaching supplies allowance of P5,000 per school year and continuing skills training.

Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan authored House Bill 10224, that recognizes the indispensable role that these workers play in helping Filipino children have the best possible start in life, through early learning experiences and activities that promote their social and emotional development.

“Workers in government day care centers (DCCs) and child development centers (CDCs) serve dual roles of being second parents and educators to children in their formative years,” the congressman from party-list Bicol Saro said.

“They encourage kids to learn and be creative, teach them how to interact with others, and even help with their mealtimes and nap times. Unfortunately, they have to make do with low pay and lack of financial support for the expenses they need to carry out these responsibilities,” he said.

Barangay day care workers receive P500 a month from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), while local government units (LGUs) provide them with a monthly honorarium of at least P1,000.

Yamsuan, during a meeting with day care workers in his home city of Parañaque last month, found that among their immediate concerns was their ever-increasing out-of-pocket expenses for learning materials and teaching supplies.

“To be effective teachers, day care workers already coping with low wages often shoulder the expenses for the teaching aids they use and hand out to kids under their care,” the first-term legislator stressed.

“Our measure aims to address this shortcoming by providing each day care worker in government-sponsored centers with a P5,000 teaching supplies allowance per school year,” Yamsuan said in a statement.

HB 10224, or the proposed Care for Child Development and Day Care Workers Act, also provides for a system of continuing skills training and knowledge enhancement programs for day care workers to ensure that children in CDCs and DCCs receive quality care and education.

The program shall be implemented by the DSWD and the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council in coordination with the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The bill also calls for the establishment and maintenance of a unified and regularly updated database of all government-sponsored CDCs and DCCs and their respective workers by the ECCD Council in partnership with LGUs.

Under Republic Act 6972, the monthly allowance that shall be given to workers in accredited barangay day care centers is only P500 a month, which Yamsuan said is “obviously not enough for their daily needs.”