ECCD Law: RA 12199 Repealed the Early Years Act

Two of the three laws people cite for early childhood care in the Philippines have been repealed, and one of them has been dead since 2013. That is the single most useful thing to know before reading anything else on the subject.

The repeal chain

Section 22 of RA 12199 is unusually direct about the consequence:

Republic Act No. 10410 or the “Early Years Act (EYA) of 2013” is hereby repealed. All references to Republic Act No. 10410 shall hereafter refer to this Act.

So a school handbook, an LGU ordinance or a job posting that cites the Early Years Act is not simply out of date. The reference is redirected by operation of the statute itself.

The Council has moved house three times

This is why old guidance points at the wrong agency.

The move to DILG is deliberate rather than cosmetic. The DILG Secretary co-chairs for local government mobilisation and overall implementation, while the DepEd Secretary co-chairs for curriculum and early childhood education. Delivery is a local government problem; curriculum is not.

The Council now has 11 members and meets quarterly, or on the call of the co-chairpersons or any 3 members, plus an annual workshop in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

The age line moved too

RA 10410 declared ages 0 to 8 the first crucial stage and split it, giving 0 to 4 to the ECCD Council and 5 to 8 to DepEd. RA 12199 refers throughout to children below 5 and does not carry that split forward. That boundary is what separates this Act from the kindergarten system.

What an LGU now has to do

That last pair is the part with teeth. The Local Government Code caps how much of a local budget may go to personal services, and Section 19 lifts that cap for these salaries specifically. The mayor’s permit guide covers the same Code from the business side.

Pay floors and qualifications

Section 12 sets minimums, not amounts.

TESDA provides that assessment and certification free of charge. Incumbent workers must complete mandatory reskilling and upskilling and pass the TESDA certification.

Three disqualifications apply to both roles: conviction by final judgment of an offence involving moral turpitude, a pending case under RA 11930, RA 9208 or RA 7610, and inclusion in the child sex offender registry list.

The existing Day Care Worker I and Day Care Worker II plantilla positions are not simply renamed. Section 18 mandates the DBM and the CSC to review and revise those titles and qualification standards to match the Act.

Money and timing

Private donations to public Child Development Centers get the Adopt-a-School Act treatment under RA 8525: an additional deduction from gross income equal to 50% of the expense.

One clause contradicts itself, so this page prints it as published rather than picking a reading. Section 20 says the IRR shall take effect thirty (3) days after publication. The spelled-out word says 30; the parenthetical numeral says 3. The same pattern appears in the Fire Code, and the FSIC guide covers that one.

What this page does not cover

RA 12199 publishes no peso salary figures, only salary grade floors, and the actual grade is issued by the local chief executive with CSC and DBM approval, so no amount is stated here. It sets no fee for any ECCD service and no enrolment requirement for a Child Development Center.

It also does not contain the ECCD Checklist, the developmental screening instrument the ECCD Council publishes separately. That is an administrative instrument, not part of the statute, and nothing about its domains, items or scoring appears in the Act.

Related

The first 1000 days guide covers the health and nutrition entitlement RA 12199 refers to by name, the mandatory immunization guide covers the vaccines delivered alongside it, and the newborn screening guide covers the test that starts the same continuum.

• All guides
• Calculators
• How figures on this site are sourced